Matthew 8:18-9:17

New International Version - UK

The cost of following Jesus

¹⁸ When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. ¹⁹ Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’

²⁰ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’

²¹ Another disciple said to him, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’

²² But Jesus told him, ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’

Jesus calms the storm

²³ Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. ²⁴ Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵ The disciples went and woke him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’

²⁶ He replied, ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely 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 arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,^[a] two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. ²⁹ ‘What do you want with us, Son of God?’ they shouted. ‘Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?’

³⁰ Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. ³¹ The demons 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 water. ³³ Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. ³⁴ Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

Jesus forgives and heals a paralysed man

9 Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. ² Some men brought to him a paralysed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, ‘Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.’

³ At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, ‘This fellow is blaspheming!’

⁴ Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, ‘Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? ⁵ Which is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? ⁶ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ So he said to the paralysed 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 given such authority to man.

The calling of Matthew

⁹ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’

¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”^[b] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’

Jesus questioned about fasting

¹⁴ Then John’s disciples came and asked him, ‘How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’

¹⁵ Jesus answered, ‘How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

¹⁶ ‘No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. ¹⁷ Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out, and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.’