Do You Want To Get Well?

It is said that Julius Caesar had such a huge ego that when his first wife died he spent the entire eulogy talking about his own accomplishments. On another occasion he was taken hostage while sailing to Greece. His captors held him for ransom, demanding twenty talents for his freedom.

Deeply offended, Caesar said he was worth at least fifty talents and vowed to kill the pirates for their insolence. For the Roman ruler, pride was a crippling vice that turned his friends against him and cost him dearly.

For others, the vice might be greed, jealousy, bigotry, anger, fear or any number of things. Whatever it is that stymies us, the following account from the Gospel of John reveals the starting point for change.

The fascinating interaction between Jesus and an invalid takes place beside a small body of water. We learn that the man has been in this condition for almost forty years. Many people are gathered around a pool that they believe can heal diseases, but only on rare occasions.

It seems a belief had arisen among the people who waited by the waters edge that only the first person into the water would be healed, and then only when the time was right. Jesus asks the man a question that makes the situation seem even more uncomfortable than it already is, “Do you want to get well?”

Rather than answering the question, the man begins to offer reasons for his current estate, mostly focused upon unfair treatment by others. The next thing recorded in the gospel account is that Jesus instantly heals the man and then continues on his way. Yet his penetrating question remains, “Do you want to get well?”

There were any number of reasons the man may have wanted to remain in his condition, not the least of which was that in his culture it provided him a living as people would have taken care of him due to his illness. It seems that Jesus’ question was intended to illicit a different understanding though, especially in light of the man’s original response.

In short, he had become comfortable in his estate, feeling sorry for himself and blaming others for his problems. To this attitude Jesus asked, “Do you want to get well?”

Change is not easy. In fact, there is an old joke that the only one who likes change is a baby with a dirty diaper. However, it is in change that we grow and experience new levels of learning and success.

In truth, many people refuse to change because of one thing, the “story” they tell about why things are the way they are. It is absolutely essential that we change the story we tell about why things are into a powerful narrative about why we are never going to settle for less than everything we can be in life.

When we can honestly say, “Yes, I want to change, I want to get better,” then we can allow the experiences of life and faith to begin to mold us into the person we know we were meant to be all along.

A recent study done in Sweden asked participants, “What would add meaning to your life?” The top three answers were marriage, jobs and recreation. Yet the reality is, as valuable as these can be, ultimate meaning is not found in more “things,” be they people, money or fun.

True meaning is found in love, appreciation, and contributing to others. It is found in finding a more powerful story we tell about the events and circumstances in our life, and it begins when we can honestly face the question, “Do you want to get well?”