04 Aug Matthew 8 – Let The Dead Bury Their Dead – The Gospels

When Jesus had come down from the hill, great crowds followed him. 2 And he saw a leper who came up, and bowed to the ground before him, and said: “Master, if only you are willing, you are able to make me clean.” 3 Stretching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying as he did so: “I am willing; become clean.” Instantly he was made clean from his leprosy; 4 And then Jesus said to him: “Be careful not to say a word to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift directed by Moses, as evidence of your cure.”

5 After Jesus had entered Capernaum, a captain in the Roman army came up to him, entreating his help. 6 “Sir,” he said, “my servant is lying ill at my house with a stroke of paralysis, and is suffering terribly.” 7 “I will come and cure him,” answered Jesus. 8 “Sir,” the captain went on, “I am unworthy to receive you under my roof; but only speak, and my manservant will be cured. 9 For I myself am a man under the orders of others, with soldiers under me; and, if I say to one of them ‘Go,’ he goes, and to another ‘Come,’ he comes, and to my slave ‘Do this,’ he does it.”

10 Jesus was surprised to hear this, and said to those who were following him: “Never, I tell you, in any Israelite have I met with such faith as this! 11 Yes, and many will come in from East and West and take their places beside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; 12 While the heirs to the kingdom will be ‘banished into the darkness’ outside; there, there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the captain: “Go now, and it shall be according to your faith.” And the man was cured that very hour.

14 When Jesus went into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother—in—law prostrated with fever. 15 On his taking her hand, the fever left her, and she rose and began to wait upon him. 16 In the evening the people brought to Jesus many who were possessed by demons; and he drove out the spirits with a word, And cured all who were ill, 17 In fulfillment of these words of the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took our infirmities on himself, and bore the burden of our diseases.’

18 Seeing a crowd round him, Jesus gave orders to go across. 19 And a teacher of the law came up to him, and said: “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 “Foxes have holes,” answered Jesus, “and wild birds their roosting—places, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”¹ 21 “Master,” said another, who was a disciple, “let me first go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus answered: “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.”

23 Then he got into the boat, followed by his disciples. 24 Suddenly so great a storm came upon the sea that the waves broke right over the boat. But Jesus was asleep; 25 And the disciples came and roused him. “Master,” they cried, “save us; we are lost!” 26 “Why are you so timid?” he said. “O ye of little faith!” Then Jesus rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and a great calm followed. 27 The men were amazed, and exclaimed: “What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!”

28 And on getting to the other side—the country of the Gadarenes—Jesus met two men who were possessed by demons, coming out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one was able to pass that way. 29 Suddenly they shrieked out: “What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before our time?”

30 A long way off, there was a drove of many pigs, feeding; 31 And the foul spirits began begging Jesus: “If you drive us out, send us into the drove of pigs.” 32 “Go,” he said. The spirits came out, and entered the pigs; and the whole drove rushed down the steep slope into the sea, and died in the water. 33 At this the men who tended them ran away and went to the town, carrying the news of all that had occurred, and of what had happened to the possessed men. 34 At the news the whole town went out to meet Jesus, and, when they saw him, they entreated him to go away from their neighborhood.

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To read Chapter 9 of the Gospel of Matthew, please go to: New Wine in Old Wineskins.

1. Read Bible discussion of Jesus’ usage of the term the Son of Man versus the Son of God, as found in the Gospel of Matthew and the other Gospel books at: On Earth as it is in Heaven Meaning. [↩]