John 5:1-6: a reflection

1After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, there is a pool, which is called in Hebrew, “Bethesda”, having five porches. 3In these lay a great multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water; 4for an angel went down at certain times into the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had. 5A certain man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been sick for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be made well?”

By the pool of Bethesda lies a great multitude of the sick, and among them a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years, a very long time to be afflicted. When Jesus sees him, knowing how long he had been that way, he asks a searching question: Do you want to be made well? It seems an obvious question to ask a sick man; yet Jesus asks it, probing whether the man truly wants the healing, whether, after so many years, he still hopes and desires to be made well, or has settled into his condition. The question searches the man's own desire.

Notice the searching question Jesus asks: Do you want to be made well? After thirty-eight years, the man might have given up hope, settled into his affliction, no longer daring to want healing. Jesus' question probes this: do you truly want to be made well? It is not an idle question, but one that reaches the man's own desire, calling him to want and to hope for the healing Jesus was about to give. Jesus does not heal him over his head, but engages his desire, asking whether he wants to be made well. The healing meets a desire the question first awakens.

That searching question is worth taking to heart, for Jesus asks us too whether we truly want to be made well. We can settle into our afflictions, our sins, our brokenness, so long that we no longer truly want to be changed, having made peace with our condition; but Jesus asks, do you want to be made well? He engages our desire, calling us to want the healing and change he offers, not to settle into what afflicts us. Do not settle so into your affliction or sin that you no longer want to be made well; hear Jesus' question, and truly desire the healing he offers. Let Jesus' question search you, do you want to be made well, and truly desire the healing and change he offers rather than settling into your condition, as he asked the man afflicted thirty-eight years; for Jesus engages our desire, and calls us to want the wholeness he gives rather than making peace with what afflicts us.

Lord Jesus, by the pool of Bethesda lies a great multitude of the sick, and among them a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years, a very long time to be afflicted. When you see him, knowing how long he had been that way, you ask a searching question: do you want to be made well? It seems an obvious question to ask a sick man; yet you ask it, probing whether the man truly wants the healing, whether, after so many years, he still hopes and desires to be made well, or has settled into his condition. Show me the searching question you ask: do you want to be made well? After thirty-eight years, the man might have given up hope, settled into his affliction, no longer daring to want healing. Your question probes this: do you truly want to be made well? It is not an idle question, but one that reaches the man's own desire, calling him to want and to hope for the healing you were about to give. You do not heal him over his head, but engage his desire. Take that searching question to my heart, for you ask me too whether I truly want to be made well. I can settle into my afflictions, my sins, my brokenness, so long that I no longer truly want to be changed, having made peace with my condition; but you ask, do you want to be made well? You engage my desire, calling me to want the healing and change you offer. Keep me from settling so into my affliction or sin that I no longer want to be made well; let me hear your question, Lord, and truly desire the healing you offer.