What are places of healing? Where are they located? Are they readily available?
The New Testament tells us the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem was believed to be such a place. The narrative describes a man, disabled for many years, who was waiting to be healed by the supposed therapeutic powers of the waters, at what might be known today as a health spa. When Jesus asked him, "Wilt thou be made whole?" the man piteously recalled how fruitless his efforts had been to reach the miraculous waters at the appropriate moment before anyone else. Nevertheless, he must have remained expectant of cure, because he continued to have someone bring him there. Christ Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." John 5:6, 8; Wasn't the Master arousing the man to accept what is utterly natural to God's child—perfect freedom? The cripple unhesitatingly obeyed, and his health was unhesitatingly restored. Where did this healing take place? Certainly not in the pool. The man never experienced what was said to be the healing power of that place. Yet in a moment his health was renewed.
Healing takes place in thought. It comes through a spiritual awakening, through an understanding of God and His spiritual expression, man. As we learn to see through illusory, discordant conditions to the immortal source of being, the one Life, we perceive the reality of spiritual existence. The account of Jesus' restoration of the cripple shows that expectancy and obedience to the Christ, Truth, also play a vital role in healing.
