Matthew 8
8
A man with a skin disease
1Now when Jesus had come down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. 2A man with a skin disease came, kneeled before him, and said, “Lord, if you want, you can make me clean.”
3Jesus reached out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do want to. Become clean.” Instantly his skin disease was cleansed. 4Jesus said to him, “Don’t say anything to anyone. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded. This will be a testimony to them.”
Healing of the centurion’s servant
5When Jesus went to Capernaum, a centurion approached, 6pleading with him, “Lord, my servant is flat on his back at home, paralyzed, and his suffering is awful.”
7Jesus responded, “I’ll come and heal him.”
8But the centurion replied, “Lord, I don’t deserve to have you come under my roof. Just say the word and my servant will be healed. 9I’m a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and the servant does it.”
10When Jesus heard this, he was impressed and said to the people following him, “I say to you with all seriousness that even in Israel I haven’t found faith like this. 11I say to you that there are many who will come from east and west and sit down to eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12But the children of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness. People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.” 13Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it will be done for you just as you have believed.” And his servant was healed that very moment.
Healing of many people
14Jesus went home with Peter and saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15He touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and served them. 16That evening people brought to Jesus many who were demon-possessed. He threw the spirits out with just a word. He healed everyone who was sick. 17This happened so that what Isaiah the prophet said would be fulfilled: He is the one who took our illnesses and carried away our diseases.#8.17 Isa 53:4
Discussions about following
18Now when Jesus saw the crowd, he ordered his disciples to go over to the other side of the lake. 19A legal expert came and said to him, “Teacher, I’ll follow you wherever you go.”
20Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Human One#8.20 Or Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
21Another man, one of his disciples, said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
22But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Calming a storm
23When Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. 24A huge storm arose on the lake so that waves were sloshing over the boat. But Jesus was asleep. 25They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, rescue us! We’re going to drown!”
26He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you people of weak faith?” Then he got up and gave orders to the winds and the lake, and there was a great calm.
27The people were amazed and said, “What kind of person is this? Even the winds and the lake obey him!”
Jesus frees demon-possessed men
28When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake in the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed came from among the tombs to meet him. They were so violent that nobody could travel on that road. 29They cried out, “What are you going to do with us, Son of God? Have you come to torture us before the time of judgment?” 30Far off in the distance a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31The demons pleaded with him, “If you throw us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”
32Then he said to the demons, “Go away,” and they came out and went into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and drowned. 33Those who tended the pigs ran into the city and told everything that had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34Then the whole city came out and met Jesus. When they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.
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Matthew 8: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Matthew 8
8
He Carried Our Diseases
1-2Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and dropped to his knees before Jesus, praying, “Master, if you want to, you can heal my body.”
3-4Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be clean.” Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone. Jesus said, “Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed body to the priest, along with the appropriate expressions of thanks to God. Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done.”
5-6As Jesus entered the village of Capernaum, a Roman captain came up in a panic and said, “Master, my servant is sick. He can’t walk. He’s in terrible pain.”
7Jesus said, “I’ll come and heal him.”
8-9“Oh, no,” said the captain. “I don’t want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I’m a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10-12Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those who grew up ‘in the faith’ but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened.”
13Then Jesus turned to the captain and said, “Go. What you believed could happen has happened.” At that moment his servant became well.
14-15By this time they were in front of Peter’s house. On entering, Jesus found Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed, burning up with fever. He touched her hand and the fever was gone. No sooner was she up on her feet than she was fixing dinner for him.
16-17That evening a lot of demon-afflicted people were brought to him. He relieved the inwardly tormented. He cured the bodily ill. He fulfilled Isaiah’s well-known revelation:
He took our illnesses,
He carried our diseases.
Your Business Is Life, Not Death
18-19When Jesus saw that a curious crowd was growing by the minute, he told his disciples to get him out of there to the other side of the lake. As they left, a religion scholar asked if he could go along. “I’ll go with you, wherever,” he said.
20Jesus was curt: “Are you ready to rough it? We’re not staying in the best inns, you know.”
21Another follower said, “Master, excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have my father’s funeral to take care of.”
22Jesus refused. “First things first. Your business is life, not death. Follow me. Pursue life.”
* * *
23-25Then he got in the boat, his disciples with him. The next thing they knew, they were in a severe storm. Waves were crashing into the boat—and he was sound asleep! They roused him, pleading, “Master, save us! We’re going down!”
26Jesus reprimanded them. “Why are you such cowards, such faint-hearts?” Then he stood up and told the wind to be silent, the sea to quiet down: “Silence!” The sea became smooth as glass.
27The men rubbed their eyes, astonished. “What’s going on here? Wind and sea stand up and take notice at his command!”
The Madmen and the Pigs
28-31They landed in the country of the Gadarenes and were met by two madmen, victims of demons, coming out of the cemetery. The men had terrorized the region for so long that no one considered it safe to walk down that stretch of road anymore. Seeing Jesus, the madmen screamed out, “What business do you have giving us a hard time? You’re the Son of God! You weren’t supposed to show up here yet!” Off in the distance a herd of pigs was grazing and rooting. The evil spirits begged Jesus, “If you kick us out of these men, let us live in the pigs.”
32-34Jesus said, “Go ahead, but get out of here!” Crazed, the pigs stampeded over a cliff into the sea and drowned. Scared to death, the swineherds bolted. They told everyone back in town what had happened to the madmen and the pigs. Those who heard about it were angry about the drowned pigs. A mob formed and demanded that Jesus get out and not come back.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.