Sunday, October 10, 2010

Stand Up!

"Would you like to get well?"

When Jesus asked this question to the lame man at the Bethesda pool, don’t you think someone thought it was a stupid question? Even though there is no such thing as a stupid question, doesn’t this seem to be one? The man had been sitting beside the pool for 38 years waiting for his chance to be the first one in when the angel stirred the waters. Of course he wanted to be healed, didn’t his perseverance of staying close to the pool for that long prove his desire?

However, I wonder if it was a stupid question or not when I think about my own life. How many times have I struggled with the same problems over and over again? My friends have the patience of Job for listening to me lament the same things over and over again. Don’t we all struggle with those perpetual sins or habits that we just can’t seem to get the upper hand against? Is it a stupid question to ask myself in regard to those struggles, “Would you like to get well?”

Of course, I want to get well. Of course, I want to stop doing the very same things which keep causing me pain or keep me from achieving the life I hope for. So why do I keep struggling? Why do we all keep struggling? The man at the pool had an excuse ready for Jesus rather than an answer to his question. “I can’t , sir, for I have no one to help me into the pool.” And don’t we all have similar excuses when faced with letting go of a habitual and sinful behavior. “I can’t right now I am too busy.” “I can’t do it alone.”

We answer the question with excuses rather than honesty. We hold onto patterns because they are comfortable. Because we feel safer continuing in a painful behavior than risking the insecurity of trying something new. And ultimately, we doubt the possibility of success. Because just like him, we can’t imagine the answer would end up being so simple. “Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk.” After years of waiting his turn and following the rules, the man was healed with two words, “stand up!”

I want to yell in my most cynical voice, “It’s not that simple!!” My own problems are not so easily solved. More excuses, I wonder if the lame man tried to stand up more out of spite than trust. I can hear him saying sarcastically in his head, “Sure, whatever, I’ll stand up.” And he was probably just as surprised as everyone else when he moved his legs and stood up. So why do I doubt? Why do I not trust Jesus to work miracles in my life?

Because I don’t believe and I trust in my own resources more than God's power. In the end, I would rather make excuses about my own weakness than trust in the power of God.And so I sit beside the pool grumbling about my situation and hoping for someone to ask me the question, that stupid question. “Would you like to get well?” When, instead, I should be listening and following the command, “Stand up.”