By Oluwaseyi Ige
I’ve always loved Mary Mary, the sister duo Erica Campbell and Tina Campbell, and their song Wade in the Water is one of those tracks that has stayed with me over the years from the Thankful album. Released in year 2000,it is an arrangement of a traditional African American spiritual. Like many songs from that era, it never really left. I can almost sing it word for word, beat for beat.
The song draws from a story told by John many years ago.
A line from the song reads simply:
“Wade in the water… God’s gonna trouble the water.”
It is an invitation. Move closer. Step in. Don’t just stand at the edge.
Before we look at that, there’s a familiar illustration.
A man is described as hungry, homeless, and jobless. No food, no shelter, no income. Then the question is asked: what does he need most?
Some say food, because hunger is immediate. Others say shelter, because he has nowhere to sleep. Some say a job, because that solves things long-term. All the answers are valid, but not equally urgent. The real issue is identifying what must be addressed now, not just what sounds important.
That same tension appears in John 5, in that story Wade in the Water was drawn from.
Jesus walks into a place filled with sick people. Among them is a man who has been in his condition for thirty-eight years. Almost four decades of limitation. Almost four decades of waiting, enduring pain, being hopeful and despondent at thesame time.
Jesus sees him. Knows his history. Understands his situation.
Then He asks a question that feels almost unnecessary.
“Do you want to get well?”
At first, it sounds obvious. Why else would he be there? I mean, 38 years of staying by the poolside waiting for a push must definitely be because of something.
But the man’s response reveals something deeper.
He does not say yes.
He explains.
He talks about how he has no one to help him into the pool. He talks about how others get there before him. He describes the system that has failed him again and again. In other words, he has mastered the explanation of his condition.
He knows why things are not working. He probably must have answered similar questions over the years.
But he never answers the question.
And that is where this becomes personal.
Because it is possible to stay in a situation so long that it becomes normal. You adjust to it. You explain it. You defend it. You build your routine around it. You know, they say in my place that when a leaf has stayed long on the soap, it becomes soap.
At some point, the problem is no longer just what is happening to you. It becomes what you have accepted.
That is why Jesus asks the question.
Not to gather information, but to confront willingness.
Do you want to get well?
Not do you understand your problem.
Not can you explain your situation.
Not do you have reasons.
Do you want to change?
Because wanting change is not always as straightforward as it sounds.
Sometimes, when people have stayed too long in a certain condition, getting out of it doesn’t seem like an option again.
Healing can disrupt what you have grown used to. It can demand responsibility you have avoided. It can require you to release excuses that have become comfortable.
For that man, getting well meant stepping out of a system he had known for thirty-eight years. It meant responding to something new.
Today, people still gather around different kinds of “pools.”
Not physical ones, but patterns.
Cycles that repeat. Habits that weaken discipline. Mindsets that limit growth. Environments that reinforce delay. Abusive relationships.
And just like that man, many people have explanations.
This is how things are.
I have tried before.
Nothing really changes.
The explanations may be valid. But they can also become barriers.
Jesus does not engage the explanation. He gives an instruction.
“Get up. Pick up your mat and walk.”
No argument. No long process. A direct call to action.
Something shifts in that moment. The man responds. Strength comes. Movement begins. What had been unchanged for thirty-eight years changes, because the grace for the change had arrived.
But it started with a question.
Do you want to get well?
That question still stands.
It goes beyond surface needs and confronts the deeper issue. Not just what you lack, but what you are willing to leave behind.
Because sometimes, what we say we want and what we are ready for are not the same.
You can complain and still resist change. You can desire improvement and still hold on to the habits that prevent it. You can pray for a different outcome and still avoid the steps that lead to it.
So take a moment and be honest.
What area of your life has remained the same for too long?
What have you explained so well that you no longer challenge it?
Now bring it back to the question.
Do you want to get well?
Because until that answer is clear, nothing really changes.
But when it is, the next step becomes unavoidable.
Get up.
And walk.
Because the grace for the change – Jesus, the Christ – is right with you!
Oluwaseyi Ige is a media consultant, communication strategist, and the Chief Operating Officer of
Jabbok Media Services.
An associate pastor at TBC Kubwa and a youth missionary, he previously served as the Media and Communications Coordinator
for Youth for Christ (YFC) Nigeria. He is the founder of Quantum of Grace, an outreach ministry, and the author of
Still Becoming and
Digital Loneliness.
His latest work, Becoming You, is a personal guide helping the next generation navigate the identity fight
and build a life of impact.
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