There is a wonderful passage in the book of John. John 5:1-18 to be exact. I would encourage you to read these verses if you are unfamiliar with them. (Nothing can replace the reading of actual Words of God!) Now, these verses are chock full of wonderful concepts and lessons that God needs us to know. I would like to look at just one lesson from these verses, which is based on the Do you want to be healed? portion of this.
In summery, Jesus is heading to Jerusalem and goes to a town called Bethesda which is where a healing pool is located. Apparently the water in this pool heals people. Let's picture the scene based on scripture. There's a lake... surrounded by lame, sick, diseased, dying and paralyzed people. It's probably hard to walk near it without stepping on people. I can just see it. One man that has been paralyzed for 38 years sticks out to Jesus. Jesus asks him, right off the bat, "Do you want to be healed?". The man basically says, yes I do but I don't have anyone to put me in the water and every time I am almost in, someone steps on me and gets in first. Now stop...look at that. Really read it. As I read it two things jumped out....
1. Duh...of course I want to be healed. What a (dare I say) dumb question.
2. Ok, so you are not the first one in the pool...why not just flop yourself in anyway. What's up with the whole someone gets in the pool before me deal. The mama in me says, this is not a contest so just get in the pool for Pete's sake.
I want to address #2 first. Because I am a complete study nerd, I looked into the in the pool first portion of my wonderings. Turns out there are manuscripts dating back to the original language and text that go into more detail about this healing pool. The King James bible version does a good job at painting a bigger picture for us. Bare with me please...this is good. Manuscripts tell us that this pool would be stirred up from time to time by an angel. The first person in the pool, when the water was being stirred, was healed. This explains why this paralyzed man was so bugged by not being first. Not first in the water, no healing. So, my second question is address and answered. More questions pop up at this point but lets just focus on that.
Now to the dumb question portion of my wonderings. Why does Jesus ask the man if he wants to be healed? Doesn't everyone want to be healed?
I have come to realize, the answer to that question is no. Not everyone wants to be healed. What happens when a person gets healed? Hard work happens. Pain is pushed through. Fears are faced. Diseased portions of our souls are cut out. To be healed is hard work. In a paralyzed persons case, when the muscles work again, he/she needs to exercise parts of the body that have not been worked. To physically move around would be painful at first. The hard work of laboring to make your way in the world would have to start. Getting a job, finding food, earning a living by doing anything, would have to be faced for the first time. Up until the healing, the paralytic that Jesus addressed would have been begging for food, shelter, clothes... or his family would have been providing it for him. Now, that's not a great life at all but is sure is easier.
You might not be dealing with paralysis but what is it that YOU need to be healed from?
To be healed from a dependence on drugs and alcohol means allowing your body to go through pain and anguish as your body rids itself of the chemicals. THEN the hard work begins. A person needs to search through painful memories and experiences to see why he/she was desiring to blur their lives in the first place.
To be healed from being a hoarder, a person has to dig in to get to the root of what they are desiring to hold on to.
To be healed from being an enabler means not helping people that you have helped, to their destruction, which means watching them go through tough times and usually not having them in your life.
To be healed from being co-dependant on a person means starting to do for yourself. It means pushing away from someone and standing on your own two feet.
To be healed from blaming others for the woes of ones life means pointing the finger inward vs. outward. It means coming to the realization that you and you alone are responsible for your life and where it is.
To be healed from anger means forgiving people that you feel hatred for. It means facing the pain that caused that anger.
To be healed from being lazy means getting a job (even if it is not a great job and below your pay grade), doing laundry when you don't want to, cleaning the house when you'd rather play, planning meals for your family, budgeting your finances (no matter how much your finances are or aren't), getting up early or going to bed late in order to make the day go smoothly. (and the list goes on and on with this one!)
To be healed from self-centeredness and pride (as well as false pride) means facing the reality that YOU are not the center. It means putting your kids first. It means putting your husband or wife in front of yourself. It means seeing the people and situations from God's perspective and not YOURS. (ouch!)
To be healed from the deception of believing you are "of this world" rather than the truth of "we are in this world" (John 15:19, Romans 12:2) you have to come to lots of painful realizations. That your money is not yours, peoples opinions are not most important, comfort is not a guarantee, daily sacrifice is needed, if the world says the answer is yes...the correct answer is most likely no.
This list just scratches the surface. In conclusion, I ask you...
Do you want to be healed?
(I would encourage you to share any thoughts on this. I would love to hear what you have to say.)
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