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?”
They are among the most challenging words Jesus speaks to anyone he encounters.
“Do you want to be well?”
The man to whom He says this in John 5 has been sick for thirty-eight years. The man has been lying in a portico near the Bethesda pool. Of course he wants to be healed, right?
“Do you want to be well?”
But when Jesus asks him this question, the man doesn’t say of course, yes, please, or anything like that. Instead, he whines. Nobody helps him into the pool; everyone else gets there before him. If Jesus hadn’t told him to get up and walk, I suspect the man would have provided still more excuses.
“Do you want to be well?”
Jesus asks you and me this question every day. And, often, like the man in the portico, we make excuses: we’re too tired to pray or adore or help out at a homeless shelter, food pantry, or elsewhere. We’re saving for a house or car or retirement and so we needed to cut back our charitable giving. We’re too busy to participate in a parish Lenten activity or to go to confession or to daily Mass. Sometimes, underneath those excuses is the fear that saying yes would be too costly. It would mean change and discomfort.
“Do you want to be well?”
The opportunity to be healed by the Divine Physician is presented to us again and again. What is your answer?
