Made Well

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

MADE WELL

John 5:14-15

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 Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

NIV

One of the first things which pops right out at us is a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years, having to lay on a mat all day long hoping when the water of the pool was stirred he might crawl in first, but never ever made it, is told by Jesus to stop sinning. This man after being healed was in temple to boot. What kind of sin could this man possible have in his life? Envy, Jealousy, hatred, greed, lust, gossip, gluttony, slander, malice, just to name a few, might have been a part of this man’s life which Jesus was addressing. The other thing which pops out is want Jesus told him about something worse happening to him. Is it possible that because of continued voluntary sin we might have something really bad happen to us? Does God punish us because we continue to sin? How can we be sinless? How can we avoid all sin? How can we be perfect as Christ is perfect? It is most likely Jesus was telling them man that living a life of sin does result in something worse than being lame, it ends in being cast into the lake of burning sulfur, and there is nothing worse than that. Jesus could also being telling him that unconfessed, non-repented sin can cause more harm to us than being physically lame. Either way Jesus was telling him and us that we should not live a life of sin, which we need to stop sinning. All of us believers are aware of that and for the most part we do all we can to live a life without sin, although we fail, we fall short of perfection; it is our desire to please God. The healing of this man also shows us that Jesus does not expect a perfect to be sinless before he heals them, but in that healing he desires the person to know it is him who healed them, making them aware of their need to change. This narrative also shows us the need to tell others that it is Jesus who heals us. So often we give so much credit to the doctor and not so much credit to Jesus, unless we are healed in a miraculous way, without the need of a doctor. We give great testimony to the skill of the doctor, we even want people to know our doctor is one of the top ones in their field, the best, but we seem to miss giving Jesus the credit. It was Jesus who made him well.