Chapter 8 verses 1-4 Read the Bible verses
Leprosy was a skin disease (sickness). In Bible times there was no medicine for it. Leprosy sores made the skin fall off. Fingers and toes fell off. Noses on the faces were gone. In the end the whole body was eaten away.
No one wanted to be near a person with leprosy. When a person knew he had the skin disease, he had to leave his home. He lived alone or went with other lepers.
If a leper was on a street and a person was coming near to him, the leper had to call out, “Unclean!” This was a warning to the other person so they could stay far away from the leper.
The leper knew he would slowly die. It was also a shame to him to tell everyone that he was unclean. It was lonely because he had to leave his family.
In Bible days the priest was the person who looked at the skin and decided if the person was clean or had leprosy.
Jesus told the healed leper to go let the priest look at his skin and see that he was healed. He was to take an offering to give to God.
Chapter 8 verses 5-13 Read the Bible verses
A Roman officer of soldiers came to Jesus and asked Jesus to heal his servant.
The Roman said that Jesus did not need to come to his home to heal the man. That if Jesus just said the word the man would be healed.
Jesus was surprised. Jesus said he had not seen any Jewish people have this kind of faith.
Then Jesus said something really surprising for the Jewish people. He said that someday Gentiles (people not Jewish) would sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in heaven someday.
Jewish people did not think that anyone not Jewish would go to heaven. Now they heard Jesus say that Gentiles will go to heaven.
Long ago in the Old Testament, God called Abraham to follow God.
Abraham lived in a place where the people worshipped the moon as a god.
God came to speak to Abraham one day. God told Abraham to follow God and God would lead him to another place to live. God said that he would give Abraham much land and that he would give him a child and many grandchildren.
Abraham followed God. God gave him a son, Isaac. Isaac had two sons: Esau and Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons.
Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. The people in Jacob’s family were called Hebrews and Jews.
God told Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that their family would be God’s chosen people. They were chosen because God wanted to use their family to send the Messiah. The Messiah would be a blessing to the whole world.
The Jewish people did not really understand what that meant. They did not understand that their Jewish Messiah would die on a cross for everyone’s sin—Gentiles included.
So when Jesus said that the Gentiles will sit with Abraham in heaven someday—they could not understand such a thing.
Chapter 8 verses 14-17 Read the Bible verses
Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law.
Jesus told demon spirits (evil spirits) to leave people. The evil spirits had been controlling the people.
Chapter 8 verses 18-22 Read the Bible verses
Some people thought what Jesus said and did was so wonderful that they wanted to follow him.
Jesus told them to think about it and make sure that’s what they wanted to do.
After all Jesus’ life was not easy. He had no home or bed. He did not know where he would eat next. Jesus was asking them if they really wanted that kind of life.