Questions regarding Matthew 8

I’m reading through Matthew lately and noticed this chapter and details jumped out at me in such a way that I thought in a non-threatening way, I’d merely post most of the chapter here, and highlight and emphasize things and ask questions about it concerning the topic of, you guess it, healing.

The Man With Leprosy (1-4)
When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

Did Jesus turn this man down for healing? Did He say He wasn’t willing?
Did it take a long time to manifest the healing in the man’s body?

The Faith of the Centurion (5-13)
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”
Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”
The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

Did Jesus refuse to heal this man’s servant?
What was Jesus’ response when the man first asked Him to heal his servant?
What did Jesus tell his disciples He hadn’t found much of in Israel, but found in this man?
Did Jesus’ last statement to the centurion indicate how he received his servant’s healing?

Jesus Heals Many (14-17)
When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s motherinlaw lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
When evening came, many who were demonpossessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.”

Did Jesus wait for Peter’s mother-in-law to ask Him if He would heal her? Or did He have compassion and just DO it?
Does it say Jesus neglected to heal any of the sick and demon-possessed that came to him? Or does the word “all” mean something different than it did back then?

Jesus Calms the Storm (23-27)
Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
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.
The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

What did Jesus tell his disciples here that they had too little of (I’ll give you a hint, he told the centurion as he had it, so he saw his servant healed)?
With the compassion we’ve seen Jesus have so far in this chapter on every person who’s come to him for healing, judging by the fact that the winds and the waves obey him, don’t you think we can have confidence when we go to Him for healing of our physical infirmities?

The Healing of Two Demonpossessed Men (28-34)
When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demonpossessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”
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. Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demonpossessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

Did Jesus, who is our example in all things pertaining to spiritual life, pray to the Father for help to drive out the demons, or did He just drive them out?
Did Jesus refuse to heal either of these two men because they’ve reaped what they sown, or because God is trying to teach them a lesson about any sin they could have committed to open themselves up to all these demons?
Did Jesus merely “think” that He’d like it if these demons left, or did He command them (with his mouth) to go?

Some interesting thoughts can come to light by asking ourselves some questions of the text we read, and void ourselves of any pre-understanding we already have before reading the passage.