Behold! You are Healed

Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you." (John 5:14)

When I read this verse this morning my curiosity prompted me to look up the original word that is translated here, behold. Strong's concordance defines this as an interjection to denote surprise.

When I looked this verse up in some other translations I found the following rendition that seems to convey that impression a little more.

After a time Jesus came across him in the Temple and said to him, See, you are well and strong; do no more sin for fear a worse thing comes to you. (John 5:14 BBE)

It seems to me that this verse is also very closely linked with the previous words of Jesus to this man in verse six, Do you wish to be well. Now I see Jesus seemingly very surprised when He sees that the man has taken Him up on His offer and has actually acted on the invitation extended to him to walk away from his past and into a life of healing and wholeness in the power of Jesus. It is like Jesus was saying to him, “Look! I can hardly believe it! You actually took me up on my offer to you. That's wonderful!”

There are a number of stories in Jesus' life where it reports that He was surprised. And if I recall correctly, most if not all of them involved how much faith people had in their opinions about how God felt about them and what He desired to do for them. There are times when He wondered at their lack of faith and other times when he was amazed at the faith of someone. But usually the faith that amazed Him was found outside the narrow confines of the chosen people of God and the lack of faith that amazed Him was in the hearts of those who most professed to serve and worship God or who had a lot of familiarity with Him as He was growing up.

So, maybe in that context it may make sense that Jesus might be surprised that a Jewish man living in the city that was the center of the nation's worship system would actually be willing to take up His offer and act upon an invitation from God to step out of his comfort zone and choose to obey a different authority. Jesus knew that this choice would put this man in conflict with the established religious authorities in place, but He did not prepare this man necessarily to deal with that. He simply offered him the option of healing if the man was willing to respond in faith instead of excuses.

When Jesus later met this healed man in the temple it is significant that the text indicates that He seemed surprised. I also believe that it is significant that the man was found in the temple himself. That tells me that somehow this man was moving in the right direction already in response to the wonderful gift of healing that he had embraced. He chose to move toward the place where people most expected to find God and where public worship of Him was supposed to take place. Evidently his heart was filled with enough gratitude that he felt compelled to go to the temple shortly after his healing in order to publicly acknowledge the true source of his wonderful new gifts of mobility and health.

Am I so stuck in my own limited expectations and my own traditions that I have grown up with that God might be surprised when I finally decide to take Him up on His offers of restoration and healing?