Healing at the pool, cont'd
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
(commentary by Marion Adams from www.easyenglishinfo/bible-commentary)
Verses 11-14 The man had a reason why he was carrying his mat. He said that Jesus had told him to do it. But the man did not use Jesus’ name, because he did not know Jesus. So the man only knew Jesus as the man who had cured him. And Jesus had gone immediately. Probably, he did not want to attract the crowd’s attention at that time.
Instead, Jesus wanted to speak to the man in private. He found the man in the *Temple. Jesus told the man that he must not continue to *sin. Perhaps there was a connection between this man’s illness and a particular *sin. God’s power had cured the man’s body. Now he needed to *repent. He needed to ask God to forgive him. Then he would be well in his spirit, too.
Verse 15 After this, the man went back to the *Jewish leaders. He told them that Jesus had cured him. He wanted them to know that Jesus had done this wonderful *miracle. This was because the *Jews were eager for the *Messiah to come. They wanted him to defeat the *Romans. And such a *miracle showed that Jesus was the *Messiah. Probably, the man thought that the *Jewish leaders would be excited. But they were angry!
When Jesus cured people, sometimes he urged them to keep this a secret (for example, Matthew 9:27-31; Mark 2:40-45). He did this because they expected a different kind of *Messiah. They expected a military leader who would defeat the *Romans. Later, they even tried to force Jesus to be their king (John 6:15). But he escaped from them. He was following God’s plan, not their plan.
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