Do you want to be healed?

One day, out in the wild, wild, west, a cowboy was riding down an old wagon trail. All of a sudden as he rounded a bend, he saw a man, whom he recognized as a locally renowned scout, lying down – flattened in the middle of the trail, his ear pressed to the ground. As he got closer the scout began to speak, “Wagon, drawn by two horses; horses are gray and white; two passengers in the wagon; one a man, one a woman; the man is driving; going very fast.”

The cowboy was truly amazed and impressed. This scout was legendary for his extraordinary tracking skills and now the cowboy understood why. “That’s incredible!” the cowboy said in awe and respect. “You can tell all of that just by listening with your ear to the ground?” The scout didn’t move but replied, “No, they ran over me an hour ago!”

The man by the pool in our gospel story had been flattened too and for a long time. He lived among a community of infirmed. John tells us this man had been lying near this pool for 38 years – a lifetime!

This pool, that archeologists have actually uncovered, was a kind of “health spa”– like mineral springs. The belief was that when the water stirred in the pool (perhaps caused by an intermittent spring), the water then had healing powers, and the first one in the water would be healed. So there he was, for 38 years, waiting beside the pool.

John is very specific that all this happened on the Sabbath. We know that there were literally hundreds of restrictive Sabbath laws that forbade all sorts of activities, including healing. In fact healing was one of the biggies. No healing on the Sabbath! Sick? Want to be healed? Sorry, it’s the Sabbath – you’ll have to wait until tomorrow! And they were serious about it! The law was clear!

Look at the difference between Jesus and the religious authorities. Jesus represents empowerment, healing and freedom through love and compassion. The religious authorities represent the law, legalism and restriction.

There is no question that Jesus broke sacred Sabbath laws – making the religious authorities mad. And of course, this wasn’t the only time. The gospels give other examples of Jesus and his disciples breaking from the Sabbath laws, and doing it intentionally.

What a contrast between the expression of Jesus and the attitude of the religious authorities. The religious authorities couldn’t even celebrate this man’s healing by Jesus.

At the end of the story, the man was healed, so he grabs his mat and leaps to his feet. And the reaction of the religious authorities is, “What are you doing carrying that mat on the Sabbath? Don’t you know that is against Sabbath law?”

Are you kidding me? The guy was just healed of a lifetime of oppression, and he’s being chastised for joyfully carrying the mat that has been his bed for 38 years?

It’s amazing how some people, in the name of Christianity, can be so condescending and judgmental … imposing their law and legalism on others. For Jesus, the love and grace of God, the compassion and empowerment of God, always, always, always trumped law and legalism!

Let’s go back to the beginning of this story. Jesus walked up to this man and asked a very interesting question: “Do you want to be made well?” That question is fascinating! Of course the man wanted to be made well, didn’t he? Or did he?

The man’s reply is equally as fascinating.

He didn’t reply with a resounding, “Oh, yes! Definitely!” He didn’t respond with excitement or a sense of eagerness. He hedged, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water stirs; and when I start making my way someone always steps down ahead of me.”

But that’s not what Jesus asked. He asked if he wanted to be healed. The man’s response was kind of evasive, don’t you think? When I put myself into this story, which is what we all are invited to do, I begin to see some possible reasons for the man’s evasive response.

Maybe he was a victim of guilt? Most likely, this man had been told that his infirmity was the result of his sin, or the sins of his parents, as many people believed in those days. He had probably been told his infirmity was his fault, so when Jesus asked the question perhaps he felt some buried guilt well up from within him, and he tried to brush it away with his indirect reply.

Maybe he was feeling a little self-pity. “I have no one to put me into the pool.” One person has said self-pity is like being trapped in quick-sand. It’s paralyzing and suffocating. You’re stuck and you can’t get yourself out alone. You need help.

Maybe he has some skepticism. Maybe other healers had tried to heal this man and had failed. Maybe he had is family and friends pray for him, and he still wasn’t healed and he had been disappointed, and as a result he was now skeptical, defensive and even cynical about this person who stood before him. Who was this person anyway?

Maybe he had a little fear; and maybe a lot of fear. I mean, being healed would totally transform his life. He had been there 38 years, a life-time, and he had learned to live with and survive in his condition.

Being made well would change all of that. It would change everything. It would change his relationships. It would change his world-view. It would change his daily routines. It would change the way people treated him. It would move him from the known (comfortable) into the unknown (uncomfortable).

Being made well would require letting go of old ways of living and embracing new ways of freedom and health. Maybe the thought of that was simply too overwhelming and too frightening. This man, perhaps like us and even representing us, had learned to survive, and had adjusted to it, so much so, that he had become comfortable. Perhaps being made well may have been too much for him to even consider –inconceivable.

So which was it? Which one of these is closest to the truth? I don’t know! It’s probably all of them and more. Try not to think of this story as an ancient history about a man sitting by a pool long ago, but a contemporary story about us; about you and me; a story that replays over and over again and takes shape in your life and mine. We don’t have to speculate about the man in this story because we know what it’s like for us.

Hear this story as Jesus standing before each and every one of us – and speaking personally to us, and asking, “Do you want to be made well?” Of course we want to be made well! Or do we?

At one time or another we all have been injured, wounded and flattened by life. Something comes along: some disease, some circumstance, some broken relationship, some loss, some emotional wound, some rejection, some failure; something came along that injured your mind, body, emotions or spirit, and you were knocked off your feet, and perhaps found yourself knocked down for the count with your face in the dirt; or maybe you were left feeling empty, hollow, angry, resentful, fearful or stuck in some way.

More often than I want to admit, I can sound a lot like the man by the pool – sort of dancing around Jesus’ question, not really all that sure if I want to be set free from the infirmities of my life; finding myself hesitant to let go of the old that is known and to embrace the new that is unknown; finding myself hesitant, uncertain, uncomfortable and anxious.

I think the most debilitating infirmities are not physical but the emotional, spiritual, and, of course, our attitude. I think a regular part of the Christian life is that Jesus stands before and us and looks into our hearts, and asks, “Do you want to be made well?” “Do you want to be set free from whatever it is that confines you, paralyzes you, keeps you locked within yourself, erodes away your love? Do you want to be made well from negative and narrow attitudes, a pervasive prejudice, a grudge you carry; a fear that keeps you from risking, a wound that festers in your soul, low self esteem; a past failure that still haunts and handicaps you; the self-pity in which you wallow?

Do you want to be made well? Do you really? How do you answer? How will I answer? Perhaps with, “Well, yes! Thank you very much, but I can handle it myself.”

Theologian J. Holub says, “It’s been my experience in ministry and in my own life that many issues go unresolved under the guise of ‘I can handle it myself.’”

Or perhaps I answer with, “It’s not my fault. Don’t blame me. Someone else is responsible.” When we find ourselves in the trap of self-pity, there’s little comfort and it makes it more difficult for healing and empowerment.

Or maybe, I respond with skepticism and cynicism: “I don’t believe you can make me well. I’ve tried all that faith stuff before, and it has not made any difference.”

Or maybe I respond with resignation: “I am OK. I have grown accustomed, even comfortable with my situation and my condition. Don’t ask me to change. I don’t want to change. I am afraid to change. I choose to hang on to my condition and attitude. Now, leave me alone.”

“Do you want to be made well?” asks, Jesus. Of course we do – or do we?

It’s an intensely personal question and Jesus asks you and me that right now. Jesus is our healer and deliverer. Our strong tower and rock and refuge – even in the midst of restrictive laws and attitudes. Receive God’s healing touch in your life today.

“Do you want to be made well?” Of course we do – or do we?