Since the beginning of the year, that question has been haunting me. “Do you want to get well?”
It comes from John 5:
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When 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.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
But the more I prayed about what God wanted me to do with that question, the more I realized it was for more than just me. So, during Lent, I’m sharing my thoughts and insights with the entire congregation.
You see, I think God wants us to go deeper than just physical ailments this Lent. Yes, most of us have one or two. Some are really severe. I’m not trying to convince you to quit ask Christ for healing. I am suggesting we look deeper.
Most of us, in addition to the physical ailments, have spiritual and emotional scars. I hear folks mention anger issues, people-pleasing addictions, unforgiveness, a spirit of judging, sexual sins, food addictions, phone addictions, television addictions, and more. But I hear even more people say they’re stuck and they don’t know why.
Maybe you’re in that last group. You haven’t been able to move closer to Christ for a while. You want to, your heart is in the right place. But no matter how much scripture you read, prayers you pray, or studies you attend, you’re stuck.
I think the solution to stuck lies in discovering where we need to be made well.
On the first Sunday in Lent, I challenged everyone to recognize where they needed the healing Jesus promised to bring. It might be physical, but for most, I believe it’s spiritual or emotional. I believe we need to name it if we want to be rescued from it.
We’ll be exploring that question every Sunday during the season. But before you go any further, tell me, “What do you want to be made well from?”