Do you want to be made well?

This morning the pray as you go app had this story from the gospel of John 5:

² Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew^[a] Beth-zatha,^[b] which has five porticoes. ³ In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.^[c] 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

The question that always brings my up short is - do you want to be  made well?  The obvious answer is - "duh - Yes!  this is why I am here by the pool"  His solution - maybe the cultural answer - was to get into the waters after they have been stirred.  He could not imagine there was any other way of being made well.  And he actually did NOT say yes - but instead explained why he hadn't been healed.

And then Jesus cuts through all of that with a simple declarative statement - "stand up, take your mat and walk."  And he does.

There are many "lessons" in this but the biggest one is that the encounter with Jesus - regardless of his assent - does change his condition - from invalid  (in - valid) to "made well."  That is - from reclining to walking, from lying there to moving, from living in the sidelines to being on the front lines. 

I think what I am recognizing as I write this, is that the encounter with Jesus brings the possibility of new life - which is a life of not rest - but challenge.  Do you want to be made well? 

Here is a quote from a blog about this passage  from the Ekklesia Project:

Do we fear the cure more than the illness? Bill Coffin said that if it is hell to be guilty, it’s certainly scarier to be responsible – response-able – able to respond to God’s call, able to respond to the word and love of Jesus. When we cease being a victim – “I can’t get to the water Jesus; there’s always someone else who gets there first” – and start being responsible then our legs are strong enough for us to walk beside others who are in pain and need help. Our arms are empowered to embrace our enemies and the outcasts. We no longer make excuses; instead we walk forward to new life in Jesus Christ and go to work serving, healing, hoping, and living a life of joy and fullness.

 As I ponder this I realize that when we are "made well" out life becomes larger than just about us and our condition - but it faces the pain of the world beyond ourselves and finds ways to be the hands and feet and heart of Jesus.  

So, I start this day with the question - Do I want to be made well?  Because there is always something that needs healed within me that causes me to excuse myself from action on behalf of others.  

Do I want to be made well?  Do I?

Here is a prayer for today by Marian Wright Edelman

 

O God, help me to feel Your presence everywhere I go today. 

 To see You in everyone I meet today. To sense

 You in all I hear today. 

 To reflect You in all I do today. 

To pray and trust You in all I experience today. 

To struggle to be like You in all I am today. 

 To speak of and for You in all I say today.

 To thank You for everything every day. 

Marian Wright Edelman, 

 Prayers and Meditations for our Children