John 5-8
One of the first things I was taught in my Ski Patrol training was the importance of identifying myself to a hurt skier and asking if I might help. At first glance it seems kind of silly to ask a hurt skier if he or she wants help. If they are hurt, surely they want help! Perhaps surprisingly, that is not always the case. There are times when a person doesn’t want help, for whatever reason, and the Ski Patrol has to respect that. In John 5 we see Jesus in a similar scenario.
In the beginning of the chapter John tells us that Jesus had gone to the pool of
When Jesus arrived at the pool he saw a man lying there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. Why this man stood out to Jesus, I don’t know. He just did, and Jesus engaged him in conversation, asking him “Do you want to get well?” This is certainly different from the Ski Patrol question, “May I help you?” Yet it was similar, too. Although Jesus could heal the man (as no Patroller can) he still asked him first if that is what he wanted.
But I find myself asking a different question. Didn’t Jesus know the man had been ill a long time? Didn’t the man get carried to the pool on a daily basis in hopes of healing? If so, it almost seems as though Jesus was making insensitive small talk.
Yet, just like a good Ski Patroller, Jesus was giving the man an option and as such it became a very penetrating question. Did the man really want to get well? Sometimes people with infirmities become used to them and actually begin to be identified by them. To become well would not only change them physically, but in every other way, too. If the man by the pool was healed, he certainly would be able to live a normal life. Others would no longer have to take care of his needs. He would be expected to do that for himself. He had not held a job in at least 38 years. He would need to find one now, but what would he put on his resume? Socially all of his relationships would be changed. In short, to be made well would radically change this man’s life. Could he adapt? Would he?
What seems like an insensitive question, “Do you want to get well?” turns out to be piercing. “Do you want to get well?” There are times when the answer to that question is not as easy as it looks. Usually the answer is yes. But sometimes what I really want is to simply get rid of the pain, not the actual cause of the pain. Yet Jesus came not to just take away the pain, but to truly make us well. And the choice is ours to make.
Nils
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