"So that nothing worse may happen to you"

Many of us take our health and our mobility for granted.

We think nothing of just getting up out of our bed and rushing through our morning tasks before we go to tackle the Important Things we have to do today.

For some of us, life is quite different: pain fills every waking moment and what many people think effortless tasks require heroic struggles day after day after day for ever.

Today’s Gospel (John 5:1-16) tells of a man who has suffered as an invalid for thirty-eight years: over thirteen thousand days of heartbreaking struggle and frustration.

And then a miracle happens: the Lord Jesus Christ appears before him and heals him.

Decades of infirmity and frustration are suddenly history. The man effortlessly gets up, picks up his stuff, and walks away.

But later, the Lord Jesus Christ comes to him again with words of warning.

Look, you are well; do not sin any more,
so that nothing worse may happen to you.

Perhaps the man thought the Lord’s words absurd. Perhaps the man wondered what could be worse than being crippled for thirty-eight years.

And then the man betrayed Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God and Savior of the World.

Perhaps it would take a while for the man to realize how much worse a thing he had just done than had ever happened to him in those long years of suffering.

No matter what is happening in our own lives, whether we are focused on Important Tasks or struggling simply to survive, today’s Gospel reminds us to recheck our perspective: to remember what is truly important, to keep our concerns and struggles in prudent context, and by the grace of God to keep ourselves from doing evil and be ever more focused on Christ no matter what.