Command To Obey

Jesus not only offered this man a choice, but he commanded him to do something. He did not help him to his feet and fold up his mat for him. The man had to initiate to get up. Jesus would then do the rest. Jesus did not say, “I will put you in the pool.” That was what the man expected someone to do for him. God works beyond our expectations and in different ways. 

In this command Jesus was expressing to him that he was above and beyond the healing pool.

He has all the power in the world to heal, but there must be some faith on the part of the man. So he gave him an opportunity to exercise that faith. He told him to do three things, “Rise, take up and walk.”

Will Jesus save a man automatically without some response on the part of the man? No, but the moment a man sees himself as a lost sinner Jesus saves him. Jesus was not just asking him if he wanted to walk again. He used a word for whole that basically means, “fullness or wholesomeness.” Jesus was offering this man more than a strong pair of legs. He was offering him spiritual as well physical wholeness; he was offering the forgiveness of sin.

This man had a choice to make. Many people want the results of sin erased, but they do not want to give up their sin. They do not want to be made truly whole. They do not want the pardon that God offers them. This happens sometimes on the human level. Have you ever heard of any criminal who refuses an offer of clemency?

One of the strangest cases on record was that of George Wilson, who was sentenced to be hanged in 1829 by the state of Pennsylvania for mail robbery and murder. Before the sentence could be carried out, President Andrew Jackson pardoned George Wilson. The presidential pardon was sent to the governor of Pennsylvania and then to the warden of the penitentiary where George Wilson was incarcerated.

There the message was given to the condemned man. Wilson stunned everyone by refusing the pardon even though he knew it meant that the death penalty would be carried out. The officials did not know what to do. They could not just take Wilson to the front door of the prison and push him outside. It was a real legal tangle. 

The case ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court. In rendering the court’s decision, Chief Justice John Marshall said, “A pardon is a piece of paper, the value of which depends upon its acceptance by the person implicated. If it is refused it is no pardon.” As a result, George Wilson was hanged even though a pardon had been offered. He had made his choice.

A person can die and go to hell even though Jesus stretches out his arms to that person and asks, “Would you like to be made whole?” Pardon that is refused is no pardon. We must activate our will and receive what Jesus offers. Do you really want victory? You need not persuade our Lord to give it to you but must certainly permit him to do so.