FROM THE editors March 22, 2004 Issue

At the feet of Jesus

Editor

As Mel Gibson's film graphically portrays, the world was anything but kind to its Saviour, Jesus Christ. And the Gospels tell us that Jesus' 33 earthly years were punctuated by scorn, insult—and finally crucifixion—at the hands of the very people he came to comfort, heal, and bless with new hope.

But persecution doesn't begin to tell the larger story of Jesus' life, and its effect on the people around him. Thousands of his countrymen and women felt irresistibly drawn to Jesus' pure, healing love. They thronged him in "great multitudes," wherever he went—at the marketplace, on a fishing boat, on a mountainside. And they brought along friends and family—people who were sick, blind, lame, injured. The Bible says they placed these people "at Jesus' feet," where they could listen to the Master, feel his love up-close, and hear about a kingdom where people like themselves could "inherit the earth" (see Matt 15:30; 5:5).

And something else happened to the people who sat at his feet. Again and again, the great Teacher healed them. He restored their hearts and minds and bodies. He showed them God's love, through his love. And they were never the same.

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