Article June 25, 2018 Issue

God’s immediate help

Mark Catlin

I have always been struck by the many examples in the Bible of instantaneous healing, and other instances of the immediate solving of problems. For me, they provide a vivid reminder that no matter how perplexing or dire the situation, knowing and trusting in God’s ever-present help can see us through an issue not just quickly, but immediately. Take the example of the disciples in a boat during a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee.

Christ Jesus comes to the disciples, walking on the water. Peter calls out to Jesus that if it is really he, Jesus should tell Peter to join him. Jesus tells him to do so. “And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased” (Matthew 14:29–32).

Jesus was able to heal situations with immediacy because he did not view his fellow man as a material body subject to sickness, hereditary disorders, accident, or even death. Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “To Jesus, not materiality, but spirituality, was the reality of man’s existence, while to the rabbis the spiritual was the intangible and uncertain, if not the unreal” (p. 352). Jesus understood that man is wholly and completely spiritual. The so-called laws of matter that dominated thought in the culture of his time held no reality for Jesus. The reality he understood was that God, Spirit, is good, and because man is made in the image and likeness of God, man can truly experience only this good.

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