Fathers

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What the Fathers say

John 5:3

Western Saints

Bede

Lastly, many kinds of impotent folk lay near the pool: the blind, i. e. those who are without the light of knowledge; the lame, i. e. those who have not strength to do what they are commanded; the withered, i. e. those who have not the marrow of heavenly love.

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Thomas Aquinas

The pool is also described from its occupants, for in these porticoes lay a great number of people: feeble, blind, lame and withered. The literal explanation of this is that since all the afflicted persons gathered because of the curative power of the water, which did not always cure nor cure many at the same time, it was inevitable that there be many hanging around waiting to be cured. …

Commentary on John ↗

Bonaventure

"In these lay a great multitude of the sick," and incurable by nature: whence he says: "Of the blind, the lame, the withered, waiting for the moving of the water," so that they might be healed through the benefit of divine grace, which was bestowed in the descent of the Angel. Morally, the infirm are: the blind, sinning through ignorance: Matthew 15: "They are blind and leaders of the blind. …

Commentary on John, Chapter 5 ↗