The Weekly Word: Do you want it?

By Coulter Page, Pastor, Bethany Alliance Church

“After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

“Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids — blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

“When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?’”

— ESV John 5:1-6

What a question that Jesus asks this man. Here is a man who had been paralyzed or at least extremely weak for 38 years. Day in and day out he would make his way to this “supernatural” pool. He believed that if he could just get into the water, when the time was right, he would receive healing. Time and again he was kept from this miraculous moment. Up walks Jesus.

Jesus sees him and simply asks, “Do you want to be healed?” That seems like such a “duh” question to ask. Of course this man wants to be healed. Of course he wants to be able to get around again. Of course he is tired of living life the way he had been living life.

Stop for a moment and think about Jesus’ question. When you stop to think about Jesus’ question, maybe it is not as “duh” as we initially think.

This way of life had become his normal. For 38 years he lived this way. He had figured out how to get by. Yes, he seemed to be attempting to get healing, but did he really want it? Did he really want a life change? Did he really want to walk away from all he had ever known?

That is why Jesus asked the question. He wanted to know if the man really wanted healing.

Jesus is asking all of us the very same question. “Do you want to be healed?” For some that is physical ailments like this man. For others it is emotional and mental ailments. For all of us it is spiritual.

We have so many things that we have learned to simply live with. We have things that have become our normal way of life because it is all we have ever known. We have struggles and sins that we say we want out of yet we kind of hold onto them with a sense of ownership.

It maybe scares us to really walk away from them like this man walked away from being invalid (John 5:8-9). That is exactly what Jesus is offering.

He is not just offering a get-out-of-jail-free card. He is not just wanting us to “get saved.” He wants so much more for us.

He wants to completely flip our world upside down and make us his followers. He wants to lift us up off our mats and begin to walk with him. He wants to bring us freedom and release that only he can bring.

So, the question is, “Do you want to be healed?”

Prayer

Lord Jesus, today I sit here realizing you are offering healing for my life. Not just one part of my life but my whole life. I realize that I maybe have clung onto it without really realizing it until now. So today I turn to you and answer the question you asked the invalid with a resounding, “Yes!” Heal me. Change me. Make my life a reflection of you. Only you can, so I submit to you. Amen!