Monday, September 2: John 5:1-15 (14th S. a. Trinity)
“Do you want to be made well?” That sounds like a silly question. Who wouldn’t want to be made well, especially if he had been unwell for 38 years!? But our Lord is wise, and He was asking the man to think and be honest. It is the same idea when He asks us to repent of our sins. God knows our hearts and minds. He doesn’t ask questions because He is trying to get unknown information from us. He is asking us to tell the truth, and to think about the question and the answer.
God confronts us with the question, “Do you repent of your sins?” Our selfish hearts would think that is a silly question as it answers, “I don’t want to be condemned, but the Law keeps getting in the way and telling me I’m guilty.” The sick man didn’t quite understand our Lord’s question, and our corrupted hearts definitely do not understand His question. But by His grace He helps us anyway. As He healed the man according to His own divine grace and power, He also gives us His Spirit and creates in us a new heart. That new heart understands the question and faithfully says, “I, a poor miserable sinner, do confess all my sins and iniquities.” But it doesn’t stop there. Like He told the man to “Take up your bed and walk,” He tells us to walk in His commandments, lest a worse thing come upon us.
Collect: Keep, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy Church with Thy perpetual mercy; and, because the frailty of man without Thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by Thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
Leave a Reply