CHAPTER 91.
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Levi
Jesus at the feast in Jerusalem. Heals an impotent man. Gives a practical lesson in healing. Affirms that all men are the sons of God.
The feast time came and Jesus and the twelve went to Jerusalem.
2 Upon the day before the Sabbath day they reached Mount Olives and they tarried at an inn before Mount Olives on the north.
3 And in the early morning of the Sabbath day they went in through the sheep gate to Jerusalem.
4 The healing fountain of Bethesda, near the gate, was thronged about with people who were sick;
5 For they believed that at a certain time an angel came and poured a healing virtue in the pool, and those who entered first and bathed, would be made whole.
6 And Jesus and the twelve were standing near the pool.
7 And Jesus saw a man near by who had been stricken eight and thirty years; without a hand to help he could not move.
8 And Jesus said to him, My brother, man, would you be healed?
9 The man replied, I earnestly desire to be healed; but I am helpless and when the angel comes and pours the healing virtues in the pool,
10 Another who can walk, steps in the fountain first and I am left unhealed.
11 And Jesus said, Who sends an angel here to potentize this pool for just a favored few?
12 I know it is not God, for he deals just the same with every one.
13 One has no better chance in heaven’s healing fountain than another one.
14 The fount of health is in your soul; it has a door locked fast; the key is faith;
15 And every one can have this key and may unlock the door and plunge into the healing fount and be made whole.
16 And then the man looked up in hopeful mood and said, Give me this key of faith.
17 And Jesus said, Do you believe what I have said? According to your faith it shall be done. Arise, take up your bed and walk.
18 The man at once arose and walked away; he only said, Praise God.
19 And when the people asked, Who made you whole? the man replied, I do not know. A stranger at the pool just spoke a word and I was well.
20 The many did not see when Jesus healed the man, and with the twelve he went his way up to the temple courts.
21 And in the temple Jesus saw the man and said to him, Behold you are made whole; from henceforth guard your life aright;
22 Go on your way and sin no more, or something worse may fall on you.
23 And now the man knew who it was who made him whole.
24 He told the story to the priests and they were much enraged; they said, The law forbids a man to heal upon the Sabbath day.
25 But Jesus said, My Father works on Sabbath days and may not I?
26 He sends his rain, his sunshine and his dew; he makes his grass to grow, his flowers to bloom; he speeds the harvests just the same on Sabbath days as on the other days.
27 If it is lawful for the grass to grow and flowers to bloom on Sabbath days it surely is not wrong to succor stricken men.
28 And then the priests were angered more and more because he claimed to be a son of God.
29 A leading priest, Abihu, said, This fellow is a menace to our nation and our laws; he makes himself to be a son of God; it is not meet that he should live.
30 But Jesus said, Abihu, Sir, you are a learned man; you surely know the law of life. Pray tell who were the sons of God we read about in Genesis, who took to wife the daughters of the sons of men?
31 Our father Adam; who was he? From whence came he? Had he a father? or did he fall from heaven as a star?
32 We read that Moses said, He came from God. If Adam came from God, pray, was he offspring, was he son?
33 We are the children of this son of God; then tell me, learned priest, Who are we if not sons of God?
34 The priest had urgent business and he went his away.
35 And Jesus said, All men are sons of God and if they live a holy life they always are at home with God.
36 They see and understand the works of God, and in his sacred name they can perform these works.
37 The lightnings and the storms are messengers of God as well as are the sunshine, rain and dew.
38 The virtues of the heavens are in God’s hands, and every loyal son may use these virtues and these powers.
39 Man is the delegate of God to do his will on earth, and man can heal the sick, control the spirits of the air, and raise the dead.