The growing reputation of Jesus as a healer of the sick soon taxed His
physical powers to the utmost. He felt Himself called upon to do the
work of a dozen men, and His nature rebelled at the unequal task
imposed upon it. It seemed as if all Capernaum were sick. Her streets
were crowded by seekers after health and strength. At last He
perceived that His work as a Teacher was being submerged in His work
as a Healer. And, after a period of prayer and meditation, He put
aside from Him the claims of humanity for the healing of physical
ills, and turning His back upon the waiting patients at Capernaum, He
once more started forward on His pilgrimage as a Preacher of the
Message, and thereafter would heal physical ills only occasionally,
and, instead, devote the main portion of His time to preaching the
Truth to those who were ready to hear it. It was a hard thing for a
man with the tender heart of Jesus to leave behind Him the crowd of
patients at Capernaum, but it was necessary for Him to do so, else He
would have remained merely an occult healer of physical ailments
instead of the Messenger of the Truth whose work it was to kindle in
many places the Flame of the Spirit, that would serve as the true
Light of the World long after the physical bodies of all then living
had been again resolved to dust.

And so, leaving behind Him Capernaum and its wailing multitudes, He,
followed by His disciples, moved out toward the open country, to
spread the glad tidings and to bring to the hearts of many "that peace
which passeth all understanding."

THE SIXTH LESSON.

THE WORK OF ORGANIZATION.

Leaving Capernaum behind Him, with its crowds of invalids seeking
healing, and fighting off the demands that would have rendered Him a
professional healer instead of a Teacher and preacher of the Message
of Truth, Jesus passed on to other parts of the land, taking with Him
the band of disciples and faithful followers who now traveled with
Him.

But He did not altogether relinquish His healing work. He merely made
it an incident of His ministry, and did not allow it to interfere with
His preaching and teaching. The Gospel narratives show a number of
remarkable cures made by Him at this time, and the few recorded cases
are, of course, merely occasional incidents that stand out in the
minds of the people among hundreds of less noticeable cases.

The cure of the leper is one of such remarkable cases. Leprosy was a
foul disease muc