15. Do You Want to Be Well
The Gospel of John gives detailed accounts of a number of the healings performed by Jesus, and in one of them – in John 5 – we find that Jesus asked a question which seems odd if we think about it.
John records the healing by Jesus of a disabled man at the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, a pool called in Aramaic beth hesda or "House of Mercy," probably because of the healing associated with its waters. Many sick and disabled individuals came to this area and literally lived by the sides of the pool waiting for an opportunity to be healed by the water's occasional, but seemingly miraculous action.
It was one such individual – a man lame in his feet for a great many years – whom Jesus asked, "Do you want to get well?" (John 5:6). If we simply continue the story from that point, we see the man affirmed his desire by explaining why he had not been healed after many years – because of his lameness he was never able to get to the waters quickly enough when the transient healing conditions occurred.
But if we go back to Jesus' question, it bears thinking about. On the surface, it doesn't make a lot of sense. If you were very ill and I came to see you and said "Do you want to get well?" you might think I was being sarcastic, exhibiting a strange sense of humor, or at the very least, had a poor bedside manner. Obviously, when Jesus asked the question, none of these things applied. So what did he mean? The Difficulty of Change We should remember that the man Jesus healed was not alone at the pool of Bethesda. A great many sick and handicapped individuals were there. For some of these people their illness or disability had likely become a means of earning a living by way of the alms of passers-by. Their illnesses had perhaps become a way of life which they ultimately saw as being not as bad as what some people face. They were not starving and did not even have to work, though naturally, their illnesses may have precluded many or most of these unfortunate people from working. But the point is that, for many, their illnesses had become a lifestyle to which they had become accustomed (Jeremiah 10:19) and perhaps in some cases with which they were even reasonably comfortable. This is not in any way to try to gloss over the illnesses or deny the physical hardships these people may have suffered; but perhaps there is an answer to Jesus' question.
Keep in mind that in most cases people who had heard about his healings came to Jesus and asked for help – Jesus knew they wanted to get well. In this instance it was a Sabbath and it appears that Jesus purposely went to an area where he knew there would be a number of ill and disabled individuals in order to choose someone to heal as an example that it is not wrong to do healing and helping work on the Sabbath day (John 5:8-10, 16). Now look at this from the perspective of human psychology. Some of the people at the pool of Bethesda, including the man Jesus healed, had been there for many years. Their lives may well have been bleak and seemingly hopeless. But in those circumstances the human mind often tries at least to grasp on to what it can. Perhaps some of these people had become resigned to the fact that this was their life, and that it could perhaps have been worse. Few people gladly embrace drastic change in their lives – sometimes not even from bad situations. Wanting to Be Well Could this possibly have been the reason Jesus asked the man if he wanted to get well? Jesus did not go around asking all the sick at the pool this question. What drew him to this man and caused him to ask a seemingly redundant question? Could it be that Jesus could read the hearts of these people, or was guided by God to do so, and could it be that this man was unusual in his group – a man who did fervently want to be well? If Jesus had compassion on this individual for this very reason, perhaps his question was as much for his disciples' hearing, and for ours, as for the hearing of the man himself. Perhaps Jesus was not only acknowledging that not everyone at the pool deeply wanted to be well - and let his question single out this individual who truly did – but also he was asking a question that applies to all of us.
The moral of this story is larger than that small pool in Bethesda, and even larger than physical sickness. Before God calls us, we live in spiritual sickness. We are spiritually blind, deaf and lame. Due to the results of sin our lives may be bleak indeed, yet we still cling to them, often justifying the causes and effects of which we are victims, sometimes longing for something better, yet all too often comfortable in our spiritual sickness or at least accepting of it. When God calls us, he gives us the opportunity to be free from our spiritual illnesses and disabilities, but that opportunity is based on an acceptance of real change in our lives – as Jesus told the lame man: "See, you are well! Sin no more" (John 5:14 ESV). That is a huge change for our human minds and when the call comes, God does not just reach down and heal us from sin. He asks us, in effect, "Do you want to get well?" – then we must confirm that we do. We must choose the responsibility as well as the gift.
Just as the man healed of his physical ailment at Bethesda had to choose to begin a new life with responsibilities and work that had not been there before, so we have to count the cost and make the decision that we want to start a new life of spiritual health. Then, just as Jesus told the man he healed, we must act to keep sin out of our lives in order to stay spiritually healthy and not revert to spiritual sickness.
That is doubtless why Jesus asked the lame man if he wanted to be well – he wanted to ascertain that the man would be receptive to his message of the need to change from that point onwards, that he would be willing to do what was necessary for the miracle to continue. The question was originally given to that one individual, but it was recorded for our benefit. It's a question that applies to all of us as much as it did to the man at the pool of Bethesda!