Sin and Sickness

“After this Jesus found him in the temple complex and said to him, ‘See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.’” (John 5:14 CSB)

An interesting story accompanies the verse above. A man had been sick for 38 years. How old he was when Jesus walked by him at the Pool of Bethesda, near Jerusalem’s Sheep Gate, we do not know, but it probably safe to say that he had been there the majority of his life, virtually unable to move, according to his statement. Jesus healed the man on a Sabbath, but did not identify Himself to the man. After that comes the words of this verse. Jesus found him in the temple and told him to not sin anymore so that nothing worse would happen to him.

What Jesus said to this man tells us that some illnesses are the result of sin. In the larger sense, all illnesses are the result of sin, Adam and Eve’s sin to be specific, since their sin is what brought God’s judgment of death. Prior to that there was no death or illness. But in the more particular sense, some illnesses are the direct consequence of committing a particular sin.

This is a truth that many in western cultures are not especially comfortable with in our “politically correct” society. Many tend to prefer to see sickness as just the result of bacteria or virus or such, unrelated to anything to do with morality or sin. Many have been educated, in fact, to think this way and ignore any question of personal sin. But the words of Jesus lay bare the awful truth that sometimes sickness is the result of sin that people have committed.

The problem here is the human preponderance for setting ourselves up as judge, jury, and executioner of others. We tend to judge the sinner rather than the sin. While we have to call the behavior of sin what it really is – sin – it is not up to us to judge anyone. It would be more important that we limit our thinking toward our own lives, toward our own sin. That helps us to keep this in perspective. Jesus said it this way, “First get the plank out of your own eye. Then you will be able to see clearly enough to help someone with the speck in their eye.”

Lord, Help us to remember to balance the truth of sin with the personal nature of sin. Amen.