Question #5 – Do you want to be made well?

Read John 5:2-9

Do you want to be made well?

Yes!  Of course!  This will change my life!  I’ll walk and run and dance.  I won’t have to depend on the help and kindness of others.  I won’t be a burden on my family.  I’ll be able to take care of myself.

But wait…just exactly how will I take care of myself?  My family will expect me to pull my own weight and contribute to the welfare of the household.  How will I do that?  I have not worked in 38 years.

Maybe the question that Jesus asked is harder than it sounds.  Thirty-eight years is more than enough to settle into a routine.  Sometimes we prefer the comfort of the status quo that we know over the unknown future that change will bring, even if the change is positive and a decided improvement! 

Do you have a persistent issue that resists resolution?  Do you have a recurring habit that holds you back or even harms you?  What if conquering the issue or changing the habit will usher in a potentially promising but uncomfortably unknown future?

Later, Jesus will find the man in the temple and tell him not to sin anymore.  Jesus is reminding him that his world has changed.  Don’t go back to the old patterns.  Imagine someone coming out of prison and having to return to the same environment that encouraged the bad behavior that resulted in his imprisonment.  Note also that Jesus e said this in the Temple, which was the very foundation for old patterns of a badly broken status quo.

“Do you want to be made well?” Yes, of course.  But is there something holding me back?  Heal me of my fears, too, Jesus.