Freedom from the old ways

“... you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.” - Jesus

1 After this, there was a feast[b] of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep [Gate][c] a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. 3 In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.[d] [4 ][e] 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be well?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” 9 Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.Now that day was a sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” 11 He answered them, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” 13 The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there. 14 [f]After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him, “Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. 16 Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.-John5:1-16

I am still baffled as to why Jesus said to the man, “Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.” As a good reader of minds and hearts, is it possible that Jesus sensed that the just-healed man is plotting something sinful? Is it possible that after being ill for thirty-eight years, the man has not converted or learned from his sickness [sic]? Is it possible that the man plans to return to a 'dissipated life' [sic] despite being healed already?

So many men and women languish and are sorrowful if they are sick, imprisoned, or in suffering. But after being healed, they return to the old ways, unhealthy ways, dissipated way of living. There is a woman who suffered imprisonment for six years for selling and using drugs. A few months after being paroled, there is news circulating that the lady once more took to selling drugs as a way of earning a living. Such a sad life. Jesus has a message for us all - “... you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.” Let us not abuse and take for granted so many beautiful things in our life.

Image courtesy: God's Not Dead