“Do you want to get well? – surely one of the most important questions Jesus ever asked anyone. The answer is not as obvious as it may seem. Even the man to whom it was addressed didn’t give a direct answer. An invalid for 38 years, he responded by muttering something about never being able to get into the healing waters of the special pool. Why not a simple “Yes”? Why not an enthusiastic and glorious “Yes!”?
No doubt he didn’t realize the Lord of the Universe was speaking to him. But even that knowledge might not have guaranteed a different response. Thirty-eight years is a long time to settle into the comforts of being an invalid – of always having an excuse. Being well holds more responsibilities. Jesus wanted to know what the man wanted.
He wants to know the same from us. Jesus can do little for us if we are comfortable with our place, if we have made compromising alliances with our losses and excuses for our inability to change. Too often we languish in our condition when all along, Jesus stands there asking, “What do you want?” And if we don’t languish, then we lull; we settle for less.
Though physical healing may be involved, it is not the main point. Jesus’ question refers to life itself, What do you want from life? What do you want from me? “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find: knock and the door will be opened to you.” Then he repeats “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
The first statement is a formula – a cause and effect proposition – do this, and this will result. The second has a different emphasis – on the person, not the formula. “For everyone who asks… he who seeks… to him who knocks…” Jesus is talking about a type of person. God’s economy rewards the askers, the seekers, the knockers.
In the end, the process is quite simple: I ask because I don’t know the answer; I seek because there’s more to find; I knock because this door goes someplace.
John Fischer The Catch 
Nice, John; I just shared this verse with someone yesterday but, I need to remember to apply it’s principles to my own life just as well. Thanks!
You hit the issue straight on. Over 20 years of physical pain, surgeries, and two distinctly different life-altering illnesses, I’ve noticed my own “settling into” being unwell. I’ve read this story and wondered at the man’s evasiveness. I’ve found myself wondering at my own hedging when I confront the question, “do I want to be made well?” The easy answer is an emphatic Yes! But then again… my expectations about life and myself, as well as others expectations for me, could be overwhelming. As I write this, I acknowledge that I need, and want, the complete mind, body and entire being healing. Because if it is only my body that is healed, my ‘afraid’ will undo me. I am aware that it is also an issue of trust. As ridiculous as it sounds, somehow my heart and mind are skewed enough to have a hard time accepting that God really is big enough, gracious enough to even want to make me completely well. 40 years of Christian life, bible study, and searching to know Him and this is my struggle. I’d laugh if my heart wasn’t so full of tears.
Good point about the healing of more than just the body. I’m not so sure it’s God’s will or us to be 100% well 100% of the time. I think the physical is a window to the deeper things of the spirit. I do think the issue is 100% dependence on the Lord 100% of the time. If we were doing that it might just make some of these other things non-issues.
I wonder if y’all have any thoughts about what to do when faced with God’s silence…when we ask, seek, and knock but the answers are not coming. I know that the obvious answer is wait, maybe the real answer is what to do while you wait?
I would keep moving in whatever direction you are compelled to move in. And I would also persist in knocking. Remember the parable about the woman who kept on knocking until the homeowner finally came to the door? Why do you suppose he told that story?