Do You Want to Get Well?

 John 5:6

When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

                I have been reading Tim Keller’s book on pain and suffering. He clearly points out the reality that our secular society has no answer for pain and suffering. In past times, people viewed pain and suffering through a spiritual lens. They may have seen it as their karma, or as a result of sinful actions on their part, or even as a test of their faith. Pain and suffering were accepted as a normal part of a person’s journey through life. But Western society has, for the most part, eliminated the spiritual aspect of pain and suffering. Therefore, when a person faces pain and suffering, they are a victim of circumstances beyond their control. Their only recourse is to find some way to deaden the pain or remove the suffering. Pain and suffering are viewed as something outside of the person which is imposed upon them, instead of something that has an internal cause.

                Jesus confronted the issue of pain and suffering throughout His ministry. He offered needed relief to those who were suffering, but more than that, He called them to make the changes that would transform their suffering into an agent of transformation.

                The Gospel of John records a story of aa encounter Jesus had with a man who had spent most of his life under the shadow of pain and suffering. The story is found in John 5. Briefly, In Jerusalem there was a place called the pool of Bethesda. It was a place where people who were suffering from various maladies would congregate. It was believed that periodically an angel of the Lord would come down and stir the waters. The first person to get into the water at that time would be healed. There was a man there who had been an invalid for 38 years.

                This man is much like many people today. Many people today are “walking wounded.” They are spiritual and emotional invalids. They look fine on the outside, but they are invalids on the inside. They have spent the majority of their lives in some kind of turmoil. They have been so battered and bruised by the world that their fragile souls have been crushed. Many of these people are looking for something that will bring wholeness into their lives. They hear rumors of great things happening through the latest cure all. So, they camp out at the contemporary pools of Bethesda hoping to be in the right place at the right time.

                When Jesus saw this man, He had compassion on him. Jesus genuinely cared about the condition of this man’s body and his soul. So, Jesus asked him a seemingly insensitive question; do you want to get well? At first, this man may have felt that Jesus was mocking him, but there was something about Jesus’ demeaner that assured the man that this was not the case. Instead, the man justified his state by telling Jesus that he didn’t have anyone to help him get into the pool when the waters stirred. This man’s response was guarded. He may have felt threatened and so he responded defensively.

                When confronted with the need to address pain and suffering, most people will respond in a similar way. It is our natural tendency to defend ourselves, looking for excuses for why we are facing the challenges in our lives. We most often look outside of ourselves for an answer. We are in this difficult situation because of the actions or inactions of others, or because of our social circumstances, or because of some bad luck.

                But there is another very profound issue hanging in the shadows of Jesus’ question. “Do you want to get well” carries with it the implications that a person has to take responsibility for their life. Playing the role of victim allows us to blame others and to abdicate any responsibility on our part. For this man, who had spent the majority of his life depending upon others to provide for his needs, becoming well would change everything. He would have to take full responsibility for his life. As difficult as his situation was, it was easier to stay where he was than to fully engage in life in normal ways. Many people today would rather stay in their difficult situation than take responsibility for what it will take to change it.

                In response to this man, Jesus commanded him to take action. Get up, take up your mat and walk. This man was faced with a choice. Would he obey Jesus and see what happened or would be fall back on excuses for why he could not obey. He chose to risk obedience and the outcome was a miracle of instant healing.

                In the face of our pain and suffering, Jesus invites us to follow Him into wholeness. He asks us to step out in faith and put our trust in Him. It takes courage to act. It takes commitment to follow through in obedience to where Jesus leads us. Our first response may be to be hesitant and apprehensive. But in order to unleash the power of God in our lives, we have to take that step of faith and really trust Him.

                Unlike the man at the pool of Bethesda, we may not see our pain and suffering disappear immediately. What we will experience is the power to go through our pain and suffering. Instead of being hopeless, we can rest in the hope of Jesus’ promise to make us whole. Jesus can transform our pain and suffering into a means of transforming our lives for His glory and our good.

                But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

    Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:7-9, 16-18)