When Jesus asks the paralyzed man in John 5 if he wants to be healed, it almost feels like a rhetorical question. Who doesn’t want to be healed when they’re in pain or distress? If a doctor had approached me in that hospital room sitting beside my husband, and asked him, “Do you want to be healed of this infection?” We would have shouted YES! And then questioned the doctor’s sanity.

OF COURSE we want healing.

And yet there’s something deeper happening in this conversation between Jesus and the paralyzed man. Something worth slowing down to notice. Because it’s certainly true that we all want healing…but also, sometimes we don’t.

This conversation invites us to reflect more deeply. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you desperately longed for healing but were also hesitant to embrace it fully? Sometimes, the comfort of our pain and familiar routines can make us resistant to change, even when healing is within reach.