May 5, 2013

Please read and ponder John 5:1-9, and John 14:23-29. The first text asks us to feel what the crippled man at the pool of Beth-Zatha felt, as he sat beside this pool, waiting for the waters to stir, waiting for an opportunity to beat the crowds, waiting to be healed.  Jesus approached him with a most unusual question: "Do you really want to be healed?"  (This pattern occurs in other healing stories.) 

 

As strange as it sounds, sometimes people become comfortable with their struggles.  In this passage, Jesus challenges our habitual propensity to stay stuck, our tendency to repeat unhealthy behaviors, the tenacity with which we cling to unhealthy attitudes.  To heal, we must envision something new, and then desire it, long for it, hope for it (Hebrews 11:1).  Jewish Mysticism is keen on the principle that all creativity, divine and human, springs from desire.  We must genuinely want it.  Sunday, we’ll examine how a holy desire invites into our heart the "Holy Spirit" that Jesus promised.