What Do You Mean; “Do I Want To Be Healed?”

Perhaps one of the strangest questions asked in Christ’s 33 years. Since 8 years before Jesus was born, this paralytic man laid beside this pool…waiting. As the angel stirs the waters, phrases such as “First one in is a rotten egg” were not heard around the Jerusalem poolside. The first one in was healed. For 38 long years this guy was slow on the draw.

So, Jesus showed up and asked this guy, “Do you want to be made well?” This seems like a loaded question. The man immediately replied, “OF COURSE!” Or, at least you would have thought that. He never said “yes.” Can you believe it, he never said “yes.” Instead he made excuses as to why he hadn’t made it in the pool.

We all lay by the pool of Bethesda at some point in our lives. Some of us lay there so long; we could qualify for residency there. Others are there on the diving board waiting for the first sign of bubbles.

The angel is over there stirring the water and we’re hanging out under the beach umbrellas sipping an iced tea. We lay there on our beach chairs discussing our miserable lives with other miserable humans. What’s wrong with you? Get next to the edge of the pool!

Is it the attention? When we are in need of emotional, spiritual or physical healing, someone tends to pay attention to us. Maybe we are lonely. We fear when we actually get better that no one will listen to us anymore. I’ve received more emails in the past week, than I have in the last month. Please don’t stop writing just because I confess this vulnerability.

Is it the lack of desire to get well? It takes work to receive healing. Do we want to do what it takes to get better? Do we want to do the counseling, the rehab, or the moral inventory? When you are healed, people will come to you and ask about your story. You will actually have to relive the hard times. Maybe this makes sense.

The ultimate question is do you want your circumstance to change? Or, is it easier just to live here by the pool? Healing is done. It was done on the cross 2,000 years ago when the phrase was uttered, “It is finished.”

I desperately want physical healing. My six year old prays for me daily. I believe the Lord hears his mighty prayers. He holds my head in his little hands and says, “God, please heal my daddy’s head. Please fill that hole behind his eye. We love you, God. Amen.” I’ll take it.

For now, I stand next to the pool, looking for the first bubble to surface.