NOTES for Joh 5:1-16
Judging by everything, the people who gathered near the pool of Bethesda were precisely those longing for healing. And Jesus asks the sick man what seems a foolish question: "Do you want to be made well?" Why, one asks, is he lying here if he does not want to recover? But not everything is that simple. At times doctors encounter this kind of situation: a person runs from doctor to doctor, scrupulously follows every instruction; it appears that everything is being done as it should be, yet there is still no improvement. And the illness, it would seem, is not serious, but nothing helps. Experienced doctors in such situations often say that this is work for a psychiatrist or psychologist: the person is simply comfortable being sick. The body refuses to recover because this is familiar, this is comfortable. The person has something to do: he is undergoing treatment. Having recovered, such a person would simply lose the meaning of life!
The same thing happens with our sins. Blessed Augustine described this attitude toward sin with remarkable wit and self-criticism: "Lord, grant me chastity! Only, please, not today." We come to God and ask, ask Him to heal us, to free us from sins... But in reality we simply do not see our life without sin. We are used to sinning and repenting, and do we in fact need the help we ask Him for? He asks a simple question: "Do you want to be made well?" And until our answer is a sincere "Yes" coming from the heart, no healing will be possible.