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Do You Really Want to Be Healed? | S4E33 BEYOND THE LETTER PODCAST
May 25, 2026 · 48 min
This week on Beyond the Letter, Adam and Sammy react to a clip of Theo Von reading John 5 and getting hit with one haunting question: “Do you want to be healed?” They unpack how it’s possible to want change… but still cling to the patterns that keep us stuck.They also break down what Jesus’ command to “pick up your mat and walk” actually costs—identity, comfort, excuses, and sometimes even the “benefits” we’ve learned to live off of. If you’ve ever felt like healing sounds good in theory, but terrifying in practice, this conversation will challenge you in the best way.--Connect with:Adam Mesa https://www.instagram.com/amesa/Sammy Rodriguez https://www.instagram.com/samuelmrod/--Don't forget to stay connected with us:Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4OvpFp9OB9_DgVdVVbXhFgInstagram https://www.instagram.com/beyond.theletter/Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/discover/beyond-the-letter--Have a question? Submit it TODAY, by clicking the link below! ***SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION HERE: https://patria.church.ai/form/BeyondtheLetterQA--Get to know the team:@amesa https://www.instagram.com/amesa/@nancysnavas https://www.instagram.com/nancysnavas/@alizee.kayy https://www.instagram.com/alizee.kayy/@andytakesl https://www.instagram.com/andytakesl/
Series Beyond the Letter
Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
Article · 8 min read Do You Want to Be Healed? A Comedian's Question About John 5 A viral clip of comedian Theo Von reading John 5 led the Beyond the Letter hosts into what Jesus' question at Bethesda asks of us and why healing changes a life. May 25, 2026 · 48 min · Beyond the Letter
This week on Beyond the Letter, Adam and Sammy react to a clip of Theo Von reading John 5 and getting hit with one haunting question: “Do you want to be healed?” They unpack how it’s possible to want change… but still cling to the patterns that keep us stuck.They also break down what Jesus’ command to “pick up your mat and walk” actually costs—identity, comfort, excuses, and sometimes even the “benefits” we’ve learned to live off of. If you’ve ever felt like healing sounds good in theory, but terrifying in practice, this conversation will challenge you in the best way.--Connect with:Adam Mesa https://www.instagram.com/amesa/Sammy Rodriguez https://www.instagram.com/samuelmrod/--Don't forget to stay connected with us:Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4OvpFp9OB9_DgVdVVbXhFgInstagram https://www.instagram.com/beyond.theletter/Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/discover/beyond-the-letter--Have a question? Submit it TODAY, by clicking the link below! ***SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION HERE: https://patria.church.ai/form/BeyondtheLetterQA--Get to know the team:@amesa https://www.instagram.com/amesa/@nancysnavas https://www.instagram.com/nancysnavas/@alizee.kayy https://www.instagram.com/alizee.kayy/@andytakesl https://www.instagram.com/andytakesl/ ...more Show the full description Show less This week on Beyond the Letter, Adam and Sammy react to a clip of Theo Von reading John 5 and getting hit with one haunting question: “Do you want to be healed?” They unpack how it’s possible to want change… but still cling to the patterns that keep us stuck.They also break down what Jesus’ command to “pick up your mat and walk” actually costs—identity, comfort, excuses, and sometimes even the “benefits” we’ve learned to live off of. If you’ve ever felt like healing sounds good in theory, but terrifying in practice, this conversation will challenge you in the best way.--Connect with:Adam Mesa https://www.instagram.com/amesa/Sammy Rodriguez https://www.instagram.com/samuelmrod/--Don't forget to stay connected with us:Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4OvpFp9OB9_DgVdVVbXhFgInstagram https://www.instagram.com/beyond.theletter/Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/discover/beyond-the-letter--Have a question? Submit it TODAY, by clicking the link below! ***SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION HERE: https://patria.church.ai/form/BeyondtheLetterQA--Get to know the team:@amesa https://www.instagram.com/amesa/@nancysnavas https://www.instagram.com/nancysnavas/@alizee.kayy https://www.instagram.com/alizee.kayy/@andytakesl https://www.instagram.com/andytakesl/
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0:53 My... Maybe it's maybe it's just my generation. You know? Just need a crispy cut, dude. You just gotta be just gotta be crispy, Andy.
1:01 I like the... You know me.
1:03 Yeah. You just need to... We might be old. I think we're getting older. You want a crispy face? I I love
1:07 the good... My my buzz cut now. I'm back to, like, the normal just... Yeah. I just... I can't perm it, man. I think I I think if I was younger, Andy's age
1:16 face. Yeah.
1:16 Like, grow it out. You know, they have, like... They wanna be, a shaggy dog pussy and,
1:20 Well, it's also because my hair is super straight. Like, it's, like, Asian hair, so it doesn't go nowhere.
1:25 What's wrong with Asian hair? There's nothing wrong
1:27 with it.
1:28 Woah. It's just Let me call it let let me call
1:30 it show. Be canceled over here.
1:31 There's nothing wrong with it. Also, if I lift up my hair right now, I have no forehead, so it's really hard to style Okay. The way that it is. So it has to be really short.
1:41 I see.
1:41 And if it's short like that, then it just sticks up. So I'm like, if it's long, then it's in my face.
1:44 Yeah. So
1:45 it needs to be... Have some texture to it.
1:46 My sons have a built in perm, so they're pretty lucky with that.
1:49 Yeah. They're they're
1:50 Matthias be... You know, he's seven. He'll be eight next month, but he beats before school, he'd be staring in that mirror. He he scrunches his curls. Oh, yeah. He he like, yeah. Dad dad, get the blow driver. I need
2:01 this. I I... It's not Hey. You know what? He's he's blessed.
2:05 He can he can do that.
2:06 Built in. He don't have to pay how much a per... How much a perm cost?
2:09 No. It... Well, I got lucky because my mom's French. She knows how to do it, so it's sixty. But normally, it's like a hundred twenty.
2:15 Dang. Every other month?
2:16 Yeah. But... Yeah. So thankfully, get a discount.
2:19 But Yeah. That's Yeah.
2:20 If you... If someone would go normally to, a barber shop, it would be around a hundred twenty Okay. Dollars.
2:24 Yeah, man. That's gnarly. Hey. I'll let you... I emailed you that clip, Andy. I'll let you Yeah. We're working on it. Let you set it up. I just wanna make sure. What's up, everybody? Welcome to Beyond the Letter. Thanks
2:36 for hanging with us today.
2:38 Come on.
2:38 Just for heads up, if you haven't heard, we've announced a couple times, but we're gonna be taking a short little summer break. That's good. It's gonna be good. Yep. Everybody here knows what we're doing. I don't... I'm
2:49 I'm not gonna give everything away. I've said some things Yeah. One of the episodes. What did you share? What did you tell him? I can't remember if it was beyond I do or beyond the letter. Yeah. It might have been beyond
2:59 the letter though. I might have been talking about it with Alan last episode.
3:02 Okay.
3:04 You did.
3:04 But it was talking... Yeah. What you're talking about with Alan? Fun. So we we got two more episodes. This is the second to last episode until we take a summer break. Wow. And then we're gonna kinda do like a... We're
3:16 doing a whole refresh. So...
3:17 It's gonna be dope. It is gonna be cool.
3:19 It's gonna be cool. The team just met earlier Yeah. Today, and we talked everything through. And so we're gonna be replacing some certain backdrops, adding some things. It's... A lot of it's technology, though. That's
3:31 why the show has to kinda go down because we're replacing camera equipment, you know, going from... Right now, we do nineteen twenty, ten eighty. We're gonna go into four k. Yeah. So we're swapping out cameras, going
3:43 four k on cameras, whole new technology in our computer system. But bigger than that, we're gonna be we're gonna be inviting interviews from people on location where they're at.
3:52 That's gonna be so sick. So... Which allows us to talk about like tour without having to take it on
3:57 tour. Exactly.
3:58 That's what's really
3:59 But it's gonna be engaging. And for those that watch on YouTube or Yeah. Just watch the clips on social media, still gonna be engaging. Mhmm. It's gonna be high quality. Mhmm. But we gotta we gotta we gotta shut it all
4:10 down in order to do it. And our team's busy. They got a lot going on. So if they shut everything down, could they redo it in about two weeks? Yes. But it's gonna take longer than that just because our team works on other
4:21 things. And so we're basically gonna take all of June, parts of July off and then launch once we feel that everything... Latest will be end of July, and then we're gonna launch it.
4:31 So You know what we could do too? I mean, we could cut this out as an idea if it's a bad idea. You know how, like, Jimmy Fallon when he shuts down his Tonight Show, but they do, like, flashbacks? Oh, do they? Yes.
4:42 So they do, like, rerun reruns?
4:44 Well, they flashback it. So, like, you could do... I don't know if what we're doing with our... If we're gonna keep our account Or, like, social media. Social media rolling.
4:51 I see
4:52 what like, clips... Some of our favorite clips that could be just, like, flashback if you wanna hear it.
4:58 Social media.
4:58 Just just a thought not to put a
5:00 Good thinking. On people. You know, to give Andy more work. Andy was like, man, I was about to have a good summer. I never made plans. Right? He's like, I had multiple perms lined up.
5:08 But but this... You're welcome, bro. But but this will also give all you listeners a chance to go back and listen to some of your favorite episodes or or Or catch up. Catch up. And, you know, a lot of times we've
5:20 had people... Because of what is it? Where we're hitting year five? Yes.
5:24 We're gonna be going into year five. So we've finished years. Yeah. So some of you
5:28 guys that have jumped into Beyond the Letter or Beyond I Do, you just jumped in the last six months, a year, two years. Catch up on stuff. Go go check out some
5:37 of the episodes. There's some people who listen every week faithfully. And there's others though who busy live. Yeah. Here and there. They... Here and there, and so they can catch up. Yeah. And then and then
5:48 people could just be ready for that for that refresh, which is gonna be so fun. Yeah. I know. We're gonna we're gonna lock in interviews, and it's gonna be great. We're really excited. So we have one more after this,
5:59 which will be next week's episode. And then once June hits Yeah. Then we will take a small little small little break. So sick. Do a whole refresh. It's gonna be fun. Yep. We're gonna be
6:11 doing a lot of creative things along with that, so it'll be good. And then even one day, Sammy... We were just talking about... Because Sammy at the end of this year, he moves out to Huntington Beach.
6:22 Which is crazy.
6:22 Makes it harder for him to get to where we're at Rancho Cucumas. We're like, oh, Sammy could still be on the show at times because he can Yeah. He can... Lack of better term, Zoom. We're not using a system Zoom. For
6:32 sure. Can he could talk from where he's at. Yep. He can go on the beach, make us all jealous. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Sit there with his his equipment on the beach.
6:40 I'll definitely have to get... We'll get some good equipment too. And then, you know, now that Will jumped off, we could actually even get him back on.
6:47 Will Chong could come back on because he he jumped
6:49 off and then we never see him anymore.
6:51 Never seen him again.
6:52 So... But...
6:53 We'll get him again. Yeah. We'll get him again with this, with this opportunity. So For sure. It's gonna be... It'll be really fun, really cool. And so we're glad that y'all are joining us. You're staying with us.
7:03 Excited for this, little refresher that's gonna come. It's gonna let us broaden the conversation. Yeah. I'm already thinking through. There's a couple guys who are professors that have written books and Oh, yeah. Wanna
7:14 talk through their books that they've written. And I got some friends that are in creative industry who we've reached out to. There's about five athletes, professional athletes who have already said that they wanna come
7:26 on the show. But for lack... Like, we were supposed to have a... The reason why you and I are talking today is Yeah. We were supposed to have a professional athlete... Professional basketball player on. And then last
7:35 minute, he had something that popped up.
7:37 So we
7:37 were like, okay. It was supposed to be yesterday, the show. And I'm like, well, let's postpone it tomorrow. Yeah. For sure. Let's get Sammy, blah blah blah blah blah. And so a lot of individuals, man, they watch. They
7:46 wanna be apart. It's just really hard to get to Rancho. I agree. So this just gives us so much Yep. Opportunity. And there's a lot of people who've gone through
7:55 Yeah.
7:55 Kind of our church and our ministry, like CJ Stroud for football and all that. And and they've, like, have always said, man, I'd love to do something. It's just that availability is slim and And to fly
8:05 out to do... Take a day or two. This would just be an hour, which I think is so great.
8:10 Hour, they could go on their laptop. They can go on their phone. Well, it's like Cut it up nice.
8:14 See, like, the Kelsey brothers. Right? Yep. They do that, and then they'll interview someone.
8:18 It's exactly how it's gonna look.
8:19 So like Rory
8:20 A lot of ways.
8:21 Rory jumped in on his birthday, but it was just like an hour. Yeah. So he was able to jump in. So I think it would be cool too. I mean, there's so many... Like, when we do it this way, there's so many people we could add
8:30 in, you know?
8:31 A lot of options.
8:32 But it'd be cool to hear... Also, you should comment or share to us what what, like, background you'd wanna hear. Like, what what kind of people... Again, don't don't put specific names because, you know, y'all trying to
8:44 go crazy. You know?
8:45 We should say Kanye is a good guy. I just don't have access to Kanye.
8:49 Yeah. But maybe put, like, categories. Like, I would love to hear in the finance or I would love to hear in the entertainment industry. I love to hear
8:57 For sure.
8:57 On tech, stuff like that because we we have a ton of great friends that I know would wanna jump on.
9:03 So it's Yeah.
9:03 For sure.
9:04 Mhmm. Yeah. So it's gonna be fun. But, you know, we got we got somewhat of a shorter episode today. Like I shared, we're supposed... We're really excited to interview we're gonna have, but he had something jump up last
9:15 minute, which is okay. That happens. Did you say
9:17 who it was or you didn't you didn't share who it was?
9:19 No. I didn't share who it was. Well, just save it
9:21 because you'll probably do it.
9:22 He's gonna come back on.
9:24 Okay.
9:24 He'll do it through Zoom now. That's easy. He he felt really bad Yeah. That he had something come back. But h would know, I think he plays for the Timberwolves. But Oh, yeah. I know what you're talking about.
9:36 Okay. You know who I'm talking about?
9:37 Yeah. I'm pretty sure.
9:38 I haven't
9:38 met him yet. I'm blanking his name, but h... I remember h telling me about it.
9:41 I haven't got to meet him yet, but it was something that someone on our team was working out. And so Yep. I think he plays for Minnesota Timberwolves. Yep. And so That's good. You got
9:49 you got the city and the the team name. Yeah.
9:51 Yeah. Yeah. That's good. You said, like, the
9:55 Minnesota bobcats?
9:57 I know. Right? I'm like, it sounds right. Right. And you confirmed. You're like, no. Yeah. That... That's the guy you're thinking of.
10:03 Hey. Someone asked me. They were like, does does Adam like, like, the lakers? I'm like,
10:08 yeah. Yeah. He likes... He... He's...
10:11 Think of like. Think of him more as like an owner. Like, would rather, like, talk about the ownership of it and like... But you could get him stuff. I was like, yeah. He likes the teams. He'll be there.
10:20 But Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If it's LA, I'll rock it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Except for angels. Yeah. Well, we're we're hiding angels. Yeah. No. Anaheim. We call themselves the Los Angeles, Anaheim, Orange County. Yeah. It's so
10:31 weird. Angels. It's really... Yeah. It's strange.
10:33 But
10:33 It is weird. Yeah. I wear... Honestly, wear I... Normally, when people ask, like, hey. What's your favorite team? I'm like, whatever your team is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's my favorite team.
10:43 Yeah. What's your team?
10:43 Me too. It's my my team is whatever your team is. Yeah. Yeah. I don't I don't care.
10:48 I don't like the Clippers, so the Clippers could leave. You know?
10:50 I'll take them. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Harbull Julian was the chaplain for, like, eight years. He was. Was. You know? We got
10:56 But secretly, he was a
10:57 a Laker fan. I know that in his heart. Well, no. He was. Yeah. He said when he became the chaplain for the Clippers, he was like, dang it. I know. I know. But you gotta say yes to that. Exactly. Yeah. He's like, man, I
11:08 want to be... I want the Lakers. I know. But, yo, we got this clip, one that went viral a little bit ago, and we just didn't do it on the episode because we were talking about other things.
11:19 And Yeah.
11:19 Sami was like, man, we should we should talk about this, which is similar to some conversations we've had before. But if you don't know who Theo Bond is, I think we've had him like we've clipped him before for something
11:29 before. But if you don't know Theo Bond is, very famous comedian. Probably got top five podcasts in the world. He's Yeah. He's up there. And, you know, he's normally... You know, he'd be
11:41 a very secular comedian, all that stuff, but he's been having a lot of reflections lately about faith, about, you know, who Jesus is and about the Bible and things like that. And so
11:54 he had this clip that just popped off and I don't even know who he was talking to.
11:58 Don't remember who or it could have been a solo one.
12:00 Just remember seeing it. It'll cut to someone he's talking to. But I remember
12:04 seeing it, and I was like, wow. That's like... It's actually a profound
12:07 It's powerful because you gotta think of someone that, you know, very successful comedian, you know, successful podcast, successful business. He's blown up over the past couple years. And, you know,
12:18 oftentimes, like you see with a lot of people is they reach all the levels of success they wanted Yeah. And and they they feel drier than ever. Mhmm. You know, lonelier than ever or questionable than ever.
12:31 And you just see it time and time again, individuals on their way up. You know, I'm not... I don't take God serious. I don't take a relationship with him serious. I don't take this serious. And they reach all the
12:42 success, and it's like For sure. Wow. This didn't do what I what I thought it was gonna do. Maybe I should start having these thoughts and conversations around faith and who God is and stuff like that. And so he's been
12:53 reading the Bible and came across a passage in the Bible that he commented on that kind of just really took off online. And so I think, Andy, if you're ready, go ahead and go ahead and throw that up.
13:03 I don't know. I'm starting to just feel something different. And then I was also... I was I was looking on this Bible, and there's a story called John five, and it's about a guy who's at these pools. And some people
13:13 follow the Bible, some people don't. That's fine. And Jesus is is at the is at the pools, and and it's in Bethesda, and there's a sick man there. He's been sick for a long time. And Jesus asks him, Do you want to be
13:24 healed? He asks him, Do you want to be healed? And that's a crazy question because, you know, if I get healed, then I'm different, you know? If somebody
13:36 gets healed, they have a new story. So that's just been something that I've been having to ask myself. It's like, do I want to be healed? Do I really want something different? And sometimes a lot of the answer is
13:48 no. I don't. I don't know if I'm scared, I don't know what I am. I don't know if I don't wanna do what it takes to get... I I can't even tell what it is. It's hard for me to... Some of this stuff's a little bit hard for
13:58 me to say. Think I don't even know why. But I I think I want a new story.
14:04 Great. That's powerful, isn't it?
14:06 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's strong.
14:08 Man, I... Yeah. I think it's... Yeah. I think it reflecting on... First off, I think a lot of communicators can learn how he delivered that. Mhmm. You know what I'm saying? I mean, he is a top five podcast in the world.
14:20 So Yeah.
14:21 That helps. You know, he has great storytelling. And like you said before, he's he's... We don't... He's obviously searching and and... But we don't know where his walk is with the Lord. So some of his
14:33 other content, if you see it, they might have some other things, and we're not saying go listen to his content.
14:38 But you
14:38 also see right there, like you said, someone who has hit every area and really a a pretty high level of success and is still feeling that weight of unhappiness.
14:50 He's talked about his own level of addiction as well and kinda overcoming some of those things. But I thought what I loved about that story was how profound it was where he said, God asked that man the question, and he's
15:01 like, he's feeling that question be asked to him from the Lord, and he's uncertain if he wants it. Because the truth is, like, we're so used to being like, God asked the question. Of course. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. I
15:11 always want that. But if we're really honest, when God asks us this question, it's gonna cause a response and cause a change. So the truth is, like, if you are healed... So, like, put yourself in that pool, put yourself
15:22 in Theo's question in your life. If whatever you're asking God for for breakthrough actually happens, your life has to change as well. So how are you going to respond to that? Are you
15:34 willing to do the work of a healed life, of a restored life? I just think that it's such a profound response from Theo and it's one that I think
15:46 it it makes it feel like we're... That's where we're all at too. You know? Like, so many people in the world are so searching for that as well. Yeah. Shout out. Thank you, Alan. Thank you for bringing the cafecito. Yeah.
15:58 My man. Yeah. Look at him. Look at him. Thank you, brother.
16:00 The hero Yeah. Of today's story. Thank you. Alan Walters with coffee. He's a good man. That's it. Yeah. That's a good brother right there.
16:08 That's a good brother. But what do you... When you're hearing about it, what what what... What's hitting you? What are you thinking of? Like
16:13 Oh, yeah. Thank you so much, Nancy. Though some of my, you know... I'm a bible nerd. So some of my favorite passages in scriptures deal with
16:24 specifically when Jesus is healing, but... Because he asks... He says it a few times Yeah. In the scriptures where
16:30 he asks the person Yeah. What do you want? Or do
16:32 you want what do want? Do you wanna be healed? What do you want me to do for you? And, you know, I love the aspect of... And, like, this is what I would be if I was talking to Theo. Yeah. And I talk to people every day
16:44 who are reading the Bible and and help them process to to what's really happening in that moment because Theo makes a a great point. He says, I want a new story. Yeah. You know, I I gotta ask myself, do I wanna be
16:55 healed? Yep. But in this moment... So you have... It's very different in our culture. So in our culture, you know, we have we have something that's... You know, we have
17:06 patronism. We have not patriotism, but to be a patron. And so, you know, these are people that put their names on hospital buildings and and, you know, and, you know, universities and all that
17:18 stuff. And Yeah. That's what we exist today. Right? So whenever you're driving and you see a building named after someone or whatever it is, they they donated to basically carry on their legacy Mhmm. And to
17:30 carry on people's awareness of of the impact that they that they have had in people's lives. Well, in the biblical times Yeah. They had that where people went and sponsored buildings and stuff like
17:42 that. But what you also did was when people had some type of physical ailment or disability, they would actually go to the temple at a young age. Their
17:54 parents would bring them or whatever. Yeah. And they would get approval to wear a specific cloak, a certain colored cloak.
18:02 Yep.
18:03 And when they wear that cloak.
18:05 Brought in their
18:05 income. It tells the rest of society that you are to be a patron to them, and you're and you're to help give them money, support them, bring them food. And what is the... What's the return? Why why would
18:17 a person do that? It wasn't necessarily based out of the kindness on their own heart. It was the person's responsibility that at that point that then they would give that person praise.
18:27 Yep.
18:28 And so if I was laying there or if I had a disability and I had that specific coat that was approved by the, quote, unquote, government
18:35 Yeah.Show more
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