The Cleansing of a Leper
When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds of people followed him. Without warning, a man with leprosy approached and dropped to his knees in front of Jesus. "Lord," the man said, "if you want to heal me, I know you can make me clean." Jesus stretched out his hand and touched the diseased man. "I do want to heal you," Jesus said. "Be clean!" Right away, the man's leprosy disappeared completely. Then Jesus gave the man clear instructions: "Don't tell anyone what happened here. Instead, go straight to the priest and bring the offering that Moses commanded for people who have been healed. This will prove to everyone that you are truly clean."
The Faith of the Centurion
When Jesus entered the town of Capernaum, a Roman military officer came to him with an urgent request. The officer approached Jesus respectfully and said, "Lord, my servant is lying at home, unable to move his body and suffering terrible pain." Jesus immediately responded, "I will come and heal him." But the officer replied, "Lord, I don't deserve to have you come into my house. You don't need to come at all—just speak the word, and my servant will be healed. I understand how authority works because I'm a soldier who takes orders from those above me, and I have soldiers who take orders from me. When I tell one soldier to go somewhere, he goes. When I tell another to come to me, he comes. When I give my servant a command, he obeys. You have that same kind of authority over sickness." When Jesus heard this response, he was amazed. He turned to the crowd that was following him and said, "I'm telling you the truth—I have not found faith this strong anywhere in Israel. I tell you that many people will come from distant lands in the east and west to sit down and feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But those who should have been part of the kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness, where there will be crying and grinding of teeth in anguish." Then Jesus turned back to the officer and said, "Go home. What you believed would happen will happen." At that exact moment, the servant was completely healed.
Jesus Heals Many
When Jesus came to Peter's house, he found Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed, burning with fever. Jesus reached out and touched her hand. Immediately the fever broke and left her body. She stood up, completely well, and began serving them. As evening fell, people brought many others to Jesus who were tormented by evil spirits. Jesus commanded the spirits to leave with just his spoken word, and they obeyed. He also healed everyone who was sick or suffering from disease. All of this happened to fulfill what the prophet Isaiah had written long before: "He took our weaknesses upon himself and carried away our sicknesses."
The Cost of Following Jesus
When Jesus saw the large crowd gathering around him, he told his disciples to get ready to cross over to the other side of the lake. A religious teacher approached Jesus and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus answered him, "Foxes have holes where they sleep, and birds have nests in the trees, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head." Another one of his followers came to Jesus with a request. "Lord," he said, "let me first go home and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead take care of burying the physically dead."
Jesus Calms the Storm
Jesus got into the boat, and his disciples climbed in after him. Without warning, a fierce storm suddenly erupted on the lake. The waves were so powerful they crashed over the boat, threatening to sink it completely. But Jesus was fast asleep. The disciples rushed to where Jesus was sleeping and shook him awake. "Lord, save us!" they cried out desperately. "We're going to die!" Jesus looked at them and said, "Why are you so frightened? You have so little faith." Then he stood up and spoke firmly to the howling winds and the raging waves. Instantly, everything became perfectly still and calm. The disciples stared in complete amazement. They turned to each other and whispered, "What kind of person is this? Even the wind and waves do exactly what he tells them to do!"
The Healing of Two Demon-Possessed Men
When Jesus reached the other side of the lake in the area where the Gadarenes lived, two men controlled by evil spirits came out from among the burial caves to meet him. These men were so dangerous and wild that no one dared to travel on that road anymore. The moment they saw Jesus, they screamed at him, "What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to punish us before the time when we're supposed to be punished?" Not far away, a large group of pigs was eating on the hillside. The evil spirits inside the men pleaded with Jesus, saying, "If you're going to force us out of these men, please let us go into those pigs instead." Jesus simply said, "Go." Immediately the evil spirits left the two men and entered the pigs. The entire herd of pigs suddenly charged down the steep slope, plunged into the lake, and drowned in the water. The men who had been taking care of the pigs ran away in terror. They rushed into the nearby town and told everyone what had happened, including the whole story about the two men who had been freed from the evil spirits. When the townspeople heard this news, they all came out to see Jesus for themselves. But when they found him, instead of being grateful, they begged him to leave their area and never come back.