"Do you want to get well?"

                                                            John 5:6

What an interesting question Jesus asks.

He is coming into Jerusalem and there is a pool of healing water where many of the disabled and afflicted gather under five elaborate colonnades. What a study in contrast – the beauty of Roman architecture filled with hundreds of people without any means of living or any hope. There is one man who has been laying paralyzed for thirty-eight years, a man who can’t walk and is totally dependent on others for anything in life. Instead of just healing him or blessing him, however, Jesus asks him, “Do you want to get well”?

Lots of questions come to mind. What was it about this man above all the others than got Jesus’ attention? And who wouldn’t want to be healed from a lifetime of paralysis? From anything, for that matter?!

In some ways, this is the condition of America, and it is the question we need to answer. Many in our country are without any means and live just blocks from some of the most expensive high rises in the world. And our afflictions are many: a pandemic that we cannot yet contain; racial wounds that just won’t heal; and the polarization of politics.

As you watch TV and the internet it seems many find joy in attacking other people and in refusing to see the commonness of all humans and the goodness God calls us to. Watching all this, we must confront the question of whether we want to be healed or we would rather continue in a country that berates, condemns, judges, and hates.

If we want to be healed, we must recognize and accept that it will not be easy. There is work that needs to be done. Lots of it. Realities and hurts that must be faced. Apologies that must be made. Systems that must be analyzed and changed. And as Christians, we should be leading the way. If the world cannot look at us to see love and grace and mercy in action, where will they look?

“Do you want to get well?”

"Father, Give us the courage and strength to begin the healing.  In Jesus' name, AMEN."