I've never been someone who stays on top of the latest social media influencers. I couldn't really tell you who is current or not. However, I do follow some Christian content creators and over the last couple of days, Theo Von, a popular podcaster, has gone viral for speaking about Jesus. He shared a profoundly vulnerable moment with his listeners about healing, faith and wanting a new story.
He speaks about how he felt when he was reading scripture and came upon John 5. I'll share it below.
The Healing at the Pool on the Sabbath
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
When you read the entirety of John 5:1-17, the story is about the Sabbath and how the Jewish leaders took offense to Jesus healing on the Sabbath. However, what Theo brought to my attention was the question Jesus asked. I had never thought about that question before or certainly never saw it as the main part to this story.
"Do you want to be healed?"
This question is profound. It seems like such an obvious answer. Maybe you have no problem answering "Yes!" immediately; but it makes me stop and think. That question is actually really difficult! It kind of ties into my post I wrote yesterday about freedom in Christ. In this post, I'd like to dig a little deeper into WHY some of us may have a hard time saying "yes" to Jesus' question.
Studies show that those who experience severe trauma can "set up camp" in their pain, a phenomenon where individuals become emotionally, mentally, or physically anchored to past distressing experiences.
It's the kind of pain that has become almost like an extra limb. It's a familiar pain. It's where we are comfortable and what we have called home. For the man in this story, he called that pain home for 38 years!
Pain is all this man has known. It's become part of his identity. It's part of his story. It's how he viewed himself and how others viewed him. A cripple. Then here comes Jesus asking the question to the man who has suffered tremendously, "Do you want to be healed?"
It's interesting that the man didn't reply "yes" immediately. He actually responded in a defensive way, shifting the blame onto others. A tactic that becomes all to familiar for people who have trauma.
Tony Robbins has a GREAT quote about change. “Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.”
If you're stuck in the cycle of pain or trauma, the question then becomes; is the pain you're living with stronger than the idea of a new beginning?
With the physical healing Jesus offered that man, He also offered him a brand new beginning. A fresh start. A clean slate. The opportunity to rewrite his story. After 38 years, that man stood on his legs, felt the rush of blood through them as he moved them and quite literally picked up his "home", the place where he had lived for all those years and walked. A new story began...
That's the kind of radical change that only Jesus can provide.
If Jesus was to show up and meet you where you're at, just like He did with that man on that Sabbath day, and He was to ask you, "Do you want to be healed?" do you know what you'd say?
If the fear of staying the same is greater than the idea of a new beginning, the answer is yes.
Give Jesus a chance. Ask for healing. Let Him rewrite your story. It's scary as all get out...but it will be the best decision you will ever make.