If we listen

As I read through the Gospel of John I come across two passages that I find to be personal favorites of mine. I list the passages to follow:


After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted. A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day. So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.” But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’ ” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not a sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
John 5:1-14


But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. “Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
John 8:1-11

I can't help but put myself in one of these situations. How many times have I experienced the healing power of Christ in my life and not know how to fully explain it. To be confronted with questions about how and who and where and when. What a wonderful feeling to know that Christ will give us the power to walk when we think we don't have the strength.

At times, I feel as though I can relate with the woman caught in adultery. Caught in a sin. A sin that I should have known better not to commit...yet forgiven by the amazing mercy of a loving Savior. To stand in front of your Lord and Savior and face the consequences of your poor moral decision, and to hear the words..."I do not condemn you." The relief that you have at this time. The peace that you are overcome with. The joy of hearing those words from the one who can speak those words and know that it is ultimate reality.

However, I have yet to touch on the area of these stories that entice me the most. The important part here is what Jesus says after His healing and forgiving are completed.

To the healed man, Jesus said, "Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you."

To the woman He says, "Go. From now on sin no more."

It is here that I hear the strong message that rings ever so loudly. It resounds. Jesus tells each of them what He had done for them saying, "I have made you well" and "I do not condemn you." It is following thes statements, the statements that Christ has done a work in your life that only Christ can do, that this command is made. Stop sinning! Flea from sin! Strive to perfection!

Our response to Christ loving us and dieing for us and raising from the dead for us is simply this; leave our lives of sin behind. This is what we are called to do. This command does not simply reside in these two verse. It stretches from Genesis to Revelation. We are to be "perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mat 5:48). We are to strive to be conformed into the likeness of Christ. This is our goal to strive for. This is what Jesus is calling the adulterous woman and the healed man to do. This is also what Jesus calls us to do. All we have to do is listen to Him. He is speaking. Are we listening?

I imagine that if I took the time to listen after Christ does something great in my life, I could hear Him say..."Tony, leave your life of sin behind." If only I would listen...maybe I could hear the whispers.