The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1890-11-06
JESUS BEFORE TP,LATE.
International Sunday School Lesson for
NOvcyaber 8, 1890.

NOvotADer u, 1870.
Especially arranged from 8. SfQuarterly.1
LESSON TExT-Luke 23:ll2
GOLDEN TExT-Then SAID Pilaee to the chief
priests and to the people. find no fault in this
man.-Luke 23:i
CENTRAL Truth Each one must decide what
he will do withJeses.
TIME From five to seven. O'Clock Friday
morning April Z. A. d. 80.
PLACE-The judgment hall, of ,pilate, prob
ably in castle Antonia. just outside OF the tenn
pie area OF Jerusalem
RuLERs-Tiberus Caesar Emperor of Rome
(seventeepth year). Pontius Plate. Governor
of Judoa (tlfth year,. Herod Antipas, Governor
of Gailee dhirty,forrth year,.
PARALLEL. ACCOUNTS WITH VS.. 1-5-Matt.
N:1, 9, II IA, Mark ii5:1.5: John lS:2S-3S. The
other verses OF the lesson found only in Luke.
HELPS OVER HARD PLACEs.-l. Led Him
unto Pilate" because he only had power to
condemn Jesus to death. "Pilate"' the Gov
ernor Of Judea, under Tiberius Cesar at Rome.
He crafty, cruel, cold arbitrsry 9. "Ac-
cuse Him" They made three charges a. Sedi-
tious disturbance. pervertfng tho Nation.
False (2l Reoellion, forbiddiDg TO give trib
ute Contrary 10 fact go :20-25; Matt. i7:2i2O.
(3) Treason. SayingIthpt Himself IS Christ
King not true in the sense theyfntended 8.
"Art Thou the King of the Jewsw The EN-
phass of the question Is remarkable The
g, word Thou" stands intthe original at the head
OF the sentence, as if Rilnte would say THOU
me as mnlefactor, art THOU the. King of the
JewsT' PLATE may wet have been perplexed.
.4Thou sayest T." This is not to be- taken as O
doubtful answer but ass strong athrmation.-
Afford Jesus answer of defense is recorded
more fully in John iS:3337. 8. "Jewry:" Judea.
z. 'Herod:" Herod Antipas, who was living in
sdultery; who had beheaded John the, Baptist.
He was Governor Of Galilee and Perea, and
was visiting Jerusalem to keep the Passover
8 "Desirous to see Him" Luke 9:7.0 g. IAN.
sweTed nothing" to speak would make mat
ters worse. Silence would be more likely to
affect Herod. IL. Gorgeous robe:" Shining,
proba bly, white, the royal color Of the Jews, as
purple was of the Romans, Sent Him asain:"
Implying that he considered Him innocent, 12.
"Made friends:" BY the compliment Of Pilate
IN reec gnizing Herod and his jurisdiction.
LESSON COMMENTS.
To-day we have a sad lesson. In the
first place we see mad throng hurrying
Jesus from the high priests house to
the Judgment hall of Plate, and there
accusing Him of things that were not
true. They tried to make out that He
was traitor to the Government and that
He had forbidden the jews to give trib-
uto to Caesar. AS result of his exami-
nation of Him PLATE affirmed that he
found no fault in the prisoner. 1t was
But he was anxious to please the Jews,
and so he did not do his duty in this
matter. A way seemed to open itself
to him when he heard that Jesus was
from Galilee, and so he tried to get away
from the responsibility by sending Him
to Herod, whe was in Jerusalem at that
time. When .Herod saw Jesus he was
glad, because he had heard much of Him,
and he was very anxious to see Him work
a miracle. There was nothing serious in
Herods desire to see Jesus, but only the
desire to see display of His power.
But he got no satisfaction from the
Master, who never worked any miracle
for any such unworthy purpose. S.
Herod, though he could find no fault in
Him, was angry, and, to wreak his spite
on Him. mocked Him, and dressed Him
In gorgeous robe and sent Him back
to PLATE. Lately the two rulers had
been at swords points with each other,
but that day they became friends
through their mutual attitude toward
the Master They had played at battle
dore and shuttlecock with the only sim
less man whom they had ever seen, and
the game seems to have put them in a
good humor with each other.
The practical applications of the les
son seem to lie along the line of evad-
ing responsibility See how PLATE did
this! We have seen in the lesson review
that he was convinced that Jesus was an
innocent man. His one duty then was
to discharge Him and refuse to listen to
any more accusations against Him. But
he was unwilling to take that RESPONSE
bility and thus incur the enmity of the
Jews. At the same time he did not
want to take the responsibility of con-
demning man against whom no crime
could be proved. He would not do the
right, and he dared not for the present
do the wrong, and so he found himself
between two fires Then it was that he
tried to get out Of the difficulty by send
ing the accused man to Herod. No doubt
he quite congratulated himself on his
shrewdness, in thus throwing RESPONSE
bility on another.
But when it came Herod's turn to act,
he found bimself in the same dilemma
with PLATE. He knew that Jesus was
innocent, yet he wanted to please the
rulers Of the Jews, and 80 no in turn
shifted the burden from his own shoul-
.dera Each Of these men ought to have
decided the case at once on its own evi-
Aspee, but neither Of them was bold
enough to do this.
The result Is that both became guilty
before God for not doing his duty. They
tried to get of scot free, and they both
came out fully guilty. Their effort at
com mpromise was dismal failure.
But these two men did not get away
from their responsibility at all. No;
they rather increased 1t. And in the
same way all effort to get away from
those responsibilities that God has laid
upon us will be vain. We can not do any
thing rightly. except meet and discharge
them bravely. II PLATE had said: ''This
man is innocent, and / will not hold
Him prisoner for another moment" he
would have won the praise OF all the
world for all time. As it was he drew
6oWn upOn hfmsalf the coudamu tion NJ