Jesus saith unto him. — There is no formal demand, or formal statement of faith as preceding the healing. (Comp., e.g., Notes on Matthew 13:58; Mark 9:24.) Men have often wondered at this. If faith is an expression in words or anything outside man, then there is room for wonder; but if it be a living principle, the “seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27), then surely we may seek in vain for a more striking instance of its power than in this man; who in all, and through all, and in spite of all, trusted in, and looked for, the mercy of God, and had faith to be healed.
Jesus sees in him this receptive power, which in his very helplessness is strength, and calls it forth. He who could barely move is told to rise! he who had for eight-and-thirty years lain on his bed is to carry that bed and walk!