Matthew 8, The Leper, the Centurion and the Calming of the Storm

When I came down from the mountain, after I had finished teaching, great crowds followed me. And a man with leprosy came to me. He knelt down in front of me, and he said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." He did not ask whether I could. He asked whether I was willing.

I stretched out my hand, and I touched him. "I am willing," I said. "Be clean." And at once, his leprosy was gone. Then I told him, "See that you tell no one. But go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

When I entered Capernaum, a centurion came to me, pleading. "Lord, my servant is lying at home, paralyzed, suffering terribly." "I will come and heal him," I told him. But he answered me, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Only say the word, and my servant will be healed."

"For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. 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." When I heard this, I marveled.

I turned to those who were following me, and I said, "Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith." "I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Then I said to the centurion, "Go. Let it be done for you as you have believed." And his servant was healed, at that very hour.

I went into Peter's house, and I saw his wife's mother lying in bed, sick with a fever. I touched her hand, and the fever left her. She rose, and she began to serve me.

That evening, they brought to me many who were oppressed by demons. I cast out the spirits with a word, and I healed all who were sick. So the words spoken through the prophet Isaiah were fulfilled: "He took our illnesses and bore our diseases."

When I saw the great crowd around me, I gave the order to cross to the other side of the sea. A scribe came up and said to me, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." I said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

Another of my disciples said to me, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." And I said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

Then I got into the boat, and my disciples followed me. Suddenly a great storm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves. But I was asleep.

They came and woke me, crying out, "Save us, Lord! We are perishing!" I said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then I rose, and I rebuked the winds and the sea. And there was a great calm.

The men marveled. They said to one another, "What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?"

When I came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met me. They came out from among the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And they cried out, "What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?"

Some distance away, a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged me, "If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs." And I said to them, "Go." So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.

The herdsmen fled. They went into the city and told everything, especially what had happened to the men who had been possessed. Then the whole city came out to meet me. And when they saw me, they begged me to leave their region.