The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1894-10-12
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.


| Especially arranged from peloubets notes.
| GOLDEN TEXT He taught them one that
had authority. and not as the scribes--Mark
l22
PLACE IN THE HISTORY. The second year Of
Jesus public ministry. the year Of develop
mcnt. at No 3 In the list of events given In our
last lesson. II 10 preparation for the new
| development OF His work In making tours
around Galilee with His disciple and training
| them In and for their work our next lesson.
TIME.-April a. d. aS soon after our last
| lesson.
PLAcE-On the shores OF the Sea OF Galiiee
near Capcrnaum. where Jesus made His homo
and the center OF His Gospel work.
THE SEA or GALfLEE this sea was tho
center OF Christs teachings for nearly half OF
His ministry. It may DO well TO give as vivid
| picture OF II as possible Stanley calls IL the
most sacred sheet OF water which the earth
contains. Josophus says that IL might be
called the ambition OF nature The rabbis said
that OF the seven seas OF Canaan IL was the
| o.iy one which God had reserved for Himself
Renan happily calls II "a NTH Gospel" torn.
but sill legible, because its associations with
the life OF Christ give new meaning to His words
and deeds. Josephus. In passage OF glowing
admiration. after describing the sweetness OF
its waters, and the delicate temperature OF its
air. Its palms. and vines. and oranges. and ngs.
and almonds, and pomegranates and warm
| springs SAYS that the seasons seemed TO com
pete for the honor OF its possession. The lake
Is OF oval shape. from twelve to fourteen miles
long. and about half as br DAD 1t Is formed by
the river Jordan. and Is $50 feet below the level
OF the Mediterranean. II Is one hundred and
kixty-hve feet deep In some places. In our
Lord S time II was covered with a gay and nu-
merous fleet OF four thousand vessels. from
ships OF war down to fishing boats. The neigh
borhood OF this lake was the most thickly peo-
| pied and most prosperous part Of Palestine.
1t was surrounded by the summer mansions OF
the rich. like the Thames above London or
many Of our seaside resorts
LESSON NOTES.
The Eager Multitudes - "And il
came to pass, that, as tho people
pressed upon Him" The friends and
acquaintance of Jesus at Nazareth re-
jected Him and His teaching; but there
were great multitudes who did wish
to listen to His marvellous words, and
almost as soon as He left Nazareth
crowds pressed to hear Him. ITO hear
the word Of God" Truths which had
Divine authority and were filed with
Divine love He taught them with the
authority Of one who had perfect
knowledge. God bore witness to His
words by signs and miracles; and these
miracles were examples and object les
sons OF the love and power, health and
blessing, which the gospel brought TO
men.
Jesus breaches to Them from Fish
ing Boat.-"He stood by the lake
of Gennesaret." The sea OF Galilec.
Probably Gennesaret is a modification
of the old Hebrew name Kinneroth. or
kinneretL.
And saw two ships" Rather,
boats. Probably fishing boats without
decks. Standing by the lake" Moored
to the shore or drawn up on the sand.
"But the fishermen Peter, Andrew.
John and James, and those employed
by them; see Mark were gone out OF
them" Probably not far off, for Jesus
speaks to Peter ". 81. And were
washing their nets" To cleanse them
from mud or stones or matter accumu-
lated from the bottom of the lake or
along the shore They were also mend
ing their nets Mark 1910. All this was
required by the previous nights fish,
ing referred TO in verse 5.
And lie entered into one OF the
ships (boats). which was Simon's." ST.
mon Peter. Simon is a contraction OF
Simeon c'hearing), and Peter means
"a rock" The boat belonged to him
and his brother Andrew Mark. Jesus
entered this boat, perhaps because it
was nearest, and without doubt be-
cause Peter was one Of His disciples,
and had been with Him before John
l:4O-42), and He well knew that Peter
would be glad to have Him make such
use Of his boat.
nh;cc< ...1~ &c., . "a
Fishes. when He had left
speaking" He had finished all He
wished to say at that time to the peo-
pie. They must now mediate ON and
inwardly digest the truths that had
been taught. Launch out into the
deep"-verb in the singular. addressed
to Peter as captain-'and let down
your nets"-plural, of the crew.
And Simon said Mas
ter, we have toiled all the night" etc
The night was the best time for GER
tain kinds Of fishing, either because. as
Pliny suggests, the fishes cannot see
as well then, and thus are not fright
ened away by the boats and nets, or
most probably because that is the
feeding time of the fishes. At any
rate. the fact that they had failed TO
catch anything in the best time for fish
ing was reason for not expecting any
special results from fishing in the day
time. Nevertheless at Thy word
will let down the net" This was an
act, not of dependency, but Of faith.
Peter knew something about Jesus.
lie had believed that lie was the Mes
siah John 1:4l and had seen His mir
aclc at Cana of Galilee John 2:l-11), 50
that. although he may not have ex-
pectcd a miracle, he had reason "a
trust in the wisdom and knowledge OF
Jesus.
"They incloscd lin their ret) great
multitude OF fishes" That a miracle
Is intended is unquestionablc. How
wrought, whether by o Divine act
drawing together at this time and place
shoal Of fishes or by Divine knowl.
edge pcrceiving the shoal that was
there, the narrator does not indicate.
"And their net brake" Was breaking
1. G., began to break, was on the poin,
~ hroa linn lint s1id =, ~ 80 =, N q, l,ro n L.