Want To Be Well

It seems an odd question from Jesus.

Do you want to be well?

Who wouldn’t want to be well?

Maybe those words were just the way Jesus happened to phrase his offer of a cure.

But on the other hand, the sick man didn’t say, Oh yes! Please do heal me!

Instead, he got immediately defensive about the question.

He started explaining why, for 38 years, he couldn’t get down to the pool quickly enough.

As though Jesus was accusing him of not trying hard enough.

Maybe there was a hint of that in Jesus’ tone.

Or maybe a touch of guilt—warranted or not—in the man’s heart.

We generally assume that everyone wants to be well.

But we do know of people who seem to embrace their illnesses.

Maybe for the attention it brings them.

Or maybe because it provides a convenient excuse.

A cover for faults and shortcomings that they’d rather not face.

Others may not say they want to be healed because they deny that they're ill.

Alcoholics and drug addicts, any addicts, are prime examples of that kind of denial.

(Today is St Patrick's Day.

If you feel like every day is St Patrick's Day every time you pass a pub—you may be in denial.)

And there are many other situations that lead to denial.

Some people avoid going to the doctor when they fear they may have a serious illness.

They’re more comfortable in their denial.

They don’t want to risk having their fears confirmed.

Even though they know, at some level, that early detection can increase their chance of a cure.

All of us need physical or mental or emotional healing at some points in our lives.

And hopefully we don’t get sidetracked by that trap of denial.

And hopefully some healing is available to us.

All of us also need spiritual healing.

Spiritually, none of us are fully “well”.

All of us are sinners.

We know that God is all-merciful and forgiving.

And yet we’re sometimes too fearful and too hard on ourselves.

We know that God is all-just.

And yet we’re sometimes too presumptuous and too easy on ourselves.

There are traps that we can fall into at either end of the spectrum.

And any step in between.

We can sometimes be tempted into denial of our problems.

We can sometimes hang onto guilt from past, long-ago-forgiven wrongs.

But there’s good news in the realm of spiritual healing.

Jesus is always there offering; Do you want to be well?

And when we tune in and actually hear him,

We don’t need to get defensive.

We just need to say, Oh yes! Please do heal me!

4th Tuesday of Lent

Jn 5:1-16      Read this Scripture @usccb.org