Divided Souls

Divided Souls

Read: John 5:1-15

“Do you want to get well?”

John 5:6

“Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.”

—Richard Hooker

IN WORD It’s an obvious question, isn’t it? The man has been an invalid for thirty-eight years and was hanging out at a pool alleged to have mystical healing powers. The Son of God, with all of His insight into peoples’ hearts, comes to him with a no-brainer of a question. “Do you want to get well?” Everyone at the pool could have anticipated the answer. All the signs were right there on the surface.

But Jesus always goes beneath the surface. He understands well the divided minds we fallen people have. He knows that sometimes, as much as we think we want change, we’re comfortable with the status quo. Did this invalid really want to get well? He doesn’t even give an answer, just an excuse: When the water stirs, no one helps him in the pool (v. 7). No one to help? For thirty-eight years? Mixed motives make for slow responses. Surely tired of being an invalid, he probably also feared the dramatic change in his life that healing would bring (v. 14 may indicate why). Jesus had to confront him with a pointed question, as if to say, “Are you ready for what will happen to you when you’ve really encountered Me?”

IN DEED Aren’t we like the invalid? We say we want to be delivered of our sins, but we still look for ways to be tempted by them. We say we’re done with some bad attitude, but we continue to think the thoughts that cultivate it. We want to have our prayers answered, but wonder if people will still give us attention or sympathy when they are. We ask to be filled with His Spirit, but are scared to death of what He’ll have us do. We’d love freedom, but are comfortable captives. We want to change, but we don’t want to change. We’re divided souls.

Jesus comes to us with the same pointed question: “Do you want to get well?” It’s not as obvious as it seems. We must be prepared for radical change if we want a real encounter with Him. We must be willing to leave old ways behind. If we really want to know Him, we must first know that nothing will ever be the same again.