Lesser of two evils.

You’ve heard the saying.  It’s where you have to choose between two not very good options.  The decision is presumably fraught with pitfalls, but something must be done.  And the human condition seems to be full of such problems.  Or is it?

What if there is a third option that dismisses the whole issue?

When Jesus was in the synagogue one Sabbath, there was a man with a withered hand.  The options seemed to be: heal on the Sabbath and break the law or tell the man to come back some other time.  After all, he’d lived with it this long, what’s one more day?  Either one might have been okay, and he certainly wouldn’t have gotten into too much trouble.  But…

Jesus chose neither.  He healed the man, restoring his withered hand to normal usefulness, “like as the other.”  And he challenged th0se who condemned him for healing on the Sabbath to have at least as much kindness for a man as they did for their livestock. (see Matt 12:10-13 for example)

The Master knew that this dear man had a right to be whole NOW.  Why wait, when the power to make him well was immediately available?

Or what about that fainting multitude?  Better send ’em home since there’s not enough food here.  At least those were the two evils the disciples saw.  But Jesus had a third option.  Feed them.  What?  Yes, feed them.  All of them.  (see Mark 6:34-44)

The gospels are full of many such stories where Jesus simply dismissed all of the seemingly practical human circumstances and, instead, provided a divinely natural outcome.  He blessed when others condemned.  He lifted when others put down.  He healed when others said health was impossible.

What an example for us.  Instead of assuming that the pitiful and painful are the only possibilities, we can seek a higher and holier solution.  It requires that we lift our eyes – and our thought – to see what God sees.

Jesus, who worked as his Father worked (John 5:17), saw safety now.  Health now.  Life now.  Redemption now.  Harmony now.  And he said of his followers – you and me – we could and would do the same.  (John 14:12)  Now.

That means we don’t have to choose the lesser of two evils.  That we can find a solution that rises above the current events of human existence and do it now, here.  It involves trusting that your heavenly Father is watching out for you as tenderly as He was watching out for Jesus.  And providing you with the same consistent good.

Don’t think you’re stuck with limited and declining health or finances or happiness or anything.  Jesus certainly didn’t see it that way.  Why should we?

Mary Baker Eddy explained it this way, “Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good.  God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.”  (Science and Health, page 393)

 Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.