John 5:5-8 – Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
Do you want to be healed? At first glance that may sound like a strange question; but is it? Sometimes we tend to hide behind our weaknesses and even our sicknesses. It can be easier to be a victim than it is to be whole. After all, its not my fault that I am this way and if someone else is responsible for my situation it may be easier to stay broken. If I am made whole I will have to start taking responsibility for my decisions and my actions. That’s why this lame man laid the blame for his condition on someone else; every time the water is stirred up someone else gets in first. I don’t have anyone to help me. That’s why Jesus made the lame man face the real issue; do you want to be made whole. Here are some thoughts from the Pulpit Commentary on today’s passage.
“The questioning of Jesus on this occasion involved an offer of mercy. “Dost thou veritably wish for health and strength?” The question implies a doubt. The man may have gotten so accustomed to his life of indolence and mendicancy as to regard deliverance from his apparent wretchedness, with all consequent responsibilities of work and energy and self-dependence, as a doubtful blessing. He whined out, with professional drawl, his oft-told story, reflecting very much upon his lovelessness and quarrelsomeness, and ugly temper. There are many who are not anxious for salvation, with all the demands it makes upon the life, with its summons to self-sacrifice and the repression of self-indulgence. There are many religious impostors who prefer tearing open their spiritual wounds to the first passerby, and hugging their grievance, to being made into robust men upon whom the burden of responsibility will immediately fall. In this case the sign of his palsied nature was written upon his face, and was probably known to every passerby.”
Maybe it is not a physical problem that is stopping you, it could be anything. The Lord calls us out of the shadowland of excuses into the light of change. Do you want to be whole? Do you want your ministry to be whole; how about your family? Pick up your pallet and walk, your world is about to change.