Do You Want to be Made Whole?" - Part II

“Do You Want to be Made Whole?” – Part II

Potentially, a bigger problem exists for this man and perhaps even for us.  He suffers so long that he loses any practical conceptualization of healing.  He no longer imagines walking.  He surrenders his ability to dream about wholeness.  Once I visited a church member who had been in pain for so long she told me she had forgotten what it feels like to be well.  Similarly, we fight with our broken circumstances to the point of learning to live with them rather than continuing to conquer and eliminate them.  We wonder whether we will ever know life without pain.

The final layer of the problem involves the lame man’s perception of God.  This man undoubtedly suffers with a major crisis of faith.  The man really wants to know whether God is indifferent to his pain and suffering.  Moreover, is God humiliating and demoralizing the lame man by continually leaving the man in his predicament?  Truly, it was not in the mind of God that His children linger as broken and forsaken people.  Classical theological circles characterize this dilemma as the problem of theodicy.  If God is all-powerful, kind, knowledgeable and ever-present, why does evil exists in the world.  More personally, why does He permit the evil of my present circumstances?

There is always good news!  This lame man encounters the Lord Jesus Christ who asks the pivotal question, “Do you want to be made whole?”  Rather than being a question of obvious insult, it is the Lord’s way of inquiring whether we have the requisite faith in Him and willingness of mind and heart to partner with Him to resolve our dilemma.  Although it had been thirty-eight years, the lame man still had to determine whether he wants a holistic life.  If he does, is he willing to follow the Lord’s wisdom to acquire and sustain healing? 

The Lord tells this man, “Pick up your mat and walk.”  Will the lame man exert the effort and obey in order to be healed?  Likewise, will we follow the Lord’s instruction and do the hard work that leads to the healing of our souls, minds and hearts?  Jesus wants to know if the lame man still has any faith to believe his situation could be different.  Otherwise, the lame man essentially chooses to remain in the throes of his illness. 

Healing has three dimensions: (1) relational, (2) experiential and (3) practical.  As we better relate to Almighty God through prayer and meditation, seeking His will and grace to live within it, He freely shares His wisdom for resolving our daily challenges.  Healing emerges in the context of our daily encounters with people and situations.  As we overcome one set of problems, we are better able to tackle the next set.  Healing is not theoretical nor is it ethereal.  It is very practical.  As we concretely “pick up [our] mats and walk,” we remove more and more layers of the problem.  Yet, healing begins with the fundamental question, “Do you want to be made whole?”