John Calvin Commentary John 7:21

"Jesus answered and said unto them, I did one work, and ye all marvel because thereof." — John 7:21 (ASV)

I have done one work. Now, turning from the individuals involved, He begins to speak of the action itself, for He proves that the miracle He performed is not inconsistent with the Law of God. When He says that He has done one work, the meaning is that He is held guilty of only a single crime, or that He is blamed for only a single work—namely, that He cured a man on the day of Rest. Yet they, on every day of Rest, do many works of the same or a similar kind and do not consider them criminal, for not a day of Rest passed on which many infants were not circumcised in Judea.

By this example He defends His action, although He does not merely argue from a similar case but draws a comparison between the greater and the lesser. There was this similarity between circumcision and the cure of the paralytic: that both were works of God. But Christ maintains that the latter is more excellent because its benefit extends to the whole person.

Now, if He had merely cured the man of bodily disease, the comparison would not have been applicable, for circumcision would have greater excellence regarding the cure of the soul. Christ, therefore, connects the spiritual advantage of the miracle with the outward benefit granted to the body. For this reason, He justly prefers the entire cure of a man to circumcision.

There might also be another reason for the comparison: namely, that the sacraments are not always accompanied by power and efficacy, while Christ worked efficaciously in curing the paralytic.

But I prefer the former explanation: that the Jews maliciously and slanderously blame a work in which the grace of God shines more brightly than in circumcision, on which they bestow so much honor that they think the Sabbath is not violated by it.

And you all wonder. The wonder, of which He speaks, means that what Christ had done caused this murmur, because they thought He had ventured to do more than was lawful.