Jesus Cures a Man with a Skin Disease^(A)

8 When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him.

² A man with a serious skin disease came and bowed down in front of him. The man said to Jesus, “Sir, if you’re willing, you can make me clean.” ^[a]

³ Jesus reached out, touched him, and said, “I’m willing. So be clean!” Immediately, his skin disease went away, and he was clean.

⁴ Jesus said to him, “Don’t tell anyone about this! Instead, show yourself to the priest. Then offer the sacrifice Moses commanded as proof to people that you are clean.”

A Believing Army Officer^(B)

⁵ When Jesus went to Capernaum, a Roman army officer came to beg him for help. ⁶ The officer said, “Sir, my servant is lying at home paralyzed and in terrible pain.”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “I’ll come to heal him.”

⁸ The officer responded, “Sir, I don’t deserve to have you come into my house. But just give a command, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ As you know, I’m in a chain of command and have soldiers at my command. I tell one of them, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and another, ‘Come!’ and he comes. I tell my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ Jesus was amazed when he heard this. He said to those who were following him, “I can guarantee this truth: I haven’t found faith as great as this in anyone in Israel. ¹¹ I can guarantee that many will come from all over the world. They will eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹² The citizens of that kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness. People will cry and be in extreme pain there.”

¹³ Jesus told the officer, “Go! What you believed will be done for you.” And at that moment the servant was healed.