Add parallel Print Page Options

This teaching is different. Usually rabbis cite generations of rabbis before them when making claims about the meaning of Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus honors the law, but He is clear—the law must be read in a new way.

Large crowds followed Jesus when He came down from the mountain. And as Jesus was going along, a leper approached Him and knelt down before Him.

Leper: Lord, if You wish to, please heal me and make me clean!

Jesus (stretching out His hand): Of course I wish to. Be clean.

Immediately the man was healed.

Jesus: Don’t tell anyone what just happened. Rather, go to the priest, show yourself to him, and give a wave offering as Moses commanded. Your actions will tell the story of what happened here today.

Eventually Jesus came to the little town of Capernaum. In Capernaum a military officer came to Him and asked Him for help.

Officer: Lord, I have a servant who is lying at home in agony, paralyzed.

Jesus: I will come to your house, and I will heal him.

Officer: Lord, I don’t deserve to have You in my house. And, in truth, I know You don’t need to be with my servant to heal him. Just say the word, and he will be healed. That, after all, is how authority works. My troops obey me whether I am next to them or not—similarly, this sickness will obey You.

10 Jesus was stunned by the depth of the officer’s faith.

Jesus (to His followers): This is the plain truth: I have not met a single person in Israel with as much faith as this officer. 11 It will not be just the children of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob who celebrate at their heavenly banquet at the end of time. No, people will come from the East and the West—and those who recognize Me, regardless of their lineage, will sit with Me at that feast. 12 But those who have feigned their faith will be cast out into outer darkness where people weep and grind their teeth.

13 Then Jesus turned to the Centurion.[a]

Jesus: You may go home. For it is as you say it is; it is as you believe.

And the officer’s servant was healed, right then.

What happens next seems to embody the officer’s wise opinion about authority: over and over Jesus shows just what His authority means.

14 Jesus went to Peter’s house, and there He saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed, sick and burning up with a fever. 15 Jesus touched her hand, and then she was healed—the fever vanished. She got up from bed and began to wait on Him.

16 Toward nighttime many people who were possessed by demons were brought to Jesus, and He said one word of command and drove the demons out, healing everyone who was sick. 17 These miraculous healings fulfilled what the prophet Isaiah had predicted:

He took our infirmities upon Himself,
    and He bore our diseases.[b]

18 Jesus saw that a crowd had gathered around Him, and He gave orders to go to the other side of the sea. 19 A scribe came up to Him.

Scribe: Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.

Jesus: 20 Foxes have dens in which to sleep, and the birds have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.

Disciple: 21 Jesus, before I do the things You’ve asked me to do, I must first bury my father.

Jesus: 22 Follow Me! And let the dead bury their own dead.

Does Jesus say, “Fair enough, you must of course bury your father. Just catch up with Me when you are done”? No. This is one of the strange and radical things Jesus brings about—our families are no longer our families. Our deepest bonds are not those of blood. Our family now is found in the bonds of fellowship made possible by this Jesus.

23 And then Jesus got into a boat, and His disciples followed Him. 24 Out of nowhere, a vicious storm blew over the sea. Waves were lapping up over the boat, threatening to overtake it! Yet Jesus was asleep. 25 Frightened (not to mention confused—how could anyone sleep through this?), the disciples woke Him up.

Disciples: Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!

Jesus: 26 Please! What are you so afraid of, you of little faith?

Jesus got up, told the wind and the waves to calm down, and they did. The sea became still and calm once again. 27 The disciples were astonished.

Disciples: Who is this? What sort of man is He, that the sea and the winds listen to Him?

28 Eventually Jesus came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gadarenes. There, two men who lived near the tombs and were possessed by demons came out to the seaside and met Jesus. They were flailing about, so violent that they obstructed the path of anyone who came their way.

Demons (screaming at Jesus): 29 Why are You here? Have You come to torture us even before the judgment day, O Son of God?

30 A ways off, though still visible, was a large herd of pigs, eating.

Demons: 31 If You cast us out of the bodies of these two men, do send us into that herd of pigs!

Jesus: 32 Very well then, go!

And the demons flew out of the bodies of the two flailing men, they set upon the pigs, and every last pig rushed over a steep bank into the sea and drowned. 33 The pig herders (totally undone, as you can imagine) took off; they headed straight for town, where they told everyone what they’d just seen—even about the demon-possessed men. 34 And so the whole town came out to see Jesus for themselves. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to leave their area.

Footnotes

  1. 8:13 A Roman military officer in charge of about 100 foot soldiers
  2. 8:17 Isaiah 53:4

Jesús sana a un leproso(A)

Cuando Jesús bajó de la montaña, lo siguieron grandes multitudes. Un hombre que tenía lepra se le acercó y se arrodilló delante de él.

―Señor, si quieres, puedes limpiarme —le dijo.

Jesús extendió la mano y tocó al hombre.

―Sí quiero —le dijo—. ¡Queda limpio!

Y al instante quedó sano[a] de la lepra.

―Mira, no se lo digas a nadie —le dijo Jesús—; solo ve, preséntate al sacerdote y lleva la ofrenda que ordenó Moisés, para que les sirva de testimonio.

La fe del centurión(B)

Al entrar Jesús en Capernaún, se le acercó un centurión pidiendo ayuda.

―Señor, mi siervo está postrado en casa con parálisis y sufre terriblemente.

―Iré a sanarlo —respondió Jesús.

―Señor, no merezco que entres bajo mi techo. Pero basta con que digas una sola palabra, y mi siervo quedará sano. Porque yo mismo soy un hombre sujeto a órdenes superiores, y además tengo soldados bajo mi autoridad. Le digo a uno: “Ve”, y va, y al otro: “Ven”, y viene. Le digo a mi siervo: “Haz esto”, y lo hace.

10 Al oír esto, Jesús se asombró y dijo a quienes lo seguían:

―Os aseguro que no he encontrado en Israel a nadie que tenga tanta fe. 11 Os digo que muchos vendrán del oriente y del occidente, y participarán en el banquete con Abraham, Isaac y Jacob en el reino de los cielos. 12 Pero a los súbditos del reino se les echará afuera, a la oscuridad, donde habrá llanto y rechinar de dientes.

13 Luego Jesús le dijo al centurión:

―¡Ve! Todo se hará tal como creíste.

Y en esa misma hora aquel siervo quedó sano.

Jesús sana a muchos enfermos(C)

14 Cuando Jesús entró en casa de Pedro, vio a la suegra de este en cama, con fiebre. 15 Le tocó la mano y la fiebre se le fue; y ella se levantó y comenzó a servirle.

16 Al atardecer, le llevaron muchos endemoniados, y con una sola palabra expulsó a los espíritus, y sanó a todos los enfermos. 17 Esto sucedió para que se cumpliera lo dicho por el profeta Isaías:

«Él cargó con nuestras enfermedades
    y soportó nuestros dolores».[b]

Lo que cuesta seguir a Jesús(D)

18 Cuando Jesús vio a la multitud que lo rodeaba, dio orden de pasar al otro lado del lago. 19 Se le acercó un maestro de la ley y le dijo:

―Maestro, te seguiré a dondequiera que vayas.

20 ―Las zorras tienen madrigueras y las aves tienen nidos —le respondió Jesús—, pero el Hijo del hombre no tiene dónde recostar la cabeza.

21 Otro discípulo le pidió:

―Señor, primero déjame ir a enterrar a mi padre.

22 ―Sígueme —le replicó Jesús—, y deja que los muertos entierren a sus muertos.

Jesús calma la tormenta(E)

23 Luego subió a la barca y sus discípulos lo siguieron. 24 De repente, se levantó en el lago una tormenta tan fuerte que las olas inundaban la barca. Pero Jesús estaba dormido. 25 Los discípulos fueron a despertarlo.

―¡Señor —dijeron—, sálvanos, que nos vamos a ahogar!

26 ―Hombres de poca fe —les contestó—, ¿por qué tenéis tanto miedo?

Entonces se levantó y reprendió a los vientos y a las olas, y todo quedó completamente tranquilo.

27 Los discípulos no salían de su asombro, y decían: «¿Qué clase de hombre es este, que hasta los vientos y las olas le obedecen?»

Liberación de dos endemoniados(F)

28 Cuando Jesús llegó al otro lado, a la región de los gadarenos,[c] dos endemoniados le salieron al encuentro de entre los sepulcros. Eran tan violentos que nadie se atrevía a pasar por aquel camino. 29 De pronto le gritaron:

―¿Por qué te entrometes, Hijo de Dios? ¿Has venido aquí a atormentarnos antes del tiempo señalado?

30 A cierta distancia de ellos estaba paciendo una gran piara de cerdos. 31 Los demonios le rogaron a Jesús:

―Si nos expulsas, mándanos a la piara de cerdos.

32 ―Id —les dijo.

Así que salieron de los hombres y entraron en los cerdos, y toda la piara se precipitó al lago por el despeñadero y murió en el agua. 33 Los que cuidaban los cerdos salieron corriendo al pueblo y dieron aviso de todo, incluso de lo que les había sucedido a los endemoniados. 34 Entonces todos los del pueblo fueron al encuentro de Jesús. Y, cuando lo vieron, le suplicaron que se alejara de esa región.

Footnotes

  1. 8:3 sano. Lit. limpio.
  2. 8:17 Is 53:4
  3. 8:28 gadarenos. Var. gergesenos; otra var. gerasenos.