I hear what your lips are saying, but how come I don’t believe you?

Do you want to get well? The question Jesus asked the man at the pool of Bethesda one afternoon. It’s a simple question, yet considering the circumstances, it’s quite perplexing. The question I would like to raise is why was that specific question that Jesus asked this man, and what question is Jesus asking me consequently?

Lets look at the story.

John 5 The Healing at the Pool- 1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When 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?" 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." 8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

38 years. It is on the heels of learning that this man had been in this condition for a long time, that Jesus decides to ask this specific question. My first reaction to the question “do you want to get well?” is annoyance with Jesus. Seems a bit odd, and obtuse. Why would this man want to stay an invalid? How could he possibly answer Jesus in any other way than yes? Did Jesus really wonder or have a sense that this man possibly would say no? Why would the invalid say no?
Lets look at the story through our own lives and our own sickness that is in need of the healing that only Christ can provide. This may lead us to the reason why “no” could have been the answer.

Think for a second of sin, or hurt, or emotional pain that exists in your life, and has for quite some time. A situation that has existed, or recurred so often that at this stage you have begun to believe that it may possibly never change. You have sat in this pain for quite some time, months and years have passed possibly, your left seeing only a couple, maybe even one possibility that could remedy the hurt, take away the pain, and stop the cycle of sin. You think, “If this one possibility could happen, then maybe the hurt would stop.” But lets be realisitic, it’s not likely. We have hoped for that before, only to have our hopes dashed against the rocks (Proverbs 13:12). Sometimes it’s just easier to live with the pain, accept the dysfunction and get on with life. Make the best of a bad situation. No use hoping now, all that ever leads to is disappointment.

I have seen in my own life and in many others this very situation played out. Sin or emotional pain, that at one point, we were so committed to dealing with, and pursuing healing for, through Jesus, is like a little dog we walk around with us everywhere we go. My friend Randy calls it our “pal” for guys, your pride, anger, and lust. We know that we are invalids when it comes to dealing with our own sin and emotional pain, and are incapable of ridding ourselves of it. But it has been with us for so long, the idea of being healed from it may be more terrifying than living with it the rest of our lives. So we keep it around, despising it and ourselves at times, but unwilling to let it go, cause then what?

This is why I said at the beginning, “I hear what your lips are saying, but how come I don’t believe you.” Often times I see a commitment to even protect my sin and my hurt because they are so familiar to me, they have become apart of my identity and to have them removed, through Christ’s healing, would leave me feeling so unsure of who I am. It is our deep commitment to control all aspects of our lives that can keep us from saying yes to Jesus question, “do you want to get well?”

Sadly my interior response is often no, even though on the surface I am acting and saying things to the contrary. No, Jesus, I don’t want to get well. I know this sucks, things being like they are, but at least it’s predictable and I can have some semblance of control. Thanks for the offer to live in total freedom (Gal 5:1) but I would rather be a slave and have some false sense of control, than let you heal me and live in the reality that my concept of control is without meaning (Job 38).

This is why I believe Jesus asked the question to the invalid. He asked because he knows the heart of a man better than the man himself (Jeremiah 17:9-10). He knows that we are in love with control more than we are in love with him. He knows that our sins and pain, although at times sickening to us, are comfortable crutches that often we are unwilling to let him deal with. We have tried our own methods to heal ourselves (control), and they have failed so many times, how could anything or anyone else help?

Isaiah 30:15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.

Do you want to get well? Not such a simple question huh? It is only by his grace manifested through willingness, born from repentance, that rest and healing is experienced and we are able to let go of the control that keeps our sin and pain from being made “well”.