In our first reading today, John in 1st John says, “I write these things to you so that you may know
that you have eternal life,
you who believe in the name of the Son of God.”
But many believe that just by accepting that Jesus was real, that he was the Son of God, that his actions and events in the Gospel are true, is enough.
That is not what believing in the name of the Son of God means. For even the evil one himself believes Jesus is real. The demons know who Jesus is and do not deny his life or the Gospel.
Many in our world today go about their lives and if asked if they believe in Jesus Christ will affirm that he is real. But that is not the same thing as believing to the extent we put our trust and faith in him. To believe as John talks about means we take that faith and have chosen to give our life to him.
We order our life to reflect his life and love. We align our will with the will of God. We start by ensuring we follow the commandments of Jesus to love God above all and love others as ourselves.
Faith and belief in Christ is the fountain that all our day and actions and thoughts pour from. If our faith is true, then our actions will reflect his will and teachings.
The one who believes invests in that belief by giving all to him.
There is no compartmentalization. There is no boundaries in our life that we don’t bring Jesus into. To live as a believer is to be like the leper in our Gospel today. We bring our worries, our struggles, our successes and failures and we ask Jesus to own it all and heal us for we know we will not be healed without Jesus at the center of our life.
Many of our brothers in faith separate faith and works. Some say only faith matters. Others say only works. But really, they are both partially true but more importantly they frame the question wrong.
For the one who truly believes in Jesus Christ is compelled by that belief to put God’s will first, above all else, which results in actions that align with the will of God.
The disciple assumes that anyone in their right mind would always recognize what is being offered by Jesus Christ and quickly accept it and change everything to follow Jesus’ teachings.
Today we need to ask to also be healed of whatever we suffer from, including anything that gets in our way of living and following the way Jesus taught us to live. For it is the way to healing and eternal life.
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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