After Jesus asks a disabled man (who had been that way for almost four decades) if he wanted to get well, and the man tells Him a story (see John 5:1-7), Jesus has a command for the man.
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
John 5:8-9 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.5.8-9.NIV
Did you notice that, unlike my comments in the previous article, Jesus didn’t stop to lecture the man, or to explain to him that he didn’t answer the question?
Instead, Jesus gives a command, and the man at the pool here obeys. I wonder if the man felt healing before he started to move, or maybe he had to start to take some action (using what limited strength he had in his existing condition) before the healing came. Regardless, the man was healed right away.
That’s good news, but not the end of the story. Before we continue with that, though, let me ask something: Do you know anyone who finds fault in everything? Or, have you been that person?
For instance:
- Someone does good for another person, and this sort of critic finds an ulterior motive.
- A person is trying to do the right thing, and gets picked on for something else – another past action or careless statement – unrelated to their recent good deed.
- A quote is posted online to inspire others, and the trolls attack some shortcoming in the life of the person who originally made the quote.
When we focus on tearing people down, though, rather than expressing the love of God for others, we will miss out on a lot of good things that God is doing in this world.
However, when (if?) we fall into this trap, we aren’t the first to do so. Jesus has transformed the life of someone who was sick for thirty-eight years, but in John 5:9-14, some people pick on the guy for carrying his mat on a Sabbath. It appears that the law of Moses didn’t specifically prohibit mat-carrying, and that this was merely one of the extra rules that were built – by other people – around the rules of the Sabbath. Still, the man – who is literally following the command of God – gets hassled by legalists.
Remember what Jesus said in Mark 2:27-28? Since He was both present and involved at the Creation of the universe, I’m pretty sure that He knows why God provided a day of rest for His people. This man who had just been healed had probably been lying on his mat all week, so he doesn’t need to lay down any more. In fact, he is now privileged to be able to stretch his legs. What do the legalists expect him to do, leave his mat (possibly his only other possession that isn’t being carried on his person) at the pool, or stay at the pool when he no longer needs to?
Although he probably shouldn’t have had to answer his critics, the man provides a truthful answer for why he is carrying his mat. However, the man didn’t know who had healed him at first, which he also shared truthfully. I imagine that there was a lot of attention when this man – probably known by many others at the pool – was healed. As the focus was on the man who was made well again, Jesus left discreetly before – I suppose – everyone else at the pool turned to Him for healing.
I appreciate that Jesus finds the man later, and follows up with him.
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.”
John 5:14 NIV
Physical illness does not always have a one-to-one relationship with an afflicted individual’s sin. So, I don’t feel like Jesus is necessarily telling the man here that he spent 38 years cursed because a sin the man had committed long ago (although I guess that would be theoretically possible, since a sin could have caused the illness directly, like eating bad pork or something). Instead, though, it sounds to me like Jesus is making sure that the man doesn’t stop with physical healing, and that he appreciates that the consequences of sin are much worse than even 38 years of sickness.
After all, while Jesus did heal people during his ministry, He came to bring a more permanent solution to a much bigger problem. Anyone in the first century who tuned Jesus out after seeing His miracles could have missed the larger point. The signs that Jesus performed were a means to an end, not an end unto themselves. In the same way, those who only look at the miracles of Jesus in the Bible, and don’t also learn from His teachings, are “missing the forest for the trees”.
In fact, I like how Mark Scott says it in the Lookout (cited below), “ A sign is not the reality. A sign points to the reality—like a sign on a highway.”
From Sunday School lesson prepared for February 11, 2024
References:
- The Lookout, February 11, 2024, © 2024 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – John, by Beauford H. Bryant and Mark S. Krause. © 1998 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 