“When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?’” (John 5:6, ESV)
There was a college student one time who was taking an exam just before the Christmas break. He did not study and did not know any of the answers. So, he wrote on the paper, “Only God knows the answers to these questions. Merry Christmas.” The professor graded the paper and wrote this on it, “God gets a 100, you get a 0. Happy New Year.” Questions along with the right answers are very important.
Jesus was in Jerusalem in the area of the Temple by the Pool of Bethesda. As he is going, He saw a man who had been an invalid for 38-years. Seeing the man, He asked him a seemingly silly question, at least from our perspective. He asked the man, “Do you want to be healed?” Why would He ask the man such a seemingly obvious question?
The man’s answer should have seemed obvious to us. We would think of course the man would want to be healed. Yet Jesus would not have asked this question if it was not pertinent.
Let us consider the facts. The man had been an invalid for 38-years. Jesus knew that the man had been lying there for a long time. To understand this better, we need to understand the significance of the water in the Pool of Bethesda. It was thought that when the water stirred that the first person to enter the pool would be healed from his infirmity. The man had been there a long time since he had been an invalid for 38-years.
When Jesus asked the man, “Do you want to be healed?” the man’s answer was not yes. He answered this way, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” (John 5:7, ESV)
It seems from the man’s answer that something was amiss. No one in 38-years offered to help the man? In such a long time he could not get into the water? The question Jesus asked was to get at the heart, the will. When one is sick spiritually, emotionally, or physically, the question is the same. Do these really want to be healed.
Now in the physical arena, it seems that very few would say they really do not want to be healed. Yet I know there are some who would sooner be on the dole than go through the pain of physical therapy to get better.
However, in the spiritual and emotional level, there are many who would fit into the category where the will needs to be questioned. Many may be in denial that they have a problem and others may know it but not want to be healed.
I have discovered that in the area of emotional healing, many are in denial. They reject the very idea that there may be an issue. Yet their behavior patterns reveal coping mechanisms that are evidences of emotional wounds from the past. In other cases, they may realize there is an issue but refuse to deal with it seeking emotional healing. In both these cases pride becomes an obstacle to emotional healing. Thus, in the area of emotional healing, Jesus’ question is absolutely pertinent. Does the afflicted one truly want to be healed.
This is a question that we should ask ourselves. Are we demonstrating behavioral issues that have been developed due to past wounds? We must ask ourselves do we want to be healed?
Renewing the Heart 