26. The evil spirit threw the man into convulsions and came out of him with a loud shriek.
27. Everyone was stunned. They said to each other, “What is this? This is a new teaching that has authority behind it! He gives orders to evil spirits, and they obey him.”
28. The news about him spread quickly throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
29. After they left the synagogue, they went directly to the house of Simon and Andrew. James and John went with them.
30. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever. The first thing they did was to tell Jesus about her.
31. Jesus went to her, took her hand, and helped her get up. The fever went away, and she prepared a meal for them.
32. In the evening, when the sun had set, people brought to him everyone who was sick and those possessed by demons.
33. The whole city had gathered at his door.
34. He cured many who were sick with various diseases and forced many demons out of people. However, he would not allow the demons to speak. After all, they knew who he was.
35. In the morning, long before sunrise, Jesus went to a place where he could be alone to pray.
36. Simon and his friends searched for him.
37. When they found him, they told him, “Everyone is looking for you.”
38. Jesus said to them, “Let’s go somewhere else, to the small towns that are nearby. I have to spread ⌊the Good News⌋ in them also. This is why I have come.”
39. So he went to spread ⌊the Good News⌋ in the synagogues all over Galilee, and he forced demons out of people.
40. Then a man with a serious skin disease came to him. The man fell to his knees and begged Jesus, “If you’re willing, you can make me clean.”
41. Jesus felt sorry for him, reached out, touched him, and said, “I’m willing. So be clean!”
42. Immediately, his skin disease went away, and he was clean.
43. Jesus sent him away at once and warned him,
44. “Don’t tell anyone about this! Instead, show yourself to the priest. Then offer the sacrifices which Moses commanded as proof to people that you are clean.”
45. When the man left, he began to talk freely. He spread his story so widely that Jesus could no longer enter any city openly. Instead, he stayed in places where he could be alone. But people still kept coming to him from everywhere.