Do You Wana

(11-13-05)

John 5:1-9

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Why in the world would Jesus ask a man who had been invalid for 38 years if he wanted to get well? Don’t you think, if this man was you that your response would immediately be , ‘well, yea!, dauh! Do I want to get well? Of course I want to get well.’ Why would Jesus ask such a ridicules question or dose it just appear to be ridicules?

Lets explore some answers. All of us have been sick at one time or another but not likely for 38 years, or have we? When a person gets sick, it is a huge interruption in their life isn’t it? After a day or two you just can’t wait to get back to the normal things of your life. What happens when the sickness and injury is debilitating and long term enough to prevent a return to the old normal way of the past life? Adapt. Change. Adjust. Make do. Survive.

The more severe the illness or injury the greater the change in the normalcy of ones life. For 38 years this man’s life has been altered by being unable to get up and walk. No more going off to work in the fields or what ever his occupation might have been. No more normal working around the house or playing with the children or going down to the market or worship over at the temple, all of that has changed. Now for 38 years, nothing but begging and pleading for some small acts of kindness. After so many years mom and dad have grown past being able to lift and carry or drag. It gets harder and harder to make friends because you are such a burden to them that they wear out and move on to escape being used so heavily. It was just too much interruption in their normal routines of life; ‘so sorry, got to go.’

What a dismal life. How many of you would willingly give up your normal life to become so dependent on everyone else? Any volunteers? No? So why did Jesus ask such a question of a man who would seemingly be so willing to get well? I have to ask another question to answer the first one – after 38 years what was this man’s normal life? Even though his life from our perspective was pitiful, that was the life he had grown to be use to and comfortable in. To get well would mean change, radical change. And Jesus moved him right into that brand new world by making him carry his own bed. He is up, he is walking, he is working, and then right off the bat, he is in trouble for doing all of that on the Sabbath.

This man had life change issues to deal with; quit laying around being dependent upon everyone and get a job. Become a contributor to life rather than a user of others resources and time. His circle of relationships also had to make some adjustments, they had to learn to not do for him what they were accustom to doing.

Now for the shift; I think the lesson in this story is not about lives crippled by disease or malady, I think it is a lesson about sin and it’s crippling effects on life. When sinful things are invited into ones life, they, by their nature, tend to seek to dominate that person and take over their life. Every sin that succeeds in gaining a hold over a person disables that person in part of their life. After many years of habitually practicing sin and becoming crippled by those things, Jesus walks in and asks: "Do you want to get well?" (Mat.13:15; see John 12:37-46) There is not a person among us who’s lives sense of normal doesn’t revolve around some sin issue. Do you want to be well?