John 5: 7
“‘Sir,’ the invalid replied, ‘I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.'”
In this interesting scene, Jesus walks into a covered colonnade area where sick people gather, and picks one person out of the crowd who has been suffering for 38 years. He asks him, “Do you want to get well?” At face value, this would seem to be a “Yes” or “No” question. Instead, the man has this (forgive the pun) “lame” excuse. It is as if he feels guilty about not having been able to take care of this problem himself. If only someone who was able bodied would wait here with him and then was able to get him in the water ahead of everyone else at the right time, if all of that could happen he probably wouldn’t need any help.
So what do you think the man heard when Jesus asked, “Do you want to get well?” Did he hear an accusation? Have 38 years of being an invalid left marks on his psyche as well as his body? Does he feel guilt ridden because he is and has been a burden to others all these years?
In this story Jesus illustrates a truth about who we are as people and what we expect of ourselves and others. Sometimes we carry burdens that were put on our shoulders during childhood. Sometimes we carry the guilt of our own poor decisions and the shame of what resulted from those decisions. Feelings like these become like fungi on a tree trunk. They distract from the tree itself and we lose sight of the reason the fungi are there in the first place.
Q: What goes through your head when you hear Jesus asking you, “Do you want to be well?”
The thought that goes through my head is that the answer is obvious. Jesus is guiding one of His sheep gently in the way he should go.
Sorry, forgot input my name on that last response. Technology is great until it doesn’t work the way you want it to.
I am well and becoming weller. We are on a path to perfection through Christ. Allowing Christ to do His work while we are on this earth has been and continues to be an exciting road to increased awareness of our creator God, and clarity of thought in a world of insanity and chaos. At the same time I know I am far, far short of the goal set for me by God. My daily goal is to become a more effective brighter light in this ever increasing dark world.
I am always encouraged when I see, meet brothers and sisters who are fighting the good fight as they have been directed by God.
Of course I want to be well,..who wouldn’t? What goes through my mind is that I am already well,..in a sense,..the only time I am not well is when I am sick or need a doctor to sew me back up,..from what I understand is that this invalid needed help getting to the pool that could have been several feet deep and not very easy to get in and out of for an invalid,..especially with all the commotion from others doing the same thing getting in and out of the water when it stirred,..in this invalids case he needed to be well to walk,..so I can imagine the invalid saying or thinking the same thing here,..of course I want to be well,..who wouldn’t?
We need to be well in our physical state and we need to be well in our spiritual state,..thank God He gave us Jesus to provide for both,..
It’s like he is asking me out of the darkness, depression, sinfulness of this world.