John 5:5,6 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

A certain man was there Among the crowds which now lay in the porticoes of Bethesda, was one who had an infirmity A weakness, as the word ασθενεια means; thirty and eight years He had probably lost the use of his limbs, at least, on one side, by a paralytic stroke. It is a great affliction to have the body so disabled, that instead of being the soul's instrument, it is become, even in the affairs of this life, its burden. What reason many of us have to thank God for bodily health and strength, to use them for him, and to sympathize with those who are deprived of them, and especially with those, who, like this afflicted man, have been deprived of them for many years! This poor man had been in a state of great weakness, attended, doubtless, frequently with much pain, longer than most persons live. Shall we complain of one or two, or a few wearisome nights, or some short fits of affliction or pain, who, perhaps, for many years, have scarce known what it has been to be a day ill, when many others, holier than we, have scarce known what it has been to be a day well? When Jesus saw him lie Singling him out from the rest, and fixing his eyes upon him; he saith unto him With great compassion; Wilt thou be made whole? The length and greatness of this man's affliction, well known to Jesus, as is here observed, together with his poverty, (John 5:7,) were sufficient reasons for his making choice of him to experience the mercy of his healing power, a power infinitely superior to the virtue of the waters, while he let the rest remain in their affliction. Our Lord seems to have asked this afflicted man the above-mentioned question, to give him an opportunity of declaring his case in the hearing of the multitude: because such a declaration would tend to make the miracle more conspicuous, and to awaken the attention of the inhabitants of the Jewish capital to the evidence he was daily giving of his divine mission.