(We have not yet translated 8:1-4. You can read that story in Mark 1:40-44.)
8
A Roman army boss trusted Jesus properly
5 Jesus went to a town called Capernium. There was a Roman army boss there. He was the boss over 100 soldiers. He went to Jesus and strongly asked him for help.
6 He said, “Sir, my young work-man is lying in bed at home. He can’t move, and he is hurting a lot.”
7 Jesus said, “I will go with you and make him better.”
8 But the army boss said to Jesus, “Sir, I’m not good enough for you, so it will not be right for you to go into my house. But you can make him better from right here. You can tell that sickness to stop, and leave my work-man, and then he will get better straight away.
9 I know it will happen. You see, I know about bosses. I have a boss over me, and I’m the boss over a lot of soldiers. If I tell a soldier to go somewhere, he goes there. And if I tell one of them to come to me, he comes to me. And if I tell my work-men to do something, they do it. Well, I believe that you are a powerful boss. If you just tell that sickness to go, then my work-man will get better straight away.”
10 Jesus heard what that Roman army boss said, and he was very surprised. He said to the people that were following him, “Listen. This man is not one of you Israel mob, but he trusts me more than any of you Israel people.”
11 Then Jesus told them about something that will happen one day. He said, “Listen. You know that God picked you Israel mob to be his special people. But one day, a lot of other people will come from everywhere in the world, and they will join God’s family in heaven. God will put on a big dinner there for his family, and these other people will sit down and eat it with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. They are your grand-fathers that lived a long time ago.
12 But a lot of Israel people will not eat any of it. God will grab them and chuck them out. They will be very upset and angry. They will cry a lot, and they will be so angry that they will bite their teeth together.”
13 Then Jesus said to the army boss, “You can go back home now. You are trusting me to make your work-man better, so I am doing it.” And right then, at that same time, that army boss’s work-man got better.
(We have not yet translated 8:14-17. You can read that story in Mark 1:29-34.)
If we follow Jesus, it might be hard for us
18 At another time Jesus saw a big mob of people coming around him, so he told his followers to take him in a boat to the other side of the lake.
19 After they got there, a Jewish law teacher went to Jesus and said, “Teacher, I want to be one of your followers. I will go everywhere with you.”
20 Jesus said to him, “Wild dogs have places where they can sleep, and wild birds have nests they can sleep in. But I haven’t got a home to lie down and sleep in, even though I’m God’s special man from heaven.”
21 There was another man that was already a follower of Jesus. He said to Jesus, “Sir, I will come with you. But my father has died, so let me go home to bury him. After that, I will come with you.”
22 Jesus said to him, “No. You come and follow me now. You see, some people are spiritually dead, so they can bury the dead bodies of their own people. But you come and follow me.”
(We have not yet translated 8:23—9:26. You can read those stories in Mark 2:1-22; 4:35-41; 5:1-43.)