Matthew 8:2–34

²A man with leprosy^al came and knelt before him^m and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

³Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. ⁴Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone.ⁿ But go, show yourself to the priest^o and offer the gift Moses commanded,^p as a testimony to them.”

The Faith of the Centurion

8:5–13pp—Lk 7:1–10

⁵When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶“Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed,^q suffering terribly.”

⁷Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

⁸The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.^{r 9}For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

¹⁰When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.^{s 11}I say to you that many will come from the east and the west,^t and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.^{u 12}But the subjects of the kingdom^v will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”^w

¹³Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.”^x And his servant was healed at that moment.

Jesus Heals Many

8:14–16pp—Mk 1:29–34; Lk 4:38–41

¹⁴When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. ¹⁵He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

¹⁶When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.^{y 17}This was to fulfill^z what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“He took up our infirmities

and bore our diseases.”^ba

The Cost of Following Jesus

8:19–22pp—Lk 9:57–60

¹⁸When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.^{b 19}Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

²⁰Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man^c has no place to lay his head.”

²¹Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

²²But Jesus told him, “Follow me,^d and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Jesus Calms the Storm

8:23–27pp—Mk 4:36–41; Lk 8:22–25 8:23–27Ref—Mt 14:22–33

²³Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. ²⁴Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

²⁶He replied, “You of little faith,^e why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.^f

²⁷The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Jesus Restores Two Demon-Possessed Men

8:28–34pp—Mk 5:1–17; Lk 8:26–37

²⁸When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,^c two demon-possessed^g men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. ²⁹“What do you want with us,^h Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”ⁱ

³⁰Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. ³¹The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

³²He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. ³³Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. ³⁴Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.^j