John 5:10-17

John 5:10-17 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  When I finally win hundreds of millions of dollars in the lottery, I doubt that I'm going to be that picky about exactly which game that I played -- whichever one wins, that'll be my favorite!

  I love this man's innocence.  He was looking to be healed, and I doubt he was incredibly concerned with who healed him.  For 38 years he'd been paralyzed, and he was so busy celebrating that he didn't even catch the name of the guy who did it.  Jesus disappeared into the crowd, but later reappears to find this healed man, hinting at the greater world than just the physical -- Jesus tells him that sin can have worse consequences than 38 years of paralyzation.  This teaches us how important sin is to God, how incredible the gift of forgiveness is that we obtain for free, and it should shape our prayer lives as well -- we often get caught up in praying for physical needs for ourselves and others, and while these are important, let's not forget that the spiritual needs are more important.

  So this man is healed, and only later finds out that it was Jesus who healed him.  The actions of the church in the world may not yield immediate results.  Like planting a seed, there may be a time when it appears that efforts are wasted, that the work of the church isn't recognized.  But our job is to keep planting seeds, keep working in the world, serving for the sake of Christ, in the hopes that those seeds will grow and bear fruit and others will come to realize that it is Christ who heals, Christ who saves.