Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?

In the Bible (John 5) there is a story of the healing of an impotent man at a place called the pool of Bethesda, a sheep market, located in the ancient city of Jerusalem.

The Bible tells us a “great multitude” of sick folk —“blind, halt, withered”—congregated there waiting for the moving of the water. For it was believed that during a certain season, an angel would come and trouble the water, and that the first one to step into this pool at that time would be healed.

One day Jesus passed by this place and saw a certain man there. This man had been sick for 38 years! With great compassion and knowing, too, that this man had been there for such a long time, Jesus asked him the piercing question, “Wilt thou be made whole?!”

It is interesting that Jesus did not ask him “Would you like to walk again?” or “Would you like to feel better?” No, Jesus asked him if he was ready for a complete transformation — not a mere physical change. It is also interesting to note, the man did not cry out, “Oh yes, I would love to be made whole!!” Instead, as is so often the case, he gave an excuse as to why he had not been healed. His response to Jesus was, “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming another steppeth down before me.” The reason (the excuse) he was not healed was — it was someone else’s fault! Error, hiding behind an excuse, would always like to convince us we are bound by a power apart from God, we are a helpless victim. But in Science we learn there is no such power, for as Mrs. Eddy states, “God is infinite, therefore ever present, and there is no other power nor presence.”!! (S&H)

Jesus did not offer a solution to his excuse. He did not offer to carry him down to the pool. Oh no — Jesus knew this man needed to be aroused up out of a mesmerism. Jesus commanded him to “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” The work of the Master was, of course, effective and the man was made whole!

The lessons from this healing are profound. When you are ever struggling with any problem ask yourself a few important questions. Are you really willing to be made whole, or are you only interested in a “quick fix”? Are you really willing to give up all the excuses that have bound you into believing there is another power other than the One All-powerful God-good? Are you willing to rise up from the belief of life in matter, to get out of that bed of despondency and to “resist all that is unlike good”? Remember the promise that has been given, for it is this, “Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.” (S&H)