19. Healing at Bethesda

Recently, I've had the chance to go to the Museum of Art and look around at a few paintings. One that had a profound impact on me was Christ's healing at the pool of Bethesda. This experience was a rather special one for me. I went with a really close friend of mine. I wasn’t expecting much of an experience at the MOA since I'm not very big into art.  Honestly I wasn’t expecting to be there for any more than 30 minutes. We ended up staying there for about an hour, at that one painting alone. My friend and I got into a deep and serious discussion. We talked about how this painting made us want to become better and be leaders for others that have seemed to strayed off the path a little. I realized that I felt very much like the man to the right of the man being healed by Jesus.

This feeling came for several reasons. First of all, I noticed that he too seemed sick, yet was not being healed. Furthermore, it seemed that he wasn’t even noticed by anyone else in the environment. This is how I felt at the time. I felt that I was in need of a healing, yet I felt the Lord had never glanced in my direction to heal me. I came to tears from this experience. By the way, I abhor crying, and am deeply embarrassed when I do. But back to the point, I wanted so badly for him to heal me, physically, spiritually, and mentally. I have had problems with these things for quite some time now, and I finally found myself begging to the Lord. I found myself being humbled, like so many other times in my life, but from this experience. My pride had been stripped from me.

In the painting, Christ is portrayed healing the sick man. This appears to be through an invitation to rise. It is through the priesthood that this healing is able to occur. It is through His grace that we are saved. He invites us all to partake in His healing power. In the painting there are disapproving looks. Often time, we too may get those same looks as we pause to help and lift another, and it always seems to be someone that none associates with when they give these looks. Sometimes, doing the right thing isn’t always what people think is popular, but through Christ’s example shown in the painting, we know that it may be the most loving thing we can do. I really love this painting and how it helps put an image to the historical event of Christ’s healing at the pool in Bethesda.

This one experience has helped me see that I am not ignored. The Savior has not left me, but rather, He has put His trust in me, believing that I can get up by myself. He knows that I have the strength to lift up and keep moving forward. Yes, I won't be able to heal myself, but if I put my effort into getting up by myself, then He will do the rest. Then He will heal me of my faults. Like the man at Bethesda, the Savior can heal me and save me. As long as I trust in Him, and as long as I believe Christ.