Do You Want to Be Well?

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When I was a teenager I spent a couple summers working as a lifeguard at the city pool. Every hour there was a 10-minute safety break, and at the end of the break a bell would ring telling the swimmers they could go back in the water. At around minute nine the kids would line up all around the edge of the pool, ready to pounce at the sound of the bell, eager for bragging rights that they were the first to jump back in. 

In John’s gospel (John 5:1-9), a man who had been ill for 38 years was lying with other ill people near a pool that had healing powers. Occasionally the water in this pool would stir, and apparently the first person to get into those moving waters would be healed.

 

Jesus approached this man and asked him, “Do you want to be well?” The man answered that he couldn’t get down to the pool quickly enough and so someone else always got there before he did.

Notice that the man didn’t answer Jesus’ question. He offered only an excuse as to why he was unable to be the first one in the pool. Maybe he needed someone to help him – and how sad that is if no one would. Maybe he got disheartened and gave up. Maybe, after many years, he became accustomed to his situation. 

We may think that we’d have done everything possible to get into that pool first. Instead of passing judgment, though, let’s ask ourselves if sometimes we don’t also make excuses for ourselves and the ‘ill’ ways we’re living. For instance, we may rationalize our cynicism or hurtful choices. We may use our stressful lives to justify our unhealthy or selfish actions. Do we acknowledge these and other ‘ills’? Do we try to change?

Let’s take a moment and listen to Christ ask us: 

Do you want to be well?

Do you want to be freed from your hurtful obsessions and destructive choices?

Do you want to abandon your self-centered ways?

Do you want to experience the peace that I offer you?

Do you want to become the loving, peaceful person the Father created you to be?

Are you willing to do what’s necessary to make those things happen?

Let’s take a bold step toward Christ and ask Him to help us abandon all forms of spiritual stagnation, selfishness, and destructive behavior. Let’s ask Him to lead us to His peace. Let’s be the first one to call out, “Lord, make me well!”

“He said to him, ‘Do you want to be well?’ The sick man answered, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.’” – John 5:6-7 

Open my eyes, that I may see You. Open my ears, that I may hear You. Open my heart, that I may love You in the people around me.

SIDE NOTE: The women’s a cappella quintet I sing with, Grace Notes, has been invited to join the terrific men’s vocal ensemble Sonnenberg Station in a FREE CONCERT that is open to the public on Sunday, April 6, at 7:00 p.m. at Faith Lutheran Church, 2726 West Market St. in Fairlawn, across from Marc’s. Both groups will perform our own pieces and we will also sing a few together. This will be a fantastic concert! Hope to see you there – invite your friends!

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

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P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.