At a recent Wednesday evening testimony meeting the account of Jesus’ healing of a man who we are told is “sick of the palsy” (see ) was read. I have read this account and heard it read many times. This time, however, it touched me on a different level. Before, I’d always heard it as a straightforward telling of someone who was sick with a particular disease, but now he was healed, thanks to Jesus. On this telling, the First Reader read the words in a way that said, “The man realized he had had enough of the palsy, was fed up with it,” and he was healed. He no longer claimed it as a sickness that was oppressing him. Instead, he was “sick” of having it!
This play on the word sick gave me a new view of the account, which I’d heard so often. He realized that he had had more than enough of it, and this was literally the end of his being tormented by the disease. So perhaps the message for all of us is, Don’t get sick—instead, get “sick” of, fed up with, disease. And make this a first step to knowing God better and being free of disease!
