Do you want to be healed?

Jesus asks the man in the porticos if he wants to be healed. You might say, why else would he be in the porticos? Of course, he wants healing. Perhaps. Or perhaps he is going through the motions of the social expectations of a person in his physical condition. To be healed would mean becoming a different kind of person with different kinds of responsibilities and different daily companions. To be healed means change and risk.

Today, Jesus stands in our porticos asking if we want to be healed. Are we in pews each week because we want to be healed, which means change?  Or, are we going through the motions of social expectation while seeking comfort and companionship so that we can continue with our lives as we see fit? I distinctly recall being in a pew about 20 years ago when an invitation to be healed of the toll of workaholic anxiety and self-condemnation came through the message of the service. I also distinctly recall thinking at that time that if I accepted the healing, I wouldn’t be able to motivate myself to do what needed to be done to get tenure and support my family. I was in the porticos, but when the question came, “do you want to be healed,” I wasn’t ready to say yes.

Thankfully, since then I have been able to say yes, I want to be healed. Thankfully I had companions who encouraged me in stepping into the ongoing daily spiritual therapy needed to build strength for continued healing. The past four years have been transformative. I am a different person – a more joyful person. Trust and gratitude spur me to do work instead of negative motivations of guilt and shame.  I still enjoy gifts that help me do the work I am called to do. I did not dissolve into the lazy lump I feared healing would bring 20 years ago.

Today Jesus still asks – do you want to be healed? Say yes. If you’ve already said yes, look around for others who need the encouragement of your story of healing to have the courage to say yes.