Sunday 22nd May, Easter 6, "Do you want to be made well?"

Do you want to be made well?

It sounds like an easy question, doesn’t it? Don’t we all want to be well, isn’t this sort of a no brainer?

Well maybe. But if we stop for a moment and consider this, it’s not so obvious. Maybe, it’s actually a far more challenging question.

Jesus does have a habit of asking in-your-face questions. “Do you love me?”  “Why are you so afraid?”  “Are you also going to leave?”  

And perhaps the question he asks the crippled man by the pool is one of the most challenging and in-your-face questions of all. Notice he doesn’t engage in small talk, ask the man’s name, get to know him at all – just jumps straight in – “do you want to be made well?”

This could easily be misinterpreted as judging the man, implying that he is not well because he doesn’t want to be, or that somehow it is his fault he is crippled – but we know that is not what Jesus thinks, as he spends enormous amounts of time elsewhere in the gospels making it very clear that sickness is not a result of sin and treating those who are sick with compassion, bringing healing in many different situations.

But look at how the man reacts – he doesn’t just say “yes please” – he starts making excuses for why he isn’t well – trying to explain that he can’t get into the pool, that others always get there before him – seeking pity, almost being a bit whiney!

I wonder how many of us react like this when challenged about changing ourselves – growing, letting go of past hurts and attitudes? After all, our pain, our grudges, they can be a security blanket – part of who we are – excusing us from taking responsibility for our actions and opinions. When we hold onto past events and blame them for being how we are, it can remove the need to actually move past them and change.

Do you want to be made well? Jesus could just as well have asked….Do you want to change? Do you want to be set free?

The question stings because we know exactly what it’s like to say I want out, to say I want freedom, to say I want healing — and not quite mean it.  

Do you know what it’s like to cling to brokenness because it’s familiar? Do you know what it’s like to make victimhood your identity.  Do you know what it’s like to benefit from the very things that cause you harm? 

Most of us know what it’s like to sink into self-pity.  Some of us know what it’s like to assume that everyone else has access to a magic pill we’ll never get our hands on, know what it’s like to decide that we’re doomed to sit at the very edge of healing for the rest of our lives, and never attain it.

Most of us get stuck in one way or another, and most of us don’t always want to get unstuck, because we understand it, how things are, and we have developed great coping mechanisms.

Do you want to be made well? Perhaps the question stings, because the very idea that God cares about what we want — that he’s curious about our desires, that he wants us to recognize and articulate them — blows us away.  

Surely God doesn’t care about me – look at all the problems in the world – the starvation, the war, the many challenges our world faces – God has bigger things to worry about than what I want, he can’t really be interested in me! Do any of you think that? Because if Jesus shows us anything, it is that is simply not true.

God cares about each and every one of us – for who we are – he created us, he loves us – and all that Jesus said and did demonstrates that love – just look at his interactions with all those he encounters – the sick, the tax collectors, the women by the well, the women caught in adultery – he shows understanding and compassion to each individual, no matter their past baggage.

But love includes challenge – it includes wanting the best for us and not wanting to see us get stuck – in spite of knowing how hard that can be.

It takes a lot of courage to change, to let go of past hurts and experiences and move beyond them – to refuse to be defined by a particular event or circumstance – in short – to be free.

Jesus is asking us to change our view of ourselves – think about what we actually want, and then have the courage to change. He is offering us the chance of freedom – but many of us are too scared to take it.

I wonder how you define yourselves? Who do you think you are? Do you believe you could be more? Is there something holding you back? And are you willing to let it go?

Notice that the man never asks for healing. There’s no indication in the story that he even knows who Jesus is. Jesus makes no reference to belief, he doesn’t tell the man, “Your faith has made you well,” because that would be a lie. 

Jesus doesn’t dwell on the man’s past; he doesn’t dredge up the loss and waste of the thirty-eight years the man can’t get back. And notice that he doesn’t heal the man on the man’s terms — by helping him into the pool when the angel stirs the water.  Jesus simply tells the man to get up and walk.  And he does.

What I take away from this story is that Jesus is always and everywhere in the business of making new and making well.  His desire to heal is intrinsic to his character — it doesn’t depend on me.  

Ultimately, though, this is all about grace – however we answer this question, God will never stop loving us – we will always be his beloved children, we will always be welcomed in, whether we are brave enough to accept his offer, or not.

But “Do you want to be made well?” is a question he will never stop asking us, because his heart’s desire is for our wholeness, our freedom, and our thriving, and he understands that there is painful, surgical power in the question itself.  Confronting the key question of what we want — what we really want — is how the work of healing begins.

Do you want to be made well? Are you ready to change? Do you want to be free?

My prayer today is that we would all be willing to answer “yes”.