What a stupid question! …

If you have ever been to a seminar, workshop, or conference of some kind where the speaker takes questions after speaking, you’ll usually hear the presenter say, “Don’t hesitate to ask any questions you have because there’s no stupid question.”

I’ve had the opportunity to speak at such venues and I have to say that every now and then there actually is a stupid question asked.

Yes, there is such a thing as a stupid question, and you know one when you hear it.

We even find in scripture what appears to be a stupid question, but the surprising thing is that Jesus is the one doing the asking!

In John 5:1-9a, we have the story of a a man who had been ill for 38 years. We’re not told what the illness was, but it had resulted in an inability to walk. The setting is the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem where, according to tradition, every now and then an angel would come and stir the water in the pool. The first person in the water after the stirring would be healed of any disease they had. Because of that, every day you would find all manner of sick people hanging out by the pool in hopes the angel would come stir the water and they would be the first in.

One day Jesus is visiting the pool of Bethesda and sees this man lying there. Scripture says Jesus knew the man had been sick a long time. We don’t know how long the man had been coming to the pool, but apparently he was seeking a source of healing. In his day, “modern” medicine would be unable to help him. He would need a miracle to ever walk again, so he’s there at the pool of Bethesda seeking one. It’s in this setting that Jesus walks up and asks him, “Would you like to get well?

What a stupid question!

After being ill for 38 years, unable to walk, and hanging around a pool hoping for a miracle, the one thing in life you would want would be to get well … right?

Not necessarily.

You see, Jesus’ question wasn’t so stupid after all. Notice He didn’t ask the man if he wanted to be able to walk again, he asked the man if he wanted to get well … or, if he wanted to be made whole.

The first three words of response from the man is, “I can’t sir …”

More often than not, when we say “I can’t” we mean “I won’t.” The man goes on to give the excuse that he doesn’t have anyone to put him into the pool when the water starts to bubble (presumably after being stirred by an angel). If your only desire was to walk again, and you had seen someone else be healed by getting into the pool before you, wouldn’t you get fairly aggressive about ensuring the next time the water bubbles you would be the first in? I think you’d get pretty creative, if not aggressive!

The issue wasn’t the man getting into the pool, it was this: we become conditioned to our condition. It was more likely the man grew to enjoy the “perks” to his problems. Every day, his contemporaries would have to rise early and head out to fields and shops and work hard to earn a living for themselves and their families. But because of his problem, his family probably took care of him.

Imagine his day. Because of his “problem,” his family would feed him a good breakfast, pack him a lunch, and then take him down to the pool of Bethesda. They would place him in the shade of the porticoes on a mat, fluff his pillow and make sure he was comfortable. They would make sure he had his sack lunch and the Jerusalem Post so he could do the daily crossword puzzle. He would visit with his poolside friends, maybe do some reading, and catch an afternoon nap before family would come to take him home. Once back home, because of his “problem” he would get the couch and would “relax from his day” while others made dinner.

There were, indeed, “perks” to his “problem.”

After nearly four decades of this, it could well be the man didn’t want the responsibility of wholeness. THAT is why Jesus asked a very wise question: “Would you LIKE to get well?”

Some people really don’t. Some have become so conditioned to their condition that they do not want the responsibility of wholeness. They have become content with their brokenness. Change would demand greater things of them, and comparatively, things aren’t so bad as they are.

Being whole — the complete person God created us to be — depends on the answer to the question, “Would you like to get well?”

Each of us have been broken from sin. It has crippled us from being the people God wants us to be, and who we are capable of being through Christ. Jesus wants to fix that. He’s willing to heal IF you want to be made whole.

Do you?

Scotty