want

Sometimes what seem like dumb questions turn out to be really smart ones.

Look at this, from John 5:2-6: “Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

What kind of question is that? Of course this poor man wants to get well! He’s been crippled or 38 years, and he spends his days laying by a pool just hoping for a miracle.

But Jesus, who knows our inmost thoughts, never asked dumb questions. His complete and sympathetic knowledge of the human heart is behind this simple query, which carries more significance than it seems. Are you ready to trust? Jesus asks. Do you have faith? 

Even more, are you ready to stand up and take your place in my kingdom? Are you ready to get to work?

Immediately following this incident (Jesus does heal this man) Jesus is challenged again by the religious leaders - you can read about it in the rest of John 5. In fact, I recommend you do, because this is another of the discourses John records, where Jesus explains himself and his mission. Those religious leaders can’t see Jesus for who he is; to them he’s a threat, a challenge to their authority who must be put in his place.

It’s almost as if Jesus has the same question for them: Do you want to get well? And their answer is an emphatic no. They like their lives; they don’t think they need a Savior.

What about me? Do I want to get well? Am I ready to leave behind my love for worldly pleasures, my longing for acceptance, my desire for good things, my indulgence of my own appetites? Am I ready to acknowledge Jesus’ complete lordship of my life?

Because that’s what it will take to cure what ails me. Do I really want Jesus? Or do I want this life?