Welcome to Day 10 of our Lenten reflections on the gospel of John.  Sign up to receive the podcast link and reflection transcript here.

A Reflection on John 5:1-18

“Do you want to be healed?... Rise!” (v 6b, 8a)

In Jerusalem, a man has been sick for 38 years.  He sits by the pool in hopes of receiving healing, but he can’t get there in time.  He needs someone to help, and no one has.

Jesus sees him and sees the resignation and despair on the man’s face.  While it should be obvious, Jesus still asks: “Do you want to be healed?”  The man doesn’t answer his question, but rather launches into an explanation: “I have no man to put me into the pool…” (v 7).  But that’s not what Jesus asked for.  While others may be distracted by the man’s external suffering, Jesus looks straight to the heart.  He has come to show us the Father’s heart, and the Father’s heart is for us to be healed.

Now, He looks into my heart.

Do I want to be healed?  Some of the wounds I have been nursing are years old, perhaps even older than this man’s sickness.  I know they are there; I know I can’t heal them on my own.  Yet despite the ache and pain that they continue to cause, I have become complacent and comfortable with them.  Perhaps they allow me to continue in a pattern of sin, or perhaps the idea of allowing someone into those very deepest places is too terrifying, too much.  But Jesus looks at me with the same tenderness he had for the sick man.  “Do you want to be healed?”  And all of a sudden, I am faced with a power that is stronger than my weakness, a power that can reach down into those deep places and tear out the bad roots, the lies, the strongholds, and bring healing to my heart.  And it is terrifying.  But then I hear him say, “Rise.” And I am flooded with peace as I stand.  I rise, and I know that those wounds no longer define me.  They are a part of the story but not the end.  I stand in my new identity as beloved, and I am ready to walk.

Yes, Lord Jesus, I do want to be healed.  Heal me.  Give me the strength to receive your healing and then to stand and walk in the Father’s Love.

Scripture quotations are from The Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright ©1965, 1966 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved worldwide.