[ Today's Readings ]
Who indeed is the victor over the world
but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is not because it checks a box on an arbitrary salvation checklist. Only by believing in Jesus can we experience his power to save us.
Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.
And yet, it is said that demons believe and tremble. They don't experience salvation. This leper believes and he does. What's the difference? Demons know certain things about God. They know he exists. But they don't have victorious belief. In a similar situation to this man we can imagine that a demon might say, 'Lord, make me clean.' He knows certain things about Jesus and his power. But he still believes that he ultimately knows best about what should happen and how the universe ought to be run. He doesn't really trust in the goodness of God. The leper leaves that decision ultimately in the hands of Jesus. He knows that Jesus is good, that he is loving, and that he cures. He comes at all because of his hope that Jesus will cure him. But he does not insist.
Do we experience victorious belief? Do we experience healing of spirit, body, and mind? Do we experience genuine power at work in our lives? If we aren't as victorious as we might be, let's listen to the testimony about Jesus.
The Spirit is the one who testifies,
and the Spirit is truth.
So there are three who testify,
the Spirit, the water, and the Blood,
and the three are of one accord.
How does this help, actually? Well, we tend to prefer the testimony of the water. We prefer the testimony of the Father about Jesus at his baptism and at the transfiguration. We delight to see his glory revealed, to hear the Father say, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." But there is also the testimony of the blood. There is the testimony of the love that Jesus shows for the world on the cross. It can look like failure from certain angles. But from the right perspective it is a genuine testimony which reveals Jesus to us.
When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (cf. Matthew 27:54)
When we accept both the testimony of the water and that of the blood we have a faith that is more willing to trust Jesus no matter what. We are more able to believe that he is working for our good. We are more ready to leave everything in his hands. We are convinced more and more of the love he has for us (cf. 1 John 4:16).
The Spirit wants to help us to accept all of this testimony. Without him it is all dead letters. It is never elevated to victorious belief. It is not life-giving. Let us welcome the Spirit so that we can truly accept the testimony of these three witnesses.
And this is the testimony:
God gave us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son.
Whoever possesses the Son has life;
whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life.
When we accept this testimony we experience victory in our lives. The bars of our gates are strengthened. We have peace in our cities and our children are blessed, just as the psalmist sings.
Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
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