When we are waiting for something that we really want, the time sometimes seems very long.
When the waiting stretches over a period of many years, the experience seems unending.
Then, someone comes and asks: “Do you want?”
This is what the infirm at the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem has known (John 5:1-9).
“One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years…
Jesus asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
We are surprised by the question, it seems obvious really!
A disability which has been lasting for so long, an infirmity that paralyzes for… an eternity, who would not want to be freed from it?
Yet, Jesus asks: “Do you want to get well?”
Perhaps we need to understand that God wants that we express our desires to him…
For him, our requests, what we call our ‘prayers’, are important…
It is that they can… confirm, anchor more deeply still, our relationship with him!
To pronounce the words: ‘I need this’, I desire that,’ it is to say… ‘I need… you, my God’.
And, when spoken from the depths of our heart, these words can bring us closer to him…
This is probably what he is waiting for…
“I want…”
Note: In the series of video programmes (in French) Les anonymes de l’Évangile, Diane Dargis helps us to continue our reflection as we meet this infirm: https://youtu.be/_fP-cqzjzvE?si=cYcbVJlA1NyUfGCU
Source: Image: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/image/bible-pictures-pool-of-bethesda