Do you want to?
The man had been paralyzed for 38 years.
Then Jesus asked, “Do you want to be healed?”
What?
With an answer so obvious, the question seems insulting.
Jesus asked anyway.
Before action can be taken or a solution might be embraced, Jesus asked the question others were too uncomfortable to broach:
Do you want to?
Sometimes we become our story.
When we wear our challenges, struggles, and tragedies as our identity, it becomes deceitfully comfortable to remain as we are. Even when it’s painful. Even when we say we want out.
Do you want to face the fear of letting go?
Do you want to believe things can change?
Do you want to own your role in the process?
The work of anything important is difficult. The work of anything meaningful takes a long time.
The question remains:
Do you want to?