When Christ Jesus walked by the pool of Bethesda, he saw multitudes of blind and crippled people waiting to be cured. Out of all of these the Master healed one. But first he asked him, "Wilt thou be made whole?" ^{John 5:6;} Without answering Yes or No, the man assured him that he certainly had made vigorous efforts to get his healing in the best way he knew.

Then, when the Master commanded him to rise and carry away his bed, the man responded promptly. According to the Gospel, this man displayed a strong desire to be well, seized his freedom when it was offered, and then used it without hesitation or reluctance.

"Do you want to be healed?" Today this might seem a strange question to ask someone who is sick or disabled. "Surely," one may say, "doesn't everyone wish to be whole and well?" But the fact is that an honest, thoughtful answer may not always be an unqualified Yes.

For instance, what would be the implications for a woman who, if she were healed, would be able to resume all the duties of homemaker and mother? She would be able to get up early every morning, cook meals, do the marketing, operate the washing machine, and generally care for her husband and family instead of having them care for her. After months of invalidism during which she has led a life of ease and everyone's attention has been centered on her, how would she like that? Would she really want to be well?

Or what about the businessman who, if he were healed, would be able to attend a dull and demanding conference that his indisposition was enabling him to avoid? Or the schoolboy whose stomach upset is (to his relief) causing him to miss a dreaded exam? Could they honestly say they wished to be well?

Christian Science treatment is able to heal every one of these cases. Its healing influence reaches deep down into human consciousness to destroy not only the mortal beliefs that are the basis of disease, but the false thoughts that may be causing the patients unwittingly to cling to the discordant conditions and delay their recovery.

If the answer to the question "Do you want to be healed?" is, "No, not really," the practitioner may be led to direct his treatment primarily to the overcoming of apathy in his patient by affirming the true nature of his being as the expression of eternal Life, God, and realizing the presence in his consciousness of dynamic spiritual activity.

He may lay emphasis on the development in that individual of the affluent qualities of divine Truth and Love—of spiritual peace, satisfaction, and the selfless affection that is expressed in the desire to give and to bless others. Or perhaps he may detect that a false sense of inferiority and inadequacy needs to be replaced with joyful recognition of God-given intelligence and completeness, or the fear of being lonely and unloved to yield to the consciousness of true identity as the gloriously satisfied manifestation of Soul. Or, in some cases he may work for a clearer recognition of Love's law of harmony to bring about an adjustment of burdensome family or business conditions that may have made health and normal activity seem unattractive.

The wholehearted longing for health and freedom on the part of a patient is a help to healing. In fact, without it our prayers may be ineffective. Mrs. Eddy writes: "If we are not secretly yearning and openly striving for the accomplishment of all we ask, our prayers are 'vain repetitions,' such as the heathen use. If our petitions are sincere, we labor for what we ask; and our Father, who seeth in secret, will reward us openly." ^{Science and Health, p. 13;}

The professed desire for health, however convincing it may sound, accomplishes little if it is not truly felt. "The Lord looketh on the heart." ^{I Sam. 16:7;} One's innermost desires need to correspond with one's spoken prayers if they are to be answered. Hence the need for an affirmative response to the question, "Wilt thou be made whole?"

All obstacles to this wholehearted declaration of desire to be well are dissolved through the Christly understanding of true being. The Christian Science practitioner who holds to the divine idea that, as Mrs. Eddy says, "man is the expression of God's being" ^{Science and Health, p. 470.} knows that self-centeredness or laziness, a sense of inadequacy or timidity, or the lack of outgoing affection are no more true of man than of God, divine Love. He rejects the belief of their presence and power in the thought of his patient, and through affirmation he brings to light in him instead the expression of man's native qualities of Love. These, the practitioner knows, are always present in the consciousness of the real man, and his acknowledgment of this fact helps his patient to express them actively in zestful love of Life, joy, gratitude, and the desire to bless others.

How different, then, is the response to that question, "Do you wish to be well?" And the healing is quickly complete.

Naomi Price