John 5:14

‘Afterward Jesus finds him in the Temple and said to him, “Look, you are made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing befall you”.'

Jesus later sought the man out in the Temple area. He did not just want the incident to stop with healing, He was concerned for the whole man. ‘Do not sin any more in case worse things happen to you'. This might suggest that the illness was associated directly with the way he had lived, but the exhortation is in the present. ‘Do not go on sinning'. He has not only sinned in the past but continues to the present day. As always with Jesus, the man must face up to his sinfulness. The Judge of the world is here and the light is shone on the man's heart and conscience.

The story has similarities to that of the Paralytic man in Mark 2:1 in that his disability is connected with his having sinned, and that he picks up his mattress and walks at Jesus' command. But there are no other similarities. It may be in both cases that their physical problems were the result of a psychological reaction to some particular question of guilt, which Jesus released, but in this case no mention is made of sin being forgiven. However, it is clear that Jesus did wish to get over the message that he needed to turn from sin, for He specifically seeks him out to tell him so. Like him many people have found through life that certain types of sin lead on to sickness and disease. But the main purpose of the story is to reveal that Jesus is the One Who has come to make God's lame people walk again, thus revealing Him as the Messiah, and to lead on to what follows, His controversy with the ‘Judaisers'.