October 6 – Do You Want to Get Well? Do Not Sin Anymore

After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted. A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well?" The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me." Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk." Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day. So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet." But he answered them, "He who made me well was the one who said to me, 'Pick up your pallet and walk.'" They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your pallet and walk'?" But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you." John 5:1-14 NASB

Do not sin anymore…so that nothing worse happens to you. So that nothing worse happens. What could be worse? He had been sick, not able to walk for 38 years—that’s a long time. He had to depend on friends or family to take care of him—but there was no one to carry him to the pool when the waters were stirred. He didn’t need to be that first person to the water—Jesus was there to heal him. That was a miracle. That Jesus performed this miracle at the time of Passover, and on a Sabbath day complicated things for Him. The Jews, actually the Pharisees, were persecuting Jesus and this was just one more thing that they could use against Him—breaking their Sabbath rules by working. All the same it was a miracle.

Our friend Mark who has leukemia just received a bone marrow transplant—please continue to pray for him. Like other BMT patients he has had to deal with possible tissue rejection, fever and blisters—as if the whole BMT process isn’t traumatic enough. Now his white blood cell and platelet counts are rising and things are looking better. Another miracle. God is going before and with Mark and his wife, Karen, through all this. God is good…and merciful. Do you want to get well? Jesus asked the lame man in this passage. I can hear Mark and Karen’s resounding YES—YES—YES! Being sick is no fun—but God is going to use this leukemia and Mark’s healing for His glory. Good will come from it. Praise the Lord for each victory that Mark and Karen have had.

Dear God, just as you healed the lame man by the sheep gate—continue to heal Mark, that he may one day take up his mat—pack his bags and leave—jumping and running—from that hospital. Thank you for Your merciful touch on Mark’s body…and on each of us in some small way. May you continue to provide a healing touch to the bodies, lives and souls of those we know and love…and those we have yet to meet.

© 2012 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.