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The porches were once places of luxurious indulgence for the rich. In the process of time they became hospitals for the poor.

I. THE WORLD'S PAIN IS SCATTERED OVER A VAST SURFACE, BUT THERE ARE GATHERING PLACES, FOCUSSES OF SUFFERING. It will do us good to go into the back street or infirmary where it hides itself.

II. THE PEOPLE WERE A GREAT MULTITUDE.

1. Sorrow has always been in a majority.

2. The great multitude represented a great variety of diseases. There are some thousands to which the human frame is subject. Think of a thousand ways of taking a man to pieces; of God having a thousand scourges by which He can lay His hand of punishment and trial on the sinner. I can run away from fire and water; but who can escape God?

3. The man who is, popularly speaking, in the robustest health to-day may be smitten before the setting of the sun with a fatal disease. In the midst of life we are in death. Therefore, "Whatsoever thy hand," etc.

4. All the people were waiting. We are all doing the same. "Man never is, but always to be blest." There are two methods of waiting.

(1) The method which means patience, hope, assurance that God will in His own time redeem His promises;

(2)the method of impatience and distrust and complaining that wears the soul out.

III. EVERY LIFE HAS SOME OPPORTUNITY GIVEN IT. "There is a tide in the affairs of man," etc. Every one has bad a door opened. The angel is present to-day.

1. You may heal the disease of selfishness by timely generosity.

2. You may heal the disease of indolence by Christian work.

IV. TROUBLED WATERS ARE OFTEN HEALING WATERS. Not the little puddles you make with your own foot; but the troubles that God makes by His angels and a thousand ministries by which He interposes. You may take hold of trouble by the wrong end and abuse it, or you may make it a place for thought and vow.

V. IN ALL CLASSES THERE IS A SPECIAL MAN. I am groaning over something I have had for ten years, and there is a man that has had something for five and twenty and never made half the noise about it. I have only one loaf; another man says he has not tasted for three days. There is always someone worse off than you are.

VI. WE CANNOT GET USED TO PAIN, BUT WE GET ACCUSTOMED TO THE SIN THAT MAKES IT.

VII. THE PHYSICIAN IS SENT NOT TO THE WHOLE BUT TO THE SICK. The very asking of His question has healing in it. Some people ask about our sickness but make us worse; others ask us how we are and the kind inquiry makes us feel better.

VIII. THE SELFISHNESS OF PAIN. Here again we come on the subtle working of sin. Does any one say to the man who has been lying in pain for thirty-eight years, "You are worse than I, I shall give you a turn this time." Great numbers of people had been healed, but no one offered help. Blessing unsanctified may increase our selfishness.

IX. CHRIST'S POWER IS NOT SECONDARY BUT PRIMARY. He speaks and it stands fast.

X. LET US APPLY THE WHOLE THING TO THE MATTER OF SALVATION.

1. It was an angel who troubled the water; it is the Son of God who opens the fountain for sin.

2. The water was moved at a certain time only; the atonement of the Son of God is open to our approaches night and day.

3. Whosoever first stepped in was cured at Bethesda; here the whole world may all go in at once.

4. Go to the fountain and one thing you will never find there — one dead man.

(J. Parker, D. D.)

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KJV: After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

WEB: After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.