Getting well
Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” John 5:1-6 From the text, Jesus came upon a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years and who was sitting beside a pool that many believed provided healing. Then He asked him an obvious question, “Would you like to get well?” Why would Jesus ask such an obvious question? The question might seemed to be absurd but not if it comes from the lips of the Savior Himself. I do believe that this is the same question Jesus asks of us. The question raises the perception of life in its totality. God wants to bestow upon us His grace yet how often we missed it because it is prevented by the way we respond to His leading. We read from the Scriptures or hear the promises of God and they warm our hearts. Every time God reveals to us His wonderful plan, we get excited and are willing to respond but only to find ourselves lacking the commitment to follow through in our response. We do not act upon God’s revelation of Himself to us and we just want our hearts warmed time and time again. Nothing ever happens though deep within our hearts we want to be healed and yet we really do not. The man was lame for more than thirty years and has been used to that kind of living. Once he gets healed, it will mean that he has to take on responsibilities. It will mean a big change in his life. This is why Jesus’ question was very important, “Would you like to get well?” This is the same question we must keep on asking ourselves. Once we respond to Him just like how the lame man responded, only then we can be changed and gets healed. Our bitterness, unresolved conflicts, and other things that lie hidden within, we are aware they are within us but we did not want to face them. We cauterized them, try to cover them up but they are within and they affect us as well as the people around us. This prevents us from experiencing the grace and the power of God working. There is nothing beyond us that Jesus could not heal and change. But just like the paralytic man, we have to verbalize it to Him that we want to get well. God is capable of freeing us but only when we find ourselves no longer comfortable and contented with where we are and are ready to take on the life God want us to experience. It will be a blessing to be released and experience the joy that comes from God because we told Him that we want to get well.
Blessings,
Noel De Guzman
www.my-wbc.com
