Healed not Cured

American Robin with food

One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"

Two days ago, three fuzzballs with beaks were alert to the insect in the adult’s bill, brought here for them. Yesterday, the empty nest lay on the ground below the spot on the tree where the adult Robin still returned with food. After a few minutes of chirping, waiting in what definitely looked like confusion and grief, they ate the insect and left. The parental instinct is strong, so it is not surprising that there have been multiple trips to the previous nest site, or that the pair appears prepared to try again. If they learn from the experience they will choose a different location, although for three of the past four years this location has been safe and successful. In fact, the one year there was no Robin’s nest in the tree near our back steps, there was one in the eaves of the house across the street. That location was too easily accessible by the local Crow, who made a meal of the nestlings. So perhaps these individual birds are the ones with that memory and have adapted. It is also possible that the birds in our tree are ones that previously hatched there, returning by instinct to a space they knew as safe. Whether it takes days for the reality of loss to take hold, or generations to learn lessons from loss, one constant in the formula for healing is time.

Jesus encountered a man who spent most of a lifetime waiting on a miracle cure, but Jesus knew that the real question was not did he want to be cured but did he want to be made well. After that long wait for something that wasn’t the lasting change he needed, he quickly saw the importance of being healed. The truth is, he could have remained ill and yet been healed. The wholeness that we seek does not require unbroken bodies or lives free of suffering. Yes, those things would be true gifts, sometimes only available through miraculous means. But the miracle of being well is always available. That is what Jesus offered then, and offers still today.

Prayer: Divine Healer, yes, we want to be made well. Amen.