When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been now a long time in that condition, he said unto him,
Will you be made whole?
All Commentaries on John 5:6 Go To John 5
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
When Jesus saw, &c. Christ knew well that he had a desire to be healed, but He asked the question- 1. To afford the sick man an opportunity for conversation, and from thence of being healed. As S. Cyril says, "Herein was a great proof of the compassion of Christ, that He did not (always) wait for the entreaties of those who were sick, but prevented them by His mercy."
2. That He might sharpen the man"s attention to the instantaneous character of the miracle, and so to the words and deeds of Christ. From all these He might know with certainty that he was healed, not by the pool, nor by medicine, but by Christ alone, who was superior to all the virtue of the pool, or of medicine, and so might believe in Him as a prophet, and the Messiah, and might in penitence ask and obtain of Him remission of his sins. Wherefore He healed him beside the healing pool, but without touching it, that He might show that it was He who had given its virtue to the pool, and that He therefore, without the aid of the pool, could heal him by His word alone.
