Matthieu 8
La Bible du Semeur
L’Évangile et l’autorité de Jésus
Jésus guérit les malades(A)
8 Quand Jésus descendit de la montagne, une foule nombreuse le suivit. 2 Et voici qu’un lépreux s’approcha et se prosterna devant lui en disant : Seigneur, si tu le veux, tu peux me rendre pur[a].
3 Jésus tendit la main et le toucha en disant : Je le veux, sois pur.
Aussitôt, il fut purifié de sa lèpre.
4 – Attention, lui dit Jésus, ne le dis à personne ; mais va te faire examiner par le prêtre et apporte l’offrande prescrite par Moïse. Cela leur servira de témoignage[b].
(Lc 7.1-10)
5 Jésus entrait à Capernaüm, quand un officier romain l’aborda. 6 Il le supplia : Seigneur, mon serviteur est couché chez moi, il est paralysé, il souffre terriblement.
7 – Je vais chez toi, lui répondit Jésus, et je le guérirai.
8 – Seigneur, dit alors l’officier, je ne remplis pas les conditions[c] pour te recevoir dans ma maison, mais tu n’as qu’un mot à dire et mon serviteur sera guéri. 9 Car, moi-même, je suis un officier subalterne, mais j’ai des soldats sous mes ordres, et quand je dis à l’un : « Va ! », il va. Quand je dis à un autre : « Viens ! », il vient. Quand je dis à mon esclave : « Fais ceci ! », il le fait.
10 En entendant cela, Jésus fut rempli d’admiration et, s’adressant à ceux qui le suivaient, il dit : Vraiment, je vous l’assure : chez personne, en Israël, je n’ai trouvé une telle foi ! 11 Je vous le déclare : beaucoup viendront de l’Orient et de l’Occident et prendront place à table auprès d’Abraham, d’Isaac et de Jacob, dans le royaume des cieux. 12 Mais ceux qui devaient hériter du royaume, ceux-là seront jetés dans les ténèbres du dehors. Là, il y aura des pleurs et d’amers regrets.
13 Puis Jésus dit à l’officier : Rentre chez toi et qu’il te soit fait selon ce que tu as cru. Et, à l’heure même, son serviteur fut guéri.
Il a porté nos maladies(B)
14 Jésus se rendit alors à la maison de Pierre. Il trouva la belle-mère de celui-ci alitée, avec une forte fièvre. 15 Il lui prit la main, et la fièvre la quitta. Alors elle se leva et se mit à le servir.
16 Le soir venu, on lui amena beaucoup de gens qui étaient sous l’emprise de démons : par sa parole, il chassa ces esprits mauvais. Il guérit aussi tous les malades. 17 Ainsi s’accomplissait cette parole du prophète Esaïe :
Il s’est chargé de nos infirmités
et il a porté nos maladies[d] .
L’engagement total du disciple(C)
18 Lorsque Jésus se vit entouré d’une foule nombreuse, il donna ordre à ses disciples de passer de l’autre côté du lac. 19 Un spécialiste de la Loi s’approcha et lui dit : Maître, je te suivrai partout où tu iras.
20 Jésus lui répondit : Les renards ont des tanières et les oiseaux du ciel des nids ; mais le Fils de l’homme n’a pas d’endroit où reposer sa tête.
21 – Seigneur, lui dit un autre qui était de ses disciples, permets-moi d’aller d’abord enterrer mon père.
22 Mais Jésus lui répondit : Suis-moi et laisse à ceux qui sont morts le soin d’enterrer leurs morts.
Plus fort que la tempête(D)
23 Il monta dans un bateau et ses disciples le suivirent. 24 Tout à coup, une grande tempête se leva sur le lac et les vagues passaient par-dessus le bateau. Pendant ce temps, Jésus dormait. 25 Les disciples s’approchèrent de lui et le réveillèrent en criant : Seigneur, sauve-nous, nous sommes perdus !
26 – Pourquoi avez-vous si peur ? leur dit-il. Votre foi est bien petite !
Alors il se leva, parla sévèrement au vent et au lac, et il se fit un grand calme.
27 Saisis d’étonnement, ceux qui étaient présents disaient : Quel est donc cet homme pour que même les vents et le lac lui obéissent ?
Plus fort que les démons(E)
28 Quand il fut arrivé de l’autre côté du lac, dans la région de Gadara[e], deux hommes qui étaient sous l’emprise de démons sortirent des tombeaux et vinrent à sa rencontre. Ils étaient si dangereux que personne n’osait plus passer par ce chemin. 29 Et voici qu’ils se mirent à crier : Que nous veux-tu, Fils de Dieu ? Es-tu venu nous tourmenter avant le temps ?
30 Or, il y avait, à quelque distance de là, un grand troupeau de porcs[f] en train de paître. 31 Les démons supplièrent Jésus : Si tu veux nous chasser, envoie-nous dans ce troupeau de porcs.
32 – Allez ! leur dit-il.
Les démons sortirent de ces deux hommes et entrèrent dans les porcs. Aussitôt, tout le troupeau s’élança du haut de la pente et se précipita dans le lac, et toutes les bêtes périrent noyées.
33 Les gardiens du troupeau s’enfuirent, coururent à la ville et allèrent raconter tout ce qui s’était passé, en particulier ce qui était arrivé aux deux hommes qui étaient sous l’emprise de démons. 34 Là-dessus, tous les habitants de la ville sortirent à la rencontre de Jésus et, quand ils le virent, le supplièrent de quitter leur territoire.
Footnotes
- 8.2 C’est-à-dire tu peux me guérir. La lèpre rendait rituellement impur ; demander à être purifié équivalait à demander la guérison.
- 8.4 Autres traductions : cela leur prouvera qui je suis ou cela prouvera à tous que tu es guéri ou cela prouvera à tous mon respect de la Loi.
- 8.8 Ou : je ne suis pas digne (voir 3.11). L’officier romain savait sans doute que la tradition ne permettait pas aux Juifs de pénétrer dans la maison d’un non-Juif.
- 8.17 Es 53.4.
- 8.28 Gadara se trouvait en territoire non juif, à 10 kilomètres au sud-est du lac de Galilée.
- 8.30 Le porc était, selon la Loi de Moïse, un animal impur (Lv 11.7). Seuls les non-Juifs élevaient des porcs.
Matthew 8
New Catholic Bible
The Signs of the Kingdom of God[a]
Ten Miracles[b]
Chapter 8
Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy.[c] 1 When he had come down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. 2 Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, if you choose to do so, you can make me clean.” 3 He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do choose. Be made clean.” Immediately, his leprosy was cured. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses prescribed. That will be proof for them.”
Jesus Heals the Centurion’s Servant.[d] 5 When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and pleaded for his help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant is lying at home paralyzed and enduring agonizing sufferings.” 7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and cure him.” 8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But simply say the word and my servant will be healed.[e] 9 For I myself am a man subject to authority, with soldiers who are subject to me. I say to one ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed, and he said to those who were following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one throughout Israel have I found faith as great as this. 11 Many, I tell you, will come from the east and the west to sit with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13 Jesus then said to the centurion, “Return home. Your petition has been granted because of your faith.” And at that very hour the servant was healed.
14 Jesus Heals Peter’s Mother-in-Law. Jesus then entered the house of Peter and found Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him.
16 Jesus Drives Out the Evil Spirits.[f] That evening they brought to him many who were possessed by demons. He cast out the spirits with a command and cured all who were sick. 17 This was to fulfill the words of the prophet Isaiah:
“He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
18 The Cost of Following Jesus.[g] When Jesus saw the great crowds around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 A scribe approached him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 Jesus told him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man[h] has nowhere to lay his head.” 21 Another man, one of the disciples, said, “Lord, allow me to go first and bury my father.” 22 Jesus answered him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
23 Jesus Calms the Storm.[i] He then got into the boat, followed by his disciples. 24 Suddenly, a great storm came up on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves. But he was asleep. 25 And so they went to him and awakened him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are going to die!” 26 He said to them in reply, “Why are you so frightened, O you of little faith?”
Then he stood up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 They were amazed and asked, “What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?”
28 Jesus Heals Two Demon-Possessed Men.[j] When he reached the region of the Gadarenes[k] on the other side of the lake, two men who were possessed by demons came out of the tombs and approached him. They were so fiercely violent that no one dared to pass that way. 29 Suddenly, they shouted, “What do you want with us, Son of God?[l] Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?”
30 Some distance away a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 The demons pleaded with him, “If you cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” 32 He said to them, “Go, then!” They came out and entered the pigs. The entire herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and they perished in the water. 33 Those tending the pigs ran off, and when they reached the town, they related the whole story including what had happened to the men who had been possessed. 34 Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their region.
Footnotes
- Matthew 8:1 This section gathers together ten accounts of miracles of Jesus. Interspersed among them are sayings of Jesus about discipleship. This has led some authors to speak of a portrayal of Jesus as “Messiah of the Word” in chs. 5–7 and “Messiah of the Deed” in 8–9. By his sayings and actions Jesus bears witness that evil and sickness are no longer the last word for people, for human beings are not slaves of fate since the goodness of God is manifested in the goodness of Jesus.
- Matthew 8:1 The ten miracle stories found herein are a third of the miracle stories that are told in detail in all the Gospels together. But the New Testament contains repeated references to a thaumaturgic activity that was continual (see Mt 4:23; Lk 4:41; Acts 2:22).
- Matthew 8:1 Leprosy made a person ceremonially unclean as well as physically afflicted. The man with leprosy in this passage technically breaks the Law as he comes to prostrate himself at the feet of Jesus. The Master also breaks the Law when he touches the man and sovereignly decides to heal him. The sick man welcomes Christ’s word, and the kingdom is opened to him. He becomes a model and sign of the Christian made clean by Christ.
- Matthew 8:5 Jesus commends a Roman centurion (leader of a hundred soldiers) for having greater faith than any Israelite and prophesies the ingathering of the Gentiles before healing his servant from afar. This passage shows that the great pilgrimage of peoples toward the kingdom has begun and evokes the beautiful image of the feast wherein all believers are definitively gathered together. Outside of this communion and joy there is only darkness; the “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (a phrase found outside Matthew only in Lk 13:28) describes the anguish of those who have remained insensitive to the call that has been welcomed by the very people they have denigrated.
- Matthew 8:8 Lord, I am not worthy . . . will be healed: these words of the centurion have become those of believers who go to encounter the Lord in Holy Communion.
- Matthew 8:16 Jesus is the Servant announced by Isa 53:4 who will expiate the sins of humankind. By the power of his Word he triumphs over the evil that keeps human beings in bondage symbolized by sickness.
- Matthew 8:18 Jesus has subordinated family ties to the needs of his mission of salvation and requires the same sacrifice of those called to share that mission, while other members of the family can perform the deeds of filial piety. These are “dead” only in the sense that they have not received the same call to separate themselves from family responsibility in order to preach the Gospel of the kingdom. They can nonetheless be his disciples in another sense.
Hence, following Jesus means Christians should be ready to make whatever sacrifice he asks of them. In the final analysis, they are followers of Christ, people who believe in him. They received faith in Christ at Baptism and are bound to serve him. By recourse to frequent prayer and true friendship with the Lord, they should strive to discover what Jesus asks of them in their service of him. - Matthew 8:20 Son of Man: the most common and enigmatic title of Christ used in the Gospels (81 times) and in Acts 7:56—frequently by Christ himself. It was well suited to his purpose of both veiling and revealing his person and mission. On the one hand, it meant simply “man” (see Ezek 2:1) and emphasized the lowliness of the human condition (Mt 8:20; 11:19; 20:28), especially in Christ’s humiliation and death (Mt 17:22). On the other hand, it expressed the triumph of Christ’s Resurrection (Mt 17:9), his return to glory (Mt 24:30; Dan 7:13), and his Second Coming as judge of the world (Mt 25:31).
Christ made use of this title at his trial before the Sanhedrin (Mt 26:64) when he prophesied that he would be vindicated and be seated in future glory at the right hand of God not merely as man but as Lord (see Dan 7:13; Mk 14:62).
This title was employed by Jewish apocalyptic literature (1 Enoch, 2 Ezra, 2 Baruch) to describe a unique religious personage endowed with extraordinary spiritual power who would receive the kingdom from God at the end of the ages. Early Christians revered this title as a reminder of Christ’s twofold destiny of humiliation and joy, which was also their own (Mt 24:30f). - Matthew 8:23 This passage attests to Jesus’ power over nature and its frightful forces. This fact is preserved as a sign, for the Church resembles a boat buffeted by so many storms. She is invited to place herself in Christ’s hands with great trust.
- Matthew 8:28 The sense of the anecdote about the pigs who serve as refuge for the demons and perish by drowning is that the Messiah has come; he triumphs over the evil powers that keep human beings in bondage and oppose the kingdom of God. The deliverance of the mentally ill signified that the “time” of the devil had come to an end. Thus, this is another account calling for confidence and courage in the struggle against evil. It must have especially delighted the Jews for whom pigs were unclean animals according to the Law (Lev 11:7) and who saw the pagan owners of the accursed flock suffering a loss.
- Matthew 8:28 Gadarenes: the city of Gadara was eight miles south of the lake.
- Matthew 8:29 Son of God: on the lips of the demons, this phrase is tantamount to “Messiah,” for they would scarcely set themselves in opposition to him if they knew his full divinity. The same title is given to Jesus in Mk 3:12. To torment us before the appointed time: to confine us to hell (see Lk 8:31) before the Last Judgment. Until then, the demons have a certain freedom to roam about the world (see 2 Pet 2:4 with 1 Pet 5:8).
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