Healing Waters

One of my favorite stories in the New Testament is the story of the Savior healing the man born blind. When He found the man the disciples asked, “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus responded, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” He then performed a marvelous healing: “When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing” (John 9:1-7). The man went into the waters of Siloam and was healed through the power of the Savior. He is Living Water; He is the source of true healing and everlasting life just as physical water sustains physical life. Another time at the temple the Savior again used water to teach the people “when an appointed priest drew water from the pool of Siloam with a golden pitcher and poured the water into the silver basin at the base of the temple altar. On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, when the priest had done so, Jesus stood and offered an invitation to the people.” John recorded what happened, “Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38). What a powerful moment this must have been for those who opened their hearts to hear Him proclaim His power to heal and save them. Again it was the water from the pool of Siloam He used to teach them of His ability to heal and save all those who will come unto Him and drink. Another story in John’s record also used water to help us understand the Savior’s saving power. He declared to the woman at Jacob’s well: “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water…. Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:10-14). He is the spiritual water that will bring us everlasting life. If we will come and drink we will have an everlasting source of spiritual water to heal and strengthen us.  

                Elder Anthony Perkins reminded us of the Savior’s power to heal and bless us when he said this: “The Lord told His covenant people, ‘I have refined thee … ; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.’ Whatever the cause of your sufferings, your loving Heavenly Father can direct them to refine your soul. Refined souls can bear others’ burdens with true empathy and compassion. Refined souls who have come ‘out of great tribulation’ are prepared to joyfully live in God’s presence forever, and ‘God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.’” I love that final verse he quoted, also given to us by John, in which the apostle wrote again about the healing waters of the Lord: “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Revelation 7:16-17). He brings us to “living fountains of waters” and heals the bitter water from our eyes. I love this youth song that testifies of the Healing Water He offers all of us in the covenant of baptism and the ordinance of the Sacrament. One of the places we often see a symbolic representation of the Savior’s healing water is at temples where fountains are often placed in front, and in addition to reminding us of His literal healing at Siloam this also points us to Ezekiel’s great vision as he was shown the waters coming forth out of the temple at Jerusalem: “He brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward…. These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh” (Ezekiel 47:8-9). The water he saw physically healed the land and the Dead Sea, bring life to all it passed. Those waters, coming out of the temple, are of course symbolic of His great power to heal all of us who will let it come over them. He is the Living Water we find in the covenants of baptism and the temple. When we come and drink, when we come and wash, we shall be healed and “with joy… draw water out of the wells of salvation” (2 Nephi 22:3).