Do You Want to Be Well?
The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast
Ascension
4.9 • 7.1K Ratings
🗓️ 25 April 2019
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jesus asked the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda, “Do you want to be well?” It seems like an obvious question, but—as Fr. Mike explains—in order for this man to desire healing, he had to believe he could be healed. So many of us have given up on the thought that God can change us from whatever it is we don’t want to be into whatever it is we want to be, and what we believe he wants us to be. Whether it’s an illness, lack of willpower, or just lack of ability, we believe our problem is chronic. Jesus’ question to the man at the pool is an appeal to the man’s belief that God can heal him. Believing God can make a drastic change for the better in our own lives may just be the key to actually making that change happen.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | How My Names Father My Expits and This Is A Sinsha Presents |
| 0:08.0 | So I was reading the Bible the other day as I am want to do on very frequent occasions. |
| 0:14.0 | Anyways, I'm reading John's Gospel and John Chapter 5 came across the story of this man who was crippled. |
| 0:19.0 | He was at the pool of Bethesda, so it's in Jerusalem and there's this idea that there's a kind of a legend in the Old Testament or in Jewish circles in that time |
| 0:27.0 | that when the waters were moved in the pool that they were had like healing properties to them. |
| 0:32.0 | So anyways, the story is John Chapter 5 that there's this man. |
| 0:36.0 | He's been crippled for 38 years and the Jesus comes to him and he realizes he's been crippled for 38 years and Jesus asks him this question. |
| 0:46.0 | And the question that he asks him can seem like on the surface can seem really kind of silly, can seem really kind of unnecessary. |
| 0:54.0 | But here's the thing about Jesus, he never asks silly or unnecessary questions at all. |
| 0:58.0 | But on the surface it looks kind of like, seriously that's your question Jesus. |
| 1:03.0 | So this man, again, keep this in mind. |
| 1:05.0 | He has been sick, he's been crippled for 38 years and scripture says, John says, Jesus knowing he has been sick for a long time asks him this question. |
| 1:15.0 | The question is, do you want to be well? |
| 1:18.0 | Again, on the surface for us we might be like, ah, that's, I mean I'm going to go with it Jesus because you're Jesus and everything. |
| 1:26.0 | But like that seems like duh, of course no brainer, but it's not. It completely is not. |
| 1:32.0 | He asks the man, do you want to be well? Why? |
| 1:36.0 | Because yes, this man's sickness, this man's pain, this man's being crippled for 38 years. |
| 1:41.0 | I imagine it just grinds him down if you've been sick for that long whether it's spiritually or physically. |
| 1:46.0 | You know what it's like to like say, okay, gosh, oh my lord, please help me and then to receive no healing to receive no alleviation of that pain of that suffering. |
| 1:56.0 | It can be, normalizing it can be crushing, it can be destroying. |
| 2:01.0 | But the question, but the reality is at the same time, sorry, at the same time, it's familiar. |
| 2:07.0 | Right at the same time, it's, I mean it can be painful but it's still comfortable in some ways because it's what I'm used to. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ascension, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Ascension and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.