“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
There was NO WAY AROUND IT! I was STUCK…just like everyone else on I-75! We were either stopped, or moving at an average of 20mph! With no turnarounds or exits, there was nothing anyone could do to avoid the frustrating situation… or so it appeared!
I HATE being stuck. I also HATE STUPID stuff. Never mind that ‘Hate’ and ‘Stupid’ are 2 swear words to my wife, sometimes I just have to call it as I see it! This traffic jam was BOTH! As I sat there thinking of an appropriate punishment for the individual in charge of the road work causing this delay, several OTHER poster-child candidates started to appear.
It became rather clear that MUCH of the delay was caused by people who came up with OTHER things to do instead of DRIVE! Most of which was illegal. Several vehicles had gaps between them, and the car in front of them, as long as a football field! And they were TEXTING! Soon I became enraged and started dodging in between cars to make up for the space and slowness of traffic. As cars honked at ME… I realized ‘I’ was being stupid!
The story found in John 4, as told by Jesus Himself, is a perfect example of how foolish humans can be, as Jesus came across a man who had laid beside a pool for 38 years. The man had some cockamamie excuse about not being able to jump in when angels stirred the water, and thus get healed. As if God did such things! Jesus saw the error in the man’s argument and asked a simple, yet profound, question. ‘Do YOU… WANT to get healed?”
There is no doubt Jesus was calling the man out! ‘Stupid is a stupid does,’ they say, and Jesus no doubt had an inkling that this guy had a least a LITTLE ray of hope inside of him. So Jesus asked, what appeared to be, a stupid question!
Now I know Jesus rather well. Hanging out with Him all these years I have learned, the HARD way, that the Creator of the Universe NEVER asks stupid questions. NEVER! Now I marvel at Jesus’ patience to even bother to ASK the question… “do you WANT to get well?” Setting on I-75, enraged at the stupidity of the whole situation, He had to almost YELL that same question to ME! And HECK!! I didn’t even think there was anything WRONG with me! HONK HONK!
What do YOU want?
