Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-03-22
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON Fon
MARCH d.
Lesson Text: Christ Forgiving SIM
Luke ", 17-26-Golden Text:
", 21.-Commentary on the
Lesson.

IA. "And it came to pass on certain day
as He was teaching Our lesson to-day finds
Jesus in a house in Capernaum, the house
filled with people, and such crowd about
the door that no one can come near fMark
ii, ], q, and Jesus is preaching the Word
unto them. Just what He talked about we
may infer from His discourses which are
more fully recorded; let each one search and
see.
There were Pharisees and doctors of the
law sitting by, which were come out of every
town of Galiiee and Judea, and Jerusalem y
So that here was gathered convention Of all
the leading and influential religious people Of
the land, and they were being addressed by
this humble carpenter of Nazareth upon
topics with which they ought to be very IA
miliar, and of which the wonder in their eyes
was that He should know anything
And the power of the Lord was present to
heal them But they had come for no such
purpose; physically they were not sick, and
spiritually were they not perfect and did not
all people look 10 them for wisdom aud hghts
Why should it be written that there was
healing for them2 The answer is fully given
in the eight woes of Matt. xiii. where the
Great Physician describes their case as He
saw it Butthey are deaf and blind, they
will not hear nor see they come seeking no
fayors from Him, and they go as they came
deriving no benefit from the power of the
Lord.
1s "And, behold, men brought in bed a
man which was taken with palsy" Mark
says that four men carried him. His trouble
was paralysis; he was utterly helpless, all I'M
done, not thing could he do for himself.
"And they sought to bring him in and to
lay him before Him. They realized their
friends helpless condition, they were sorry
for him, they believed Jesus could heal him,
their sorrow for him took very practical
turn and they determined to bring him to
Jesus
49, ''They went upon the housetop, and
let him down through the thing, with his
couch, into the midst before Jesus" The
discouragements were many and great. 1t
seemed simply impossible to get their friend
TO Jesus, and il would not be strange if some
OF the four urged a return, hoping for an
other opportunity; but some one or more of
the foui, had the right spirit, the spirit which
laughs at impossibihties and cries: 1T shall
be done The way to the fiat housetop was
not blocked, and this grand soul says: If
we can't get there in the natural way,
through the door, wen get there in an un-
natural way, through the roof" When we
attempt to come to Jesus or bring any one
else to Him, how often we encounter what
seem to be insuperable hindrances and how
seldom we see the perseverance of these four;
but theirs is the right way.
90 "And when He saw their faith, He said
unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. "
| The great people present may have felt like
objecting very decidedly to this rude inter
ruption; OF some hateful ones may have
laughed in their hearts at the meeting being
thus disturbed; but the quiet calmness and
( dignity of Jesus would overawe them, and as
all was still again. the helpless man lying on
/ his couch in their midst, these most unexpect
ed words fell from the preachers lips: Man,
thy sins are forgiven theep As the skillful
physician seeks carefully the source of the
more manifest symptoms, the seat of the dis
ease, and attends TO that knowing that If the
cause is removed all will be well, SO Jesus
goes at once to the cause of all sickness and
suffering and death, and in the case of this
man grants him first his greatest need, the
forgiveness of his sins. At the same time He
indicates to the Pharisees their need.
81 "Who is this which speaketh blasphe-
mics? Who can forgive sins but God aloneS'
Thus these sin-sick Scribes and Pharisees be-
gan to reason in their hearts, not knowing
that God Himself stood in their midst and
uttered these words.
32 ''Jesus perceived their thoughts (R ",
reasonings) said unto them; What reason We
in your heartsy' They must have been
startled at having the thoughts of their
hearts thus told out before all, and one would
think that this would convince them that
Jesus was more than man.
%. Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be
forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and waikiki
Each was equally easy TO God manifest in the
flesh, but from their standpoint simply to
heal the man Of his sickness would not imply
the same power of God as 10 grant forgive
ness of sins and would not have led them to
accuse Him of blasphemy. TO remove the
source of the difficulty was certainly more
difficult than to remove some of the outward
symptoms. The Pharisees then and now are
20 LOT mus ard,
tinue if only the sepulchre is kept well white
washed, but Gods way is, give life where
there has been death and cleanse the tomb Of
its foul contents.
"a. '"rhe Son of Man hath power upor
earth to forgive SINS And He will have
them to know it. But who is this Son Of
Man? This is the first time we find the It'll,
in this Gospel but We shall find it about
twenty five times as we go on. 1t is at least
thirty times i'll Matthew, fourteen times ii
Mark and ten times in John. 1t seems to bt
our Lords tayorite title of Himself and ii
found outside of the Gospels only in Acts vii,
5;i Heb. IL, 6; Rev l., Is; xiv, IA. OF the
eighty times He uses it in the four Gospels,
He uses it in reference to His resur-
rction and future glory about thirty
times, and that reminds us of Ps
vii, 4, Xxx, -; Dan. vii, Is, where the Sor
OF Man is the one TO whom dominion on
earth is given. He has power to remove sin
and sickness, and does it even now in the case
OF individuals He removes sin as to its con
sequences and power from every one who
truly seeks Him. He removes sickness and
suffering whenever it is for our good and His
glory, but not until the resurrection will He
give His people bodies forever free from all
infrmity. The time will come when He shall
have removed from the earth forever al
traces of sin and the curse; and He shall do il
as Son of Man, Dsvid's Son. Abrsham's Son
in association with redeemed Israel and the
glorified church
rs. "And Immediately he rose up before
them, and took up that wherein he lay,
and departed to his own house, clarifying
Cod" The Word of the Son Of Man, God
manifest in the flesh, did it. He forgave hi:
Tins, He healed his body. We would, as
rule, have healthier bodies if we had healthier
eouls, purer hearts, hearts in which the
Word of God dwelt richly.
20. 'tAmazed--glorifed God-filled with
fsar-we have seen strange things to-day
Jesus is the Lord God of the holy prophets
t3ev. xxi, g. 16), and if our hearts looking
tpto Him in childlike faith should say "Ah,
Lord God Behold, Thou hast made the
heaven and the earth by Thy great power and
ltretched out arm, and there is nothing toe
bard for Thee" Jer, xxi, ~, we too would
,e amazed at the results of faith, and should
be compelled TO glorify God every day because
# the strange things we would see. The
IMPLY would be filled, nut the rich and self
'atisied would still go empty away. The
Lord gives us to see our paralysis, that WI
nay in our helpfulness come and cling to the
Mighty One. Helper.