A Challenge

John 5:1-13

When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?” John 5:6

In this passage we read of a paralytic who has been waiting to be healed for 38 years. That’s a long time.  One can only imagine what his life was like during that time span; a daily routine which no doubt involved his family in getting him ready to be taken to the pool, then transporting him there where he sat waiting hour after hour, day after day, for a miracle to happen.  In response to Jesus’s question, he offers the excuse that he has no one to help him get into the pool to be healed before someone beats him to the punch.  In other words, he excuses his behavior by saying that he is unable to act because he doesn’t have an agent outside himself to make the change in his life happen.

How many of us have some area of our life where we wish things were different?  Maybe it’s in our job, our marriage, our lifestyle, etc.  But, like this man, we have gotten into a routine waiting for something outside us to come along and change our lives for us.  Like him, we are paralyzed into inaction, finding excuses as to why things can’t be different.

It is worth noting that Jesus doesn’t really do anything to heal this man.  While John records that Jesus commands him to “get up”, the real twist in the encounter is Jesus’s question “Do you want to be healed?”  In our vernacular, Jesus confronts the man with his attitude toward changing his own life and says bluntly, “get up and do something.”  His message to the man is simply if you want to change things in your life, you have to take responsibility for that and do what you can.   

Today this passage challenges us to consider where in our lives we are paralyzed by inaction to change something that would make our life better?  What would it mean to “get up” and do something about it?  The key question remains “Do you want to be healed?”

Prayer: Lord, give me the courage to act in ways to change my life.

Reflection question: Where am I presently paralyzed from doing something that would make my life more satisfying and meaningful?