Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1886-08-05
THE SUNDAY SCHOOLS.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR AUG.
8, 1886; LESSON SIXTH.

sunday ScnOOl w OrIO-SuD1ecI. OSu-
tiles Seeking Jesus" John xii. 2O-36.
Our lesson, though including many great
truths on which we can only glance rapidly,
has unity in it. 1t is all suggested by the
Greeks" l. e., not Greek-speaking Jews, but
born Greeks, proselytes no doubt for they
came among the keepers of the FEAST, coming
to Hsee Jesus This again is connected with
the foregoing passages A threefold honor
is done TO Jesus. First Mary anoints him.
Then the people hail him as king. Now
thirdly, the Greeks show their feeling toward
him All he says-and this is the close of his
public speaking as John reports it, the rest of
this gospel is to his disciples-follows from
the suggestive visit of the Greeks
V. 20. In one sense Judaism seems mar
row, but it provided for others than Jews
coming into its privileges. See Solomon's
prayer for the stranger in I Kings viii, Al,
40 Many did come like these Greeks. They
are spoken of as worshippers. They came to
Philip of Bethsaida; why, we cannot tell.
He seems to have been slow and hesitating.
(See John vi 5, and xiv, e.) He comes and
tells Andrew. with whom he seems connected
also in the report of the feeding of the five
thousand. Sometimes men in a company
"take to" one another. He was of the city of
Andrew John i, 40. The simple wish of the
Greeks is to "see Jesus" and Andrew and
Philip tell Jesus. What the Lord did we are
not told. But it is not unreasonable to think
that the words he spake, as the Greeks sug-
gested them, may have had bearing on
them. Jesus never made sensation" He
did mot cry nor lift up his voice." nor make
stir in the street. This request was not
without significance. The wise men from
the east came with their homage at his birth.
Here are Greeks from the west coming on the
eve of his death "Many shall come from the
east and west" etc. (Matthew viii, III. The
magi, taught from above, honor a wisdom
greater than theirs. "The Greeks seek after
wisdom" They are on the way to it when
they say, 1--WE would see Jesus" All that
falls short of seeing him is unsatisfying Oh,
that all our schools and colleges, where
ancient literature and modern culture are
studied, had this Inspiration This desire of
the Greeks recalls to the Saviours mind all
that would follow from his work, and this
brings with fresh vividness the work itself.
So
V. 23) probably to the disciples and the
Greeks he says, "The hour. is come, that the
Son of man should be glorifed, +" i. e., his real
character and work displayed, as in his
dying, rising and setting up kingdom for
misunderstood His true nature and work
will now be seen.
v "a Then the Saviour employs a sug-
gestive figure, describing first himself in his
work, and then secondly his people. "Glo-
rifedl yet am to diel This looks strange;
but it is not so really. If a grain Of wheat
keeps itself, so to speak, whole, and does not
die, nothing more comes of it; but if it die,
go into the ground and be dissolved, more of
its kind is the result. If do not die I shall
be the Son of man, but alone If die, a
great multitude that no man can number will
be my seed lisa. lii, To-, my brethren the
children whom God will give me.'n So it is
with his people. If they think only of ease,
comfort, self-preservation, nothing comes of
them. If they are willing to spend and be
spent for God, there is fruit. What made
Livingstone, Moffat, Cary, Duff, Brainerd-
what made martyrs and apostles-great9
This figure would suit Greeks. Paul uses it
to the Corinthians in another point of view
q Cor. xv, 36)
V. 25 is a plain statement of the truth so
vividly set forth Guard your life from any
risks from doing duty and it comes to nothing
Be willing, if need be, to lay it down for
Christs sake and it will be kept safe to life
eternal Jesus often dwelt on this (NIatt. Z,
%, XVI, LUKE IC-Stl. 1I was uooQeu
then; it is still II have made money, achieved
success, won fame. 1 lived for that, and
gained my object" Many feel and some say
that. But they have gained nothing else;
they have lost their real ife-their souls
"Hate," of course, is strong word for love
less than, as in the reference to "hating father
and mother" etc. Nuke xiv, 26. This is the
deep inward truth which early and later su-
perstition twisted into self torment and vol
untary starvation. Monks won fame and
honors by ostentatious fasting, not the things
Jesus thought Of
V. 26. There Is some peculiar fitness in the
words, "any man." when we think Of the
Greeks. If any man, Jew or Greek, desires
to serve me, the way is to follow me- do as
do, initiate me, deny self, make sacrifice for
others; then where / go he will come at
length. (See John xvii, "a and Thess iv, III
If any man, Jew or Greek, barbarian,
Scythian, bond or free, will serve me, him will
the (see Revision) "Father honor" The way
to have honor at the hand of the Father is to
be servant and follower Of his Son.
v. %. All this recalls vividly the coming
sufferings. sNow is my soul troubled" He
saw all that was coming as we cannot.
"What shall say!" This is the expression
of the human apprehension and bewildeF-
ment of the man of sorrows. He sets US an
example "Call upon Ne in the day Of
trouble" says God. (See Ps. l, 15.) "Save
me from this hour" so human nature shrinks
from the suffering; but then Jesus recalls,
HBut for this cause came l unto this hour"
Some have read, "Shall say save me from
this hour? No; for this cause l came unto
this hour" Our reading is the better. He
has before him the great thing thought Of
from the beginning. He is to be "Christ
crucified." He is to make his "soul an offer
ing for sin," if he is to see his seed. So,
rising above self and thinking of the Fathers
honor, he says
v. 2S), "Father, glorify thy name" 1t is
the victory of trust and faithfulness over
fear and self in every form. 1t is the highest
type of the martyr spirit, and the Father
honors it. Here comes a significant fact-a
voice from heaven loud like thunder, which
Jesus and the disciples heard and understood.
II have both glorifed it" in the witnessing
to the Jews of our Lords ministry, and will
glorify it in the witnessing "again" to the
Gentiles, of whom the Greeks are types.
V. 90 is instructive. The multitude"
heard the awe-inspiring sounds, but to them
they were but thunder So it is now. Gods
voices in creation, providence and Scripture
believers can hear and profit by, but to the
multitude these are from natural causes,
"laws of nature" or of man. John in the
book of Revelation gets his figures and de-
scriptions from foregoing Scripture See
Rev. viii, 5, "thunderings" and voices. The
more intelligent took the words for an
angels voice
V. 30. Our Lord explains this voice as
like that at his baptism; it came, he knew,
not for his sake but for theirs, and
W. 81 it suggests Judgment" The world
under sin was under wrath. While law was
unsatisfied and man In rebellion, the prince
of this world had a sort of right in it, for
man, to whom the world was given, had de-
ferred to him. But law is about to be salts
fed; Satan's claim is to be deprived of any
show of weight. This is to be done on ac-
count of which holy God can, without COM
promise, receive and save unholy men. So
the 'prince of this world" shall be cast out
His title shall be overthrown. OF course the
"now" of " 81 is the "hour" of V. q. Prob
ably ''the Greeks" suggest this truth also.
The Jews owned God. All the rest of MEN
disowned him. Now shall all the earth, all
races and nations, come to be his Israel, and
shall cast off the "prince of this world"
VS.. 81, 80 come naturally in this connec-