Getting
Well
By
Carolyn Hulliberger
“(Jesus)
asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’”
John
5:6
The Bible tells us the
man Jesus spoke to in this passage had been an invalid for 38 years. His likely
habit was to sit by a pool each day in the hope of physical healing. Locals
believed that the waters of this pool had healing powers when an angel of the
Lord would come down and stir the waters. The first person into the pool would
be cured of whatever disease he or she had. Then one day, this invalid man
encounters Jesus, who asks him, “Do you want to get well? [emphasis added]” On the surface it seems a
silly question. The man spends every day by the pool. Each day he plays the
“healing lottery,” hoping to be the big winner.
But Jesus asks “Do you want
to get well?” Jesus knows that this man’s whole life will change if he is
healed. The man will be responsible for himself. No longer will he have his
affliction to lean on as an excuse for why he does not succeed in this world. The
man’s answer is, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is
stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Jesus
takes his answer as a “yes,” for Jesus’ reply is “Get up! Pick up your mat and
walk.” At once the man is cured.
The healing of our own
afflictions, especially emotional, can sometimes take this same route. Jesus
performed a miracle of healing, but only after the man indicated that he wanted
to be healed. It’s one thing to know that Jesus has the ability to heal us, but
we have to be willing and ready for the healing to occur. This story also
indicates that a second step…of obedience…was required for this man. The man’s habit had to change. What would have
happened if the man on the mat had simply laid there and continued to hang out by
the water? His life would not have
changed, and the work of Christ would not have been completed in his life.
For Jesus to heal the
afflictions in our lives, we not only need to want to get well, but
sometimes we have to be willing to make the change in our lives to
complete the healing.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Is there an
affliction in your life that you want to be healed of? Are you ready for the
responsibility of doing your part in the healing process?
2. Is there someone in
your life who is in need of Christ’s healing? How can you encourage her to be
ready for the step of obedience?
FURTHER READING:
Along with caring for her husband and
two children, Carolyn works as an insurance representative, serves in Oakwood Church’s Student Ministries with an
awesome group of junior high girls, and is the treasurer for Women’s
Ministries.
