It’s a powerful question if you ponder it honestly. And in the world of smartphones and smart TVs we dumb ourselves down to the point that we no longer ask ourselves these types of deep, ponderous questions. And questions like these are exactly the type that Jesus would ask.
We think of Christ as a miracle-maker, a healer. And as true as that is, you’ll notice that before He ever heals anyone, He almost always asks them a question. Take for example the following encounter.
“Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep [Gate] a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.”
John 5:2-5
Although I’ve read this passage numerous times, it spoke to my heart differently this time being that I am currently thirty-eight years old. And I too have been “ill, blind, lame, and crippled” not in the literal sense, but in the ever-so-more important spiritual sense. Sin is a sickness which blinds us and cripples us from being the saints that we are called to be, from realizing the full potential of our heavenly destiny which is to walk in intimacy with God (think of Adam and Eve in the Garden before the Fall).
A Sad Situation with a Simple Solution
The sad part of this story is that the man has been right on the verge of being healed many times. He’s watched others around him be healed. However, he is helpless to make the change for himself and depends on external aid. How many of us are in that same situation, knowing that at any time we can make the much needed changes in our lives.
We all know the famous quote attributed to Albert Einstein: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” But why do we expect a different result from the same fruitless action or lack thereof?
We aren’t given much detail to the story other than what was quoted above. Thinking about the amount of time the man has lived with his infirmity is almost unbelievable. He hasn’t done anything. He’s waited and watched. He’s probably felt jealousy or envy for those whose healing he has witnessed. He has desired this healing for himself only to be brought lower with the acknowledgement that there is nobody to help him into the pool. He is surrounded by countless others who find themselves in the same predicament.
Day-after-day, year-after-year, no doubt he would cry out to God, “Where is my help!?”
Enter Jesus, the Solution to All Our Ills.
When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.”
John 5:6-7
What kind of a question is that? Isn’t it an obvious answer? Well, maybe not. How many people do you know who desire change in their lives, but are unwilling to do anything about it, to lift even a finger? They like to complain about their current circumstances. They blame everyone around them. Or how about this, they go to confession again-and-again for the same sin.
Jesus asks us the same question. Do you want to be healed? Do you want change? Do you want to follow me? Do you love me? Truly?
Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.
John 5:8-9
What’s painful about this story is that this man has spent his lifetime wanting to be healed and in one word Jesus changes his life. “Arise!” We can try our entire lives to become who we think we want to be. We chase fortune and fame. We foolishly believe that obtaining the next thing will make us happy. We are never satisfied. We fall back into the same sin again and again. And instead of excepting the fact that we are helpless to fix ourselves, that nothing can fill the God-shaped hole in hearts except the man who is God, we wait. We wait years, decades, for a solution that has been sitting in front of us the whole time.
A Question that Cuts Deep
Just like with the lame man, Jesus sits quietly aside us asking “Is this what you want? Do you want something better? Do you want to be healed?” And as easy as it is for Him to do, He won’t do it without our permission.
What question is Jesus asking you today?