John Calvin Commentary John 5:5

"And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity." — John 5:5 (ASV)

And there was a man there. The Evangelist collects various circumstances, which prove that the miracle can be relied on as certain. The long duration of the disease had taken away all hope of his being cured. This man complains that he is deprived of the water's remedy. He had frequently attempted to throw himself into the water, but without success; there was no one to assist him, and this causes Christ's power to be more strikingly displayed.

This was also the significance of the command to carry his bed, so that all might plainly see that he was cured in no other way than by Christ's agency. For when he suddenly rises up healthy and strong in all the limbs where he was formerly powerless, such a sudden change is all the more suited to arouse and strike the minds of all who saw it.