“Do you want to be well?” What a question to ask a sick person! Of course, one who is sick would want to be well. It seems so obvious. Yet, Jesus asked the man at the pool called Bethesda if he wanted to be well. The scripture tells us that the man had been sick thirty-eight years. It also tells us that Jesus knew this before he questioned the man. Why would he ask him such a question?
Perhaps Jesus knew more than the text tells us. Perhaps he knew that this man needed to participate somehow in the healing process. Perhaps Jesus engaged the man in this manner to stir his mind and spirit, just as the angel was purported to have done at other times in stirring the waters of the pool for the lucky one who would be first into the water. Perhaps the man needed to make a commitment to healing, to step away from the life he had known and probably grown accustomed to for the previous thirty-eight years.
In the context of Lent, I wonder if there isn’t a parallel to be drawn here between the question Jesus asked this man about physical healing and the same question put to us about spiritual healing…forgiveness? We walk this Lenten road of repentance, crippled by our sin, unable to heal ourselves of that which separates us from God, and we encounter Jesus, who asks, “Do you want to be healed…do you want to be forgiven?” Again the question might seem superfluous…of course we want forgiveness and restoration…to do so, however, means that we must become a part of the process. Though forgiveness of self is an important part of any healing process, I am not advocating here a self-help program for godliness. I am, however, reminding each of us that forgiveness begins with confession, genuine sorrow for sin…the cry for grace and mercy. Do you want to be forgiven? Yes, Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. Yes, Lord Jesus, I am sorry for my sin. Yes, Lord Jesus, please forgive, renew, and restore me…Yes, I want to be forgiven.
Through Jesus Christ, God stirs the waters of forgiveness, not just for the fortunate who step in before others, but for all. And so, the question is asked again today…”Do you want to be well? Do you want to be forgiven?” What is your answer?
Jim Abernathy
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