Scripture reference: John 5:2-14

Listening to the radio and watching TV provides one with information on the great variety of man's afflictions. And for every affliction there are thousands and millions who seek relief. They go to doctors, buy pills and tonics, and attend the seminars of gurus who claim to be able to teach the discomforted their secretes for restoring health of mind, body and spirit. Some of the cures offered can provide help in some cases. Much of the advise offered is really quite practical and generally useful. Whoever, the biggest problem most of the people who seeks these cures face is themselves. For more than actually wanting to be healthy, they want a wish to be granted. They want something given to them without paying the terrible price of making a change in themselves. It is not so much that they want to be freed of their affliction; they want to be freed of any consequences of doing and living exactly they way they want. The desire within many is to receive the benefits of a disciplined and moral life, while enjoying all the pleasures of the flesh. In truth, this is the real goal many in our society seek.

If we look closely and honestly at the accounts of those whom Jesus healed, we discover an important element common to every case. The person seeking relief either for them self or for a child, makes supplication to Jesus by kneeling or bowing before him. This is accompanied by a deep desire that they or the one they represent be healed. They seek nothing else. Being relieved of their affliction is all they have in mind. And they are willing to do whatever it takes to acquire a new life.

There are two important lessons to be learned from our reference scripture. The first is the question Jesus asks the man at the pool called Bethesda. Jesus wants to know if the man really wants to be made whole. Why does Christ ask this question? Because the one who knows the secretes of men's hearts knows full well that some people seek not to be whole, but to get sympathy and favors from others. Some want to live like the heathen while receiving the benefits of the saint. Some wish to be told that no matter what they think or how they live they will not be punished. These are people who do not really want to be cured of their sickness, whether of body or spirit. And Jesus said that he came to heal the sick. (Mark 2:17) Jesus did not come that we might continue in our carnal pleasures without receiving the due payment for sin. Therefore, to be cured of an affliction, one must honestly want to be made whole, spiritually as well as physically. For the two, as many of today's doctors and psychiatrists affirm, cannot be separated.

The second part of the lesson is the statement Jesus makes in verse 14, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you." Therein lies the prescription for continued good health. We cannot, once we have received relief from whatever afflicts us, continue in the old life and old ways. Otherwise, we could end up worse off than we were before we got the cure. And this fact is not only made clear by Jesus who tells everyone he heals to "go and sin no more." It is made clear in the Old Testament writings. God would get the Jews out of trouble and free them from bondage, telling them to keep his ways if they wanted to continue to have a good life. But the Jews would fall back into sinful ways, worshiping idols and serving false gods. Then they would end up in a situation just as bad or worse than the one God had freed them from. (Judges 2:11-23, Psalms 106)

The message the Word of God gives to us is quite simple and clear. If any is afflicted in any way, he must first truly want to be made whole. There cannot be any other desire or motive in his mind. For Jesus, who knows the hearts and minds of all men, will know if there is a sincere desire to be whole, or to simply be rid of the consequences of certain carnal pleasures. Then, having been made whole, there must be a change in life. And that change must be profound. It cannot simply be the exchanging of one pleasure for another. It cannot be merely an outward change. There must be a change of heart, mind and spirit. The healed person must become a new creature. This can only be accomplished by first receiving Christ as Lord and Savior, and then receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Only then can a Son of Adam be made truly a whole Child of God.

May the grace of God, the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the peace of the Holy Spirit be with you. Amen.