O my soul,
Do you want to be healed?
Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids⸺blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”
― John 5:2-6
Isn’t that already a confronting question?
O my soul, do you want to be healed? It is Jesus who is asking.
Why this question?
Consider the man in the story, an invalid for thirty-eight years. Surely at this stage in his life, his affliction had become part of his identity. Was he prepared to give that up? Would he know who he was if he were well? Did he even want to be healed?
Or consider other kinds of affliction. Some live in pain. So much pain. Ongoing pain. Exquisite pain. Pain that has become part of life, like an old friend. Almost comforting. Part of their identity. And so perhaps almost subconsciously they choose to continue in that pain rather than to be healed, establishing patterns of thought and behaviour which become their own prison.
O my soul, do you even want to be healed?
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 going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”
― John 5:7-8
Notice the sick man’s justification of his ongoing affliction. Didn’t he make his own plight out to be inevitable? But Jesus wasn’t interested in his excuses or his justification.
“Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”
― John 5:8
And so the sick man was immediately confronted with two questions. Did he want to be healed, and did he believe Jesus could do that for him? For what is the prerequisite for receiving healing if not faith?
Observe what happened on a different occasion.
And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” And their eyes were opened.
― Matthew 9:27-30
According to your faith be it done to you. We have been here before and quite recently.
O my soul, this remains Jesus’ question to you. “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” And if your answer is, yes Lord, and you even want to be healed then simply pick up your mat and walk.
But perhaps this question of faith challenges you. Perhaps it is too much. Perhaps this obstacle is defeating you. If so, there is good news.
And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.
― Luke 5:18-19
Wow! I wonder what the home-owner thought of the actions of this man’s faithful friends, breaking through the roof of his house. They clearly didn’t care about that!
And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.
― Luke 5:20, 24b-25
Jesus healed this man when he saw the faith of his friends. That was enough.
So this is how you answer Jesus’ question, do you want to be healed? Get up, pick up your mat, and walk. Will you do this? It is your articulation of faith and hope in the only Son of God, the risen Lord Jesus, infinite in power and splendour, who stands at the door and knocks. And if you lack the faith to believe for yourself, rest upon the faith of your friends.
And what of those who have imprisoned themselves in debilitating patterns of thought and behaviour, having adopted that ongoing and exquisite pain as part of their very identity? The answer for them is what Jesus spoke at the beginning of his earthly ministry, and it is a joyous and liberating and life-giving answer.
And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
― Luke 4:17-19
O my soul, this is the year of the Lord’s favour.
And what became of the man in our story, the invalid of thirty-eight years?
And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
― John 5:9
The psalmist knew what was required to receive blessing and healing from the Lord.
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.
― Psalm 37:5
O my soul, commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, and pick up your mat and walk! 🙏❤️