John Calvin Commentary John 5:3

"In these lay a multitude of them that were sick, blind, halt, withered, [waiting for the moving of the water.]" — John 5:3 (ASV)

In these lay a great multitude. It is possible that diseased persons lay in the porches to ask for alms when the people who were going into the temple to worship were passing by; and there, too, it was customary to purchase the animals that were to be offered in sacrifice.

Yet at each feast God cured a certain number, so that, in this way, He might commend the worship prescribed in the Law and the holiness of the temple. But might it not seem foolish to believe that the power and grace of God were displayed with more than ordinary luster when the affairs of the nation were so decayed and almost in ruins, especially when we read of nothing like this happening when religion was in its most flourishing condition, and even since, in the age of the Prophets, miracles were performed only on extraordinary occasions?

I reply, there were, in my opinion, two reasons. First, since the Holy Spirit, dwelling in the Prophets, was a sufficient witness of the divine presence, religion at that time needed no other confirmation. The Law had been sanctioned by abundantly sufficient miracles, and God did not cease to express, through innumerable testimonies, His approval of the worship He had commanded.

But around the time of Christ’s coming, since they were deprived of the Prophets, their condition was very wretched, and various temptations pressed upon them from every side, they needed this extraordinary aid. This was so that they might not think God had entirely left them, and thus become discouraged and fall away. For we know that Malachi was the last of the Prophets; therefore, he closes his teaching with this admonition: that the Jews may remember the Law delivered by Moses (Malachi 4:4), until Christ appear.

God considered it advantageous to deprive them of the Prophets and to keep them in suspense for a time, so that they might be inflamed with a stronger desire for Christ and receive Him with greater reverence when He would be manifested to them.

Yet, so that testimonies would not be lacking for the temple, the sacrifices, and the whole of that worship by which salvation was to be made known to the world, the Lord retained this gift of healing among the Jews. This was so that they might know there was a good reason why God separated them from the other nations. For God, by curing the diseased, showed plainly—as by an arm stretched out from heaven—that He approved of this kind of worship, which they derived from the command of the Law.

Secondly, I have no doubt that God intended by these signs to remind them that the time of redemption was approaching and that Christ, the Author of salvation, was already near, so that the minds of all might be better stirred.

Indeed, I think that signs in that age served this twofold purpose: first, that the Jews might know that God was present with them and thus remain steady in their obedience to the Law; and secondly, that they might earnestly hope for a new and unprecedented condition.

Of lame, blind, withered. To inform us that the diseases our Lord cured were not ordinary, the Evangelist enumerates some categories of them; for human remedies could be of no help to the lame, blind, and withered. It was indeed a sorrowful sight to see so many kinds of deformities in the limbs among such a large group of people; yet the glory of God shone more brightly there than it would have in the sight of the most numerous and best-disciplined army.

For nothing is more magnificent than when an extraordinary power of God corrects and restores the defects of nature; and nothing is more beautiful or more delightful than when, through His boundless goodness, He relieves the distresses of people. For this reason, the Lord intended this to be a splendid theater, where not only the inhabitants of the country but also strangers might perceive and contemplate His majesty. And, as I have already suggested, it was no small ornament and glory to the temple when God, by stretching out His hand, clearly showed that He was present.