Matthew 8
8
1 And when he had descended from the mountain, great crowds followed him.
2 And behold, a leper, drawing near, adored him, saying, "Lord, if you are willing, you are able to cleanse me."
3 And Jesus, extending his hand, touched him, saying: "I am willing. Be cleansed." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
4 And Jesus said to him: "See to it that you tell no one. But go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses instructed, as a testimony for them."
5 And when he had entered into Capernaum, a centurion approached, petitioning him,
6 and saying, "Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed and badly tormented."
7 And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."
8 And responding, the centurion said: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed.
9 For I, too, am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
10 And, hearing this, Jesus wondered. And he said to those following him: "Amen I say to you, I have not found so great a faith in Israel.
11 For I say to you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and they shall sit at table with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
12 But the sons of the kingdom shall be cast into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
13 And Jesus said to the centurion, "Go, and just as you have believed, so let it be done for you." And the servant was healed at that very hour.
14 And when Jesus had arrived at the house of Peter, he saw his mother-in-law lying ill with a fever.
15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose up and ministered to them.
16 And when evening arrived, they brought to him many who had demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word. And he healed all those having maladies,
17 in order to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah, saying, "He took our infirmities, and he carried away our diseases."
18 Then Jesus, seeing the great crowds encircling him, gave orders to go across the sea.
19 And one scribe, approaching, said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you will go."
20 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have dens, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to rest his head."
21 Then another of his disciples said to him, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father."
22 But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and allow the dead to bury their dead."
23 And climbing into a boat, his disciples followed him.
24 And behold, a great tempest occurred in the sea, so much so that the boat was covered with waves; yet truly, he was sleeping.
25 And his disciples drew near to him, and they awakened him, saying: "Lord, save us, we are perishing."
26 And Jesus said to them, "Why are you afraid, O little in faith?" Then rising up, he commanded the winds, and the sea. And a great tranquility occurred.
27 Moreover, the men wondered, saying: "What kind of man is this? For even the winds and the sea obey him."
28 And when he had arrived across the sea, into the region of the Gerasenes, he was met by two who had demons, who were so exceedingly savage, as they went out from among the tombs, that no one was able to cross by that way.
29 And behold, they cried out, saying: "What are we to you, O Jesus, the Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?"
30 Now there was, not far from them, a herd of many swine feeding.
31 Then the demons petitioned him, saying: "If you cast us from here, send us into the herd of swine."
32 And he said to them, "Go." And they, going out, went into the swine. And behold, the entire herd suddenly rushed along a steep place into the sea. And they died in the waters.
33 Then the shepherds fled, and arriving in the city, they reported on all this, and on those who had had the demons.
34 And behold, the entire city went out to meet Jesus. And having seen him, they petitioned him, so that he would cross from their borders.
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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.