MATTHEW.
Chapter 8.
When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. 
A man with a serious skin disease came and bowed down in front of him. The man said to Jesus, “Sir, if you’re willing, you can make me clean.”  
Jesus reached out, touched him, and said, “I’m willing. So be clean!” Immediately, his skin disease went away, and he was clean. 
Jesus said to him, “Don’t tell anyone about this! Instead, show yourself to the priest. Then offer the sacrifice Moses commanded as proof to people that you are clean.” 
When Jesus went to Capernaum, a Roman army officer came to beg him for help. 
The officer said, “Sir, my servant is lying at home paralyzed and in terrible pain.” 
Jesus said to him, “I’ll come to heal him.” 
The officer responded, “Sir, I don’t deserve to have you come into my house. But just give a command, and my servant will be healed. 
As you know, I’m in a chain of command and have soldiers at my command. I tell one of them, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and another, ‘Come!’ and he comes. I tell my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 
Jesus was amazed when he heard this. He said to those who were following him, “I can guarantee this truth: I haven’t found faith as great as this in anyone in Israel. 
I can guarantee that many will come from all over the world. They will eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 
The citizens of that kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness. People will cry and be in extreme pain there.” 
Jesus told the officer, “Go! What you believed will be done for you.” And at that moment the servant was healed. 
When Jesus went to Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law in bed with a fever. 
Jesus touched her hand, and the fever went away. So she got up and prepared a meal for him. 
In the evening the people brought him many who were possessed by demons. He forced the ⌞evil⌟ spirits out of people with a command and cured everyone who was sick. 
So what the prophet Isaiah had said came true: “He took away our weaknesses and removed our diseases.” 
Now, when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he ordered ⌞his disciples⌟ to cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. 
An expert in Moses’ Teachings came to him and said, “Teacher, I’ll follow you wherever you go.” 
Jesus told him, “Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to sleep.” 
Another disciple said to him, “Sir, first let me go to bury my father.” 
But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” 
Jesus’ disciples went with him as he left in a boat. 
Suddenly, a severe storm came across the sea. The waves were covering the boat. Yet, Jesus was sleeping. 
So they woke him up, saying, “Lord! Save us! We’re going to die!” 
Jesus said to them, “Why do you cowards have so little faith?” Then he got up, gave an order to the wind and the sea, and the sea became very calm. 
The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!” 
When he arrived in the territory of the Gadarenes on the other side ⌞of the Sea of Galilee⌟, two men met him. They were possessed by demons and had come out of the tombs. No one could travel along that road because the men were so dangerous. 
They shouted, “Why are you bothering us now, Son of God? Did you come here to torture us before it is time?” 
A large herd of pigs was feeding in the distance. 
The demons begged Jesus, “If you’re going to force us out, send us into that herd of pigs.” 
Jesus said to them, “Go!” The demons came out and went into the pigs. Suddenly, the whole herd rushed down the cliff into the sea and died in the water. 
Those who took care of the pigs ran into the city. There they reported everything, especially about the men possessed by demons. 
Everyone from the city went to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their territory. 
