Thoughts on the Third Lesson of the Five Lenten Studies

Do You Want to be Well?

Human beings throughout history have searched for ways to be healed or cured of their ailments. At our third Lenten study, Wednesday, March 22, we read three biblical stories about healings. The first story in John 5:1-18 was about a man who had not walked for years and years. He, along with others who had physical infirmities, had lain near a pool of water, which was thought to sometimes emit healing properties.

Jesus, who was developing a reputation as a healer, came by this pool of water. He healed the man, and maybe only him, as the scripture does not report on the others there. But He asked the man a question first: “Do you want to be made well?” The man does not clearly state “YES”! Rather, he gives reasons why he had not been healed to date. After a healing, how different would his life be? Would life become more joyful and free, or become more burdensome with new responsibilities for which to attend?

Talk of health consumes us these days, whether it is on a personal, political, or state of the art level. We strive for extending our lives and do not like to face the fact that all organisms do eventually die, at least scientifically. Several years ago my brother-in-law came very close to experiencing a major heart attack. Five blockages were found and corrected with surgery. I remember the surgeon’s words to our family, saying this was the goal of heart surgeons – to correct the problems - so that patients could die from something other than a heart attack!

In class, we discussed whether being made “well” means the same as being healed or cured. Can ‘being well’ be something that encompasses more than physical health? Does being well connote that life carries meaning of some sort, something different than just being scientifically alive? How do we face this inevitable physical death of ourselves? Neuroscientist-surgeon Paul Kalanithi explores these issues in his memoir When Breath Becomes Air, as he faced his own death from cancer at age 37. He had been the ‘healer’ for others, and now he himself wanted healing. With an unexpectedly shortened career and unlived goals, he embraced what he found to be worthy. For Dr. Kalanithi, part of what he found worthy was a return to the practice of Christianity.

May we all choose to live life, whether brief or long, to the full. Jesus says, “I came so that they could have life – indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.” (John 10:10, Common English Bible)

Written by Victoria Sherman