Friday, April 25, 2014

Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?

As mortals, we break.  It applies to all facets: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual.  We are breakable.  Whether it be through our individual choices, the decisions of others, or tribulations that are appointed unto us, we all, at some point, find ourselves to be broken.  Sometimes we become fractured, in need of mending and restoring.  Yet at other times, we discover that we are thoroughly shattered, requiring patient reconstruction and devoted rectification.  Knowing that both our temporal bodies and spiritual compositions can be fragile to the circumstances of this earthly experience, we may find ourselves anxious to find a source of restoration, for we all seek to be whole.  However, trepidation need not take hold on our hearts, for we have been provided with the Great Physician.  It does not make a difference if we are fragmented or demolished, He can heal all, and has the ability to bring us to restitution.  What hope this delivers to a broken soul.

The story of the healing of the man at Bethesda attracts me.  Within Jerusalem, aside a sheep market, lay a pool.  This small body of water drew the ailing.  Around it the diseased, debilitated, and afflicted could be found, looking out into the water, awaiting it to move.  Tradition had led to the belief that when the water became troubled, an angel of healing had arrived.  The first person to enter its curative depths would be restored.  By the side of the pool lay a man who had been impaired with a grim infirmity, lasting thirty-eight years, probably a vast majority of his life.   He had to have been a man of substantial faith.  The scriptures do not expound as to how long he had been aside the edge of the pool, but based on his resolved dedication and steady trust in the water’s remedial abilities, we can suppose that this was not the first time he anxiously gazed into its depths.  He was a lame man.  He could not walk, nor rapidly move himself to the water.  As he viewed the others surrounding him with their own maladies, he undoubtedly had a firm understanding that the likelihood of one sacrificing their own healing for his benefit was improbable.  Yet, there he stationed himself.  Devoted to his belief and committed to being restored through Divine intervention.  On a Sabbath day, the Savior came upon this man of faith, and through His miraculous power, heals him entirely, through His touch and word.  No dramatic display or extravagant show to manifest His abilities.  It came as quiet, yet supreme healing, through the steadfast faith of a broken child of God.  The Lord’s power has always been accomplished through small and simple acts.  It’s an incredible story and example of the Healer’s hand, but perhaps the greatest message to receive comes in the words He spoke prior to restoring the crippled man:

When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? (John 5:6)

The Savior’s power is not finite.  We understand that if a whisper were to part from His lips commanding a colossal mountain to descend, it would fold and crumble instantaneously.  His ability to heal His sheep is not limited, but it is suppressed by our inward and outward expressions of faith.  We hold a significant role in our own individual healing.  As we recognize the part we play and actively fulfill it, we enable the Savior to place His restorative hands upon us, repairing what has been impaired.  He is the only true source of healing that exists.  All else may provide a moment of respite, but will wither in due course.  As we humbly offer our brokenness to the Lord, exhibiting boundless trust in His abilities, we will find perpetual correction and restoration. 

We should not be convinced that we must possess perfect faith in order to be recovered.  We are all imperfect beings, it is as it is designed to be.  If we were flawless, our earthly probation would be of no purpose.  We are here to learn and evolve, to acquire the perfect faith we need for exaltation.  But we are not perfect in these very moments, and the Lord knows of this.  He does not place a prerequisite of perfection in order to attain blessings of His mercy.  If that was the condition, blessings would not be recorded or experienced, because Christ was the only perfect being to walk the earth.  However, we are requested to be committed to the faith that we have obtained, not to forsake or renounce what we have acquired.  We must remain constant, even through our darkest of hours, and sustain through each experience, no matter how inequitable they may seem.

Imagine this man who sat on the banks of Bethesda.  His establishment at the very edge of the water is my favorite symbol in the story.  It stands as an emblem of his unfeigned efforts to do his part in preparing and receiving his healing.  It signifies the fulfillment of his role in the repair of his disablement.  He brought himself as close as he could come, but needed intervention for completion.  How unfair his plight must have seemed.  He thoroughly believed in the ability to be healed, and knew that it most certainly would come through Divine means, hence why he came to the only place he knew, in his immediate surroundings, where the grace of the Lord penetrated the earth.   But his weak and disabled physical frame could not collaborate with the faith of his heart.  How many times had he attempted to reach the water, physically exerting all he had, only to observe another, one with physical abilities he was not given, enter before him.  It must have been terribly enervating and taxing in all aspects.  Yet, he remained.  His faith never faltered, because he knew that only through the grace of the Lord could his afflictions be cured.  This very faith is what healed the man.  The Savior, through His divine inspiration, felt and understood the faith that existed inside of him before approaching.  Once identifying him, he drew near, and immediately asked: Wilt thou be made whole?  The Lord knew that the necessary faith existed within him, but inquired if the man would accept His healing influence. This man was prepared for His healing power, and because of this, it was provided unto him.  He stands as an example to us all.  We, too, must ready ourselves for healing.  We must employ our individual abilities and exertions to satisfy our part of the process, and then patiently await upon the Lord, with determined and anchored faith.   As we do so, we will be prepared to reply with eagerness that we, indeed, will be made whole through His hands.   

There will be times when our healing hopes will go unmet.  We will be unlike the man that was healed at Bethesda, and will find that we do not have the ability to rise, take up our bed, and walk.  Perhaps, it is because there is no opportunity to fall back into time to change our decisions or actions.  Maybe it is due to the fact that people we love are allowed free agency, and their choices cut us to our core and wound our hearts.  Other times, we will discover that our physical or mental abnormalities do not fade as we desire them to.  Or possibly, things or people that are dear to us will be removed for our side.  In these moments we may feel abandoned, and may cry to the Lord with perplexity entwined in our words.  We may lose hope or wonder why we have been called to suffer such a hardship, especially if we have remained faithful and true.  We may question our worth and the love of our Father.  Doubt may try to thwart our faith.  During these moments we must trust that healing is taking place, just not in the designated way we had planned.  We must sustain the understanding that He knows us, distinctively and personally.  Which means, that He knows what paths are needed for us to become perfected, which, in turn, will allow us to receive exaltation.  One of my best-loved quotes relating to Christ’s tenacity in advancing us towards perfection comes from C.S. Lewis:

Once you call Christ in, He will give you the full treatment.  That is why He warned people to ‘count the cost’ before becoming Christians.  ‘Make no mistake’, He says, ‘if you let me, I will make you perfect.  The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for.  Nothing less, or other, than that.  You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away.  But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through.  Whatever suffering it may cost you…whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect-until my Father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said He was well pleased with me.  This I can do and will do.  But I will not do anything less.


Enduring devotedly is our objective.  If we do so, there will be a time when we look back on what we have suffered, and identify the places within us, that once were concealed, which are healed because we were permitted to carry our individualized burden, and because we sustained it through.  It is not easy and was never designed to be.  It can, and will, be distressing, traumatic, and cause an aching that pounds from within us, which may seem to destroy our very soul.  But we have been promised that we will never be left alone to bear it.  Not only does The Lord offer his strength, but He pleads for us to enable Him to do so.  He stands at the door awaiting us to turn the handle, which only exists on our side.  If we choose Him, He has promised that our burden, no matter how crippling, will be lightened.  It may not be taken from us, but it will be possible to withstand. With His companionship we will find that we can persevere through our time of testing, not without pain, but with hope of one day receiving absolute healing.  When that day arrives, as He approaches us, He will utter the same words he did to the troubled man at Bethesda: Wilt thou be made whole?  In that moment, due to our persistent labors, resolute faith, and our knowledge that through Him our brokenness can be exchanged for completeness, we can fall at His feet and reply: Although my flesh is weak, my spirit is strong, my faith is firm, and my knowledge is true, that through you, my Great Physician, I can be healed.  And we will arise, take our beds, and walk.   


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