Meditations from Zion

John 5:6
When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

Do I really? Or am I giving the same answer as the lame man, “I have no one to help me…” One would think the answer would just be “Yes! Of course I want to be well!” But that isn’t always the case. Notice, Jesus’ question to the man was not, “Do you want to be healed?” but “Do you want to be well?”

What does it mean to be well? One of the definitions of “well” is “whole.” And with that in mind, the question is far more expansive. Do you want to be whole? Do you want to let go of the bitterness that is slowly eating away at your soul? Do you want to close the doors on past hurts and forgive those who have wronged you? Do you want to shed the disappointments that plague your contentment? Do you want to accept your face, your body, your intelligence, your talents, your abilities as the foundational gifts of the Creator just for you? Do you want to replace sorrow and anger with joy? Do you want to replace fear with courage and faith? Do you want to remove judgments of others? Do you want to see, hear, taste, touch, and inhale the renewing Spirit? Do you want to be whole?

Yes, Lord. I want to be well. I want to be whole.