Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you!
We don’t like to be told, “Stop sinning!” We like Jesus and all His benefits- that all sounds good… but stop sinning? No, that’s not as appealing!
The story I read today in the gospel of John is really quite amazing… Jesus encounters a man who’s been an invalid for 38 years. He heals the man instantly: The guy picks up his mat and walks away with a fresh start. It was the Sabbath, and some Jewish men see him carrying his mat on the Sabbath and call him on it, “Hey! The law forbids you to carry your mat today!”
Now many people I’ve heard teach on this passage focus on the hard hearted response this guy got. After all, he’d just been healed of a 38 year condition! But as I was reading the passage today I found myself a lot more interested in the healed man’s response to Jesus…
After being confronted for carrying his mat his accusers wanted to know who had the gall to tell him it was okay to pick up his mat and walk around with it on the Sabbath. Well, the guy had no idea who Jesus was; all he knew was that he’d just been healed. One thing I’m sure he DID know, is that the guys that were looking for Jesus weren’t out to give him a pat on the back!
Some time later Jesus found the healed man at the temple, and here’s where it gets interesting…
Jesus tells the man, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” I take it the man didn’t appreciate Jesus’ advice because he went away and told the accusing Jews who were looking for Him exactly who He was!
Thanks for the healing, but I don’t need the lecture!
I get the feeling the guy didn’t mind being healed, but he didn’t appreciate being told not to sin. Jesus has this guy pegged, and quite honestly, the guy doesn’t seem to have learned his lesson. As I read it, Jesus said, “See, you are well again.” In other words he wasn’t always an invalid, there was a time when he was well, and to me it sure looks like it may very well have been something he did wrong that caused him to be in the condition he was in for 38 years. Jesus tells him, “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you!” In other words, “It might be even worse the next time around… you better stop what you’re doing!”
I also get the impression that whatever it is this guy did that caused him to wind up as an invalid for 38 years, he went right back to it after he got healed! The guy just gets healed and Jesus is already having to tell him, “Stop it! Stop sinning… Didn’t you learn your lesson the first time?” 38 years later and the guy’s back to his old tricks; as soon as he has a chance to sin again he takes it!
He may have been an invalid for 38 years, he may have ended up that way because of his own sin, but being shown mercy and receiving healing didn’t seem to change his hardened heart- His reaction to Jesus’ rebuke was to go out and cause trouble for Jesus! What an attitude! “Who is this guy to tell me to stop sinning!”
That’s the way I read it. We don’t really know what happened later. Hopefully the guy thought about it some more and humbled himself by turning from his sin. If not, it wouldn’t surprise me if he found himself in an even worse situation, just as Jesus had said might happen.
Let’s not kid ourselves, Jesus has our number- We’re transparent to Him, He knows everything that’s going on. The Christian life is not just “be made whole”, it’s “go and sin no more”. If we think otherwise we’re only fooling ourselves.
Read the story in John 5:1-15
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