The Spirit Within

In today’s Gospel Lesson, a poor leper kneels before Jesus in an attitude of complete faith. “You can cure me, he says, “If You will to do so You can cure me.” Jesus puts His hand on the leper and says, “I do will it. Be cured,” and the man is healed. Jesus had effected radical change in the man’s life. The cure meant that he would no longer have to live the life of an outcast, as lepers did in those days. He had been liberated from that burden. He could begin to live again as a full human being.

People who have been with Jesus Christ find their lives changed, almost inevitably. Peter and Andrew, James and John, and Mary and Martha, the woman at the well, the woman taken in adultery, the blind who were healed, the lepers who were healed-when Jesus came into their lives, they started to come alive to God. They may not really have believed in God…