Sunday 20th November
Read John 5:9b-15
“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.” (NIVUK)
Jesus, who knows what is in a man, also knows that the man’s paralysis was not simply accidental – but linked to sin in some way. This is not to say that all sickness is the consequence of sin (cf John 9) but that in this instance the link was real (cf 1 Corinthians 11:27-32).
When we are recipients of the grace that Jesus provides freely and abundantly, despite our sinfulness and recalcitrance, and we fall ill, at least one of the questions we should ask is whether it is something we have done. Repentance may not provide an instant cure – but it certainly would be wise – ‘or something worse may happen to you’ (v14b).
In this instance it seems the man is not a worthy recipient of grace. The first thing he does after the warning from Jesus is to dob him in. We don’t know what worse things may happen. But asking this paralysed man may provide insight! It is surprising how frequently passages that look on the surface like straightforward miracles challenge us to consider our hearts and the sin that resides within and to fall upon the generous grace God offers again and again.
