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Do You Want It?

            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?” (John 5:6)

This verse is from the passage about the man at the Pool of Siloam, who had been paralyzed for more than three decades. The reason he was at the pool was the rumor that when an angel stirred the waters of the pool, if you immersed yourself,  you would be healed. He’d been waiting, but every time the water stirred, others got there ahead of him. He’d been waiting. How could Jesus ask him if he wanted to be healed? How uncompassionate! How inconsiderate! Any idiot would know that the man wanted to be healed. Except…

If he really wanted to be healed, wouldn’t he have positioned himself so close to the pool that when the angel stirred the waters, he could just tumble in? Wouldn’t he have arranged to have someone else help him – someone who also wanted to be healed, so they could go together? And while he might like the idea of being healed, after so much time he was used to being paralyzed. To be healed would mean freedom, but it would also mean responsibility. He was living on the charity of others, sitting at the pool day after day in hopes of healing instead of finding ways to contribute to society.   

It's likely that we are all the man at the pool – have been – will be. I could and should make a list of all the ways I’d like to be healed, fixed, or empowered. Like my project list, I should throw myself into what will heal, fix, or empower me. But… there’s no one around to help me, and for some reason, I can’t seem to get those who carry me to and from the pool to put me close enough so that I can just sort of fall in.

Let’s just draw on something that’s not embarrassing. I’d really like to have a beautiful and bountiful garden that would provide for me, my neighbors, people at a food pantry, and wildlife. To be honest, that would require more land that I have, and the establishment of a full-fledged agricultural farm. It’s bigger than I can handle. If I really wanted to do this, I would learn about soil, about the plants and their needs. There are many things I could, and should, do if I want to have a productive garden, but I can’t bring myself to do them. Oh, if only I had someone who would come along and do the work for me, so that all I am required to do is putter and enjoy! Do I want to do what’s necessary? Do I study soil and work to amend it? No. But neither am I willing to give up the dream, and so I sit by the pool, year after year.

The garden dream was chosen because it’s safe but replace it with any of the things you know you should give up, take up, or do, and the results are the same. Procrastination. We really need to learn to procrastinate procrastinating and take action, or Jesus may have to ask us if we really want what we claim we want.

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