What does the man at the pool of Bethesda have in common with the leper who came to Jesus for healing?

As I prayed this morning I was surprised to find that I was thinking about the man at the pool of Bethesda and Jesus healing a man with leprosy. I wondered what they had in common, for both got their healing, one of a problem of 38 years standing, the other of what was considered an incurable disease.

It occurred to me that the man at the pool still had hope. He had been struggling with his physical problem for a long time, Jesus was aware of that when he saw him waiting beside the pool. Despite the many years, the tenacity of that error, he went there day after day, with the hope that today might be the day he would get his healing. In the presence of the Christ, he got his healing.

The leper, shunned by all, forced by law to keep  his distance from others, approached Jesus. He knelt before him and said, 'if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean'. He had not given up hope that even this incurable disease could be healed by the Christ. And he was healed.

In both cases Jesus viewed the men with compassion. I love what Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health about what Jesus saw when he looked at the people who came to him for healing. "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick". (S&H 476)

The kingdom of heaven is within each of us because we are God's children. Truth and Love reign in us, filling all space with good. There is no place for disease or error to take hold. There is only the substance of Spirit so there is no matter to cope with. No matter in the form of disease, no matter in the form of a body to host it, no such thought in divine Mind to even think such a thing is possible or believe in it at all. There is nothing that needs to be removed or corrected. In Science there is just the perfect man, made in the image and likeness of God. God never changes so the reflection always stays the same.

 "I am the Lord, I change not;" (Malachi 3:6). You are My child, you change not.
"The Christian Science God is universal, eternal, divine Love, which changeth not and causeth no evil, disease, nor death." (S&H 140) This is how we see God in Science, this is how we should see ourselves and others.