The great multitude of impotent folk which lay around the pool of Bethesda in the time of Jesus looked to material forces outside themselves to cure their afflictions. We read in the fifth chapter of John's Gospel that the pool was disturbed at a certain season, and the people believed that the first then to step into the water would "be made whole of whatsoever disease he had." The record tells of one healing only, the instantaneous healing by Christ Jesus of a man who for thirty-eight years had been impotent. Possibly the others' faith in material aid made them unreceptive to spiritual help. Jesus afterwards found this man in the temple and told him, in effect, to cease sinning, lest something even worse should come unto him. Having previously thought his affliction could be canceled in a circumstantial way, perhaps the man believed he could be victimized by material circumstances. But Jesus' direct injunction to sin no more may have aroused him from an unresisting attitude toward circumstances. In fact, may we not regard the whole multitude at Bethesda as portraying the age-old impotence of those who lie resignedly in the five porches of the physical senses and look for succor or benefit to their world of objectified thought?
Centuries before Jesus, a wise man had said (Prov.4:23), "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." This saying might be interpreted, Guard your thinking with all diligence, for your experiences will mirror the thoughts you entertain. Many good men and women have tried to obey this precept, but their efforts have been marred by their belief that the human brain produces thought, that it is the source of both good and evil impulses. This erroneous belief is dispelled by Christian Science, which is the "Spirit of truth" that was promised by Christ Jesus and discovered and given to this age by Mary Baker Eddy. Christian Science teaches that Spirit, God, is the only Mind, and that man has, in reality, no other mind. It follows that one's understanding and demonstration of divine Mind as All is inspired and empowered by Mind itself and inevitably places one's experiences under Mind's all-harmonious direction and protection.
The Christ, in Christian Science, is dissolving men's dreams. It is saying to them, "Rise, lift your thought above helpless resignation; go into the temple, man's God-governed consciousness, and there realize and prove your joyous, unfettered activity, freedom, and dominion as sons and daughters of God."
