Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
“Do you want to be well?” Jesus asks the sick man in today’s Gospel reading from John 5. Pretty simple question, right? Pretty obvious answer, right?
But the man’s answer has nothing to do with the question. Instead he provides excuses for the reasons he hasn’t gone to the pool, excuses having to do with a lack of support and consideration.
Yes, this reading goes on to address the matter of cures on the Sabbath. But there also is a lesson, a valuable lesson, to be learned in thinking about Jesus’s initial question. The man didn’t respond with “Yes, of course” or even “If it be Your 
will.” One wonders if he actually heard the question, or if he answered the question he expected: Why aren’t you at the pool?
“Do you want to be well?” Jesus asks each of us. It’s interesting; He asks that so often, even though truly, if we want to be well, we know how. But instead, like the sick man, we often answer other questions instead: No, I don’t want to forgive the person who harmed me or my loved ones. No, I don’t want to give up behavior I know is harmful to me and displeasing to You. No, I don’t want to put God first, ahead of myself.
It’s easier to wallow in our sickness and blame others for it. But the road to eternal life begins with a desire and a will to accept the cure the Lord so freely offers, even though it may sting here on earth.
