I am sure you are aware of the concept of inertia. If you are like most people you think of it in terms of starting or continuing a task. In physics inertia is defined in terms of velocity. Sir Isaac Newton was the first to put equations to it. He basically said that matter doesn’t change its velocity unless something makes it change. That is it in a nutshell.
My children had inertia when they were little. Here I am not talking about velocity per se, just the resistance to change. When it was bath time, they didn’t want to go. But when it was time to get out of the bath, they didn’t want to leave. The same thing applied to bedtime. I can’t count the times I heard the phrase “but I’m not tired,” when it was obvious a child was in fact very sleepy. And yet it seemed a monumental task to get them out of bed in the morning.
We all have this kind of inertia don’t we? We use the same roads to get to church, work, or the grocery store. We order the same things of the menu at our favorite restaurants. We are all creatures of habit. Change is not usually a welcome thing.
We know this because we see it every year. People make resolutions to break bad habits and rarely succeed. I found the results of a survey online where people listed bad habits they wanted to change. The list would probably not surprise you. On it are things such as “not enough exercise,” “procrastination,” “eating too much”, and “not getting enough sleep.” Sound familiar?
Here is a story from the bible about a man who had a habit he practiced for a long time.
John 5:5-14
5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
What was the lame man’s habit? He came to the pool near the Sheep Gate. If you dig a little you will discover the reason: this pool was thought to provide special healing, but only if you were the first to enter. It must have been hard for an invalid to even get there, let alone be the first one in the pool. I imagine he got used to not being first, and over the years he must have resigned himself to his fate. Jesus finds him in the condition and asks him a very curious question. Does he want to get well? Why would Jesus ask that? Doesn’t it seem obvious the answer must be yes? Well, maybe. But maybe not. The answer could be no, and if we are really being honest with ourselves the answer if often no to this question. Answering yes means a new life, yes, but that also means change. And we don’t like change, remember? You can get a glimpse of this man’s heart with his answer to Jesus’ question. He doesn’t say yes and he doesn’t say no. Instead he tells the sad story of why he can’t be the first one into the pool.
Imagine if a billionaire came up to you, asked you if you wanted to be rich, and you answered by telling him or her why you were poor.
Imagine if Jesus appeared and asked you if you wanted to be free from sin and you replied by saying why it is that you are sinful.
I think the man is looking for validation. When I questioned my children, asking them if they wanted their room to be clean, I often got a response along those same lines. Instead of saying yes they would tell me why it is dirty. “It’s not my fault,” they might say. “I didn’t know how to clean it.” Or maybe they would talk about how they had too much schoolwork to do, or that other people caused the mess. The message to me was clear. It was more important that I not blame them for a dirty room than it was for the room to become clean.
That is the real crux of the matter isn’t it? We don’t want to be blamed for the condition we are in, and we want that so much that it takes center stage instead of the process of getting better. I think Jesus knew this as part of the human condition, and he healed the man anyway. He gives the man a new life. We can only imagine what he does with it. We don’t know where he goes or who he becomes friends with. I bet he doesn’t come by the pool anymore. Change is scary, and inertia is hard to overcome, but the benefits can be incredible.
So take a hard look inside and ask yourself the same question. Do you want to be made well?