After a lifetime of loneliness, poverty, and brokenness, Jesus asks the beggar, “Do you want to be healed?”

A simple question?

“Do you want to be healed?”

But, a cure comes with implications. A cure means a change. A cure means a loss of my present identity. A cure means I have to let go of my bitterness, my excuses for not trying, my upside down pride that tells me what I could have been if only…

You can be comfortable in misery. At least it is known and there are little expectations. Little opportunity to let other people down.

But Jesus loves too much to allow such a low view. He has come so that all may experience life – especially those who believe a real shot at life has passed them by. He looks, he notices, he seeks, he searches.

He is the antidote to the beggar’s poverty and brokenness. He binds wounds and heals hearts. He tells him a new story of friendship and kindness. I know because he whispered the same story to me.