Big Enough
Amnon watched his friends Nathan and Josiah load their figs and lentils onto the wooden platform at the edge of the cliff. With an angry scowl, he shoved his basket of almonds near the rest of the food. “It isn't fair,” he said.
With a flurry of moving ropes and squeaking pulleys, two men lowered the wooden platform into the leper colony as the boys watched.
“Look, Amnon!” Josiah said. “There's your father coming out of the cave. Isn't that the robe your mother made?”
Amnon turned away in anger. He didn't want to see.
“I'm sorry,” Josiah whispered. “I thought you'd want to see him. It's been so long.”
Amnon clenched his fists. “It's not fair that my father must live in that valley and get his food dropped down to him like an animal. I wish he weren't sick. I wish he could come home and eat dinner with us like before!”
Amnon remembered how happy their family used to be. His father had been one of the finest carpenters in Galilee! Every day, Amnon helped him work in his shop, building beautiful furniture for people to buy. Until one day, his father caught leprosy and was sent to the Valley of the Lepers. Now Amnon's mother was always working to buy food for Amnon and his sisters.
“It just isn't fair!” Amnon said with a scowl.
Several days later, Amnon stood outside the musty house his family shared with a widow and her children.
Just then, Nathan and Josiah walked up.
“Come with us,” Nathan said. “We're going to see Jesus the Teacher.”
“I'm not interested,” Amnon said.
“Haven't you heard?” Josiah asked. “Jesus is a miracle worker.”
“His miracles aren't big enough for me,” Amnon mumbled. But after his friends left, Amnon turned and followed them down the road. A large crowd headed to the hillside just outside of town.
A man walked to the top of the hill and began to speak.
“It's Jesus!” voices whispered in the crowd.
The Teacher spoke about blessings, about needing God, and about love and forgiveness. He even spoke about anger.
As Jesus spoke, Amnon felt something happen-as though all the anger inside his heart was being washed away. He felt different. His heart felt lighter.
When Jesus finished speaking, Amnon and his friends followed Jesus down the mountainside.
Suddenly, Josiah grabbed Amnon's arm. “Isn't that your father?” he asked.
“It can't be!” Amnon said. “He's not supposed to leave the Valley of the Lepers.”
But it was. Amnon knew his father's robe. With shock, Amnon watched his father walk to Jesus and kneel on the ground before Him.
The crowds cleared away. “Leper!” someone shouted. Several people picked up stones to throw.
Above the confusion, Amnon heard his father say, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Jesus reached out to touch Amnon's father.
The Teacher's amazing words filled Amnon's ears.
“I am willing,” Jesus said. “Be clean!”
Right before Amnon's very eyes, his father's leprosy disappeared. His face now looked healthy, exactly like Amnon remembered it.
Running through the crowd, Amnon cried out, “Father!”
His father stood and opened his arms wide, “My son!”
“It's a miracle!” someone shouted.
Amnon's heart felt as though it would burst with joy. “Jesus' miracles are big enough for me!” he cried.