1154 | Matthew 8:18
The Cost of Following Jesus
18
When Jesus saw the crowd around him , he gave or ders to cross to the oth er side of the lake . 19 Then a teach er of the law came to him and said , “ Teach er , I will follow you wherever you go .”
20
Jesus re plied , “ Fox es have dens and birds have nests , but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head .”
21
An oth er dis ci ple said to him , “ Lord , first let me go and bury my fa ther .”
22
But Jesus told him , “ Fol low me , and let the dead bury their own dead .”
Jesus Calms the Storm
23
Then he got into the boat and his dis ci ples fol lowed him . 24 Sud den ly a fu rious storm came up on the lake , so that the waves swept over the boat . But Jesus was sleeping .
25
The dis ci ples went and woke him , say ing , “ Lord , save us ! We ’ re go ing to drown !”
26
He re plied , “ You of lit tle faith , why are you so afraid ?” Then he got up and re buked the winds and the waves , and it was com plete ly calm .
27
The men were amazed and asked , “ What kind of man is this ? Even the winds and the waves obey him !”
Jesus Restores Two Demon-Possessed Men
28
When he ar rived at the oth er side in the re gion of the Gad a renes , a two demon-pos sessed men com ing from the tombs met him . They were so vi o lent that no one could pass that way . 29 “ What do you want with us , Son of God ?” they shout ed . “ Have you come here to tor ture us be fore the ap point ed time ?”
30
Some dis tance from them a large herd of pigs was feed ing . 31 The de mons begged Jesus , “ If you drive us out , send us into the herd of pigs .”
32
He said to them , “ Go !” So they came out and went into the pigs , and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the wa ter .
33
Those tend ing the pigs ran off , went into the town and re port ed all this , includ ing what had hap pened to the de mon-pos sessed men . 34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus . And when they saw him , they plead ed with him to leave their region .
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
9
Jesus stepped into a boat , crossed over and came to his own town . 2 Some men brought to him a par a lyzed man , ly ing on a mat . When Jesus saw their faith , he said to the man , “ Take heart , son ; your sins are for giv en .”
3
At this , some of the teach ers of the law said to them selves , “ This fel low is blas phem ing !”
4
Know ing their thoughts , Jesus said , “ Why do you en ter tain evil thoughts in your hearts ?
5
Which is eas i er : to say , ‘ Your sins are for giv en ,’ or to say , ‘ Get up and walk ’? 6 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has au thor i ty on earth to for give sins .” So he said to the par a lyzed man , “ Get up , take your mat and go home .” 7 Then the man got up and went home . 8 When the crowd saw this , they were filled with awe ; and they praised God , who had giv en such au thor i ty to man .
The Calling of Matthew
9
As Jesus went on from there , he saw a man named Mat thew sit ting at the tax col lec tor ’ s booth . “ Fol low me ,” he told him , and Mat thew got up and fol lowed him .
10
While Jesus was hav ing din ner at Mat thew ’ s house , many tax col lec tors and sin ners came and ate with him and his dis ci ples . 11 When the Phar i sees saw this , they asked his dis ci ples , “ Why does your teach er eat with tax col lec tors and sin ners ?”
a 28 Some manuscripts Gergesenes ; other manuscripts Gerasenes