Lenten Learnings - “Do you want to get well?”

Lenten Learnings is a weekly reflection from a member of the leadership team at the Abbey on Lovers Lane.

The scripture today is for Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Lent, John 5:1-18.

Our guest writer is Lynne Walker, a friend and founding supporter of the Abbey on Lovers Lane.

When I first read these verses in John 5, relatively early in my faith, I focused on why Jesus asked the question in verse 6:  “Do you want to get well?” It seemed obvious that the man wanted to be well since he had been an invalid for 38 years, and he was sitting by this pool known for healing. But perhaps Jesus wanted the man to acknowledge his need and ask for help. Perhaps Jesus wanted the same from me.

Later, when rereading these verses but in a different season in life, I thought more about the meaning of the question: Do you want to get well? Maybe that was a legitimate question to ask the invalid and me. I had become aware of the “dysfunction dance” that I experienced in many aspects of my life - internally, relationally, physically. Did I want to put in the work that would be needed to become healed? Was I so comfortable in my unfulfilling patterns that I was willing to remain “beside the pool” and feel sorry for myself and/or complain about my circumstances? Only with God’s help would I be able to move towards healing and out of pain.

I am currently in a later season of life. As I read the passage again, I am struck by the invalid’s answer in verse 7. He has a predetermined notion of what his healing should look like. When the pool stirred, someone was supposed to help him into it so that he could get well. Could it be that the invalid might “miss” his own healing because God wasn’t going to do it the way he had anticipated? What blessings am I going to miss from God because I have “figured out“ how God should answer my prayers, heal my heart, make me well, and if it’s not that way, then I won’t see it. I’m relatively confident that the invalid did not expect his healing to come from “picking up his mat and walking.” And the only way that healing comes is by God’s hand.

I’m going to start praying for surprises.