Being whole

John 5:1-10

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

 After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth- zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty- eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”

"Do you want to be made well?"

A question to ponder.

How much dis-ease

do we find it convenient

to hold on to?

Perhaps our weakness

brings status

that we are not yet ready

to let go.

Because we believe

that wholeness

might somehow

diminish us.

We have found refuge

in our vulnerability

and cannot imagine

ourselves apart

from what afflicts us.

And so we continue

to pick over the scabs

that witness to healing,

opening up wounds,

exposing ourselves to hurt

wrapping our sorrow

around us

like a comfort blanket.

Until, along comes Jesus

and asks:

"Do you want to be made well?"