The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-02-09
LESSON STORY.

Between the date of our last lesson
wherein we learned that human childhood
to God is the true greatness of human be-
ings,-and the date of the present lesson,
several important events had tradspired.
During this interim Jesus has left Cali
lee,-it may be finally; although some
scholars believe that he subsequently made
brief visit to the northern province. On
his way southwark he was inhospitably
treated in a Samaritan village; which
awakened his disciples wrath, but not his
own. He subsequently asserted his claim
in the temple at Jerusalem; and found
such favor with the people that the author
tiles were overawed in their enmity against
him. He has also, an act of great i'm
portance,-sent out seventy messengers to
the villages of Judea, on the same essential
errand which had been fulfilled by the
Twelve in Galilee. Knowing that the time
left to him was short, he had sent these
messengers with the assurance to their
hearers that heaven, for such as chose it,
was at hand. The natural result of this
ministry of the seventy we shall behold
later when, at the approaching Passover.
we find that the whole population of Judea
has become ready, however mistakenly, to
hail the Prophet of Nazareth as the son of
David coming in the name of the Lord.
Luke has preserved from this PERIOD
during which Jesus remained in Judea and
Perea,-a group of parallels which bear
especially on the central fact that Jesus is
the Saviour of all men; that he is not, in
any exclusive sense, the Jewish Messiah,
but the Son of Man, the spiritual Brother
of all men, the Teacher of a religion for
humanity. This group of parallels
among which we recall such as the Great
Supper, the Lost Sheep, the Prodigal Son,
lis specifically known as the Perean Par
ables; the name distinguishing these from
the Galilean Parallels, to which he gave
utterance during the earlier period of his
ministry.
Our lesson to-day is the first of the peer
less Perean parallels No other parable
in the worlds literature, excepting only
that of the Prodigal Son, is so widely
known and SO often quoted.
1. The Lawyers Test Questions,
VS.. 2S-2o
Il certain larger Stooa n4 and tempted
him. Before some public assembly, in a
synagogue or in the open air, lawyer,
rabbi acknowledged to be an authority in
the Mosaic law, stood up and purposed to
question Jesus,-to tempt, try, test him, as
to his theological soundness. He voiced
the official doubt as to the orthodoxy of
the new Teacher. He had doubtless heard
of the Teaching of Jesus. He may, for
instance, have heard of the remark Jesus
made in the synagogue at Capcrnaum,
when he was asked what it was to do the
work of God, and he had replied Uohn 6:
2e): This is the aO0,k of God, that ye be-
Heve on him 7OhoM he hath sent This
substitution of faith in him as person for
obedience to the Law, would naturally seem
to the lawyer to be the rankest heresy. AS
a commissioned officer of the Jewish Coun-
Gil he purposed now to exhibit what he
conceives to be shallow heresy in the new
Teacher who has been captivating the
hearts of the people.
Master, zOhat shall I do TO inherit etey-
nal LitsS The lawyer asks, What must
one co to enter heaven on earth?
Jesus replied, What is q0rItken in tie
ka7Us hozO yeaaest MOH? Jesus asks him,
as lawyer, to give the answer of the Law.
And the champion of the Law is so conf
dent in his own righteousness that he pro-
ceeds at once to answer: Thou shalt k0ve
the Lord thy God aOith all thy Heart, and
wiM all thy soul, and qVtN all lily
STRENGTH, and aOith all lily mind; and lily
Setgls6Or as MyseU. This is a summary
of human duty given by the Law itself
Deut 6:s and Lev. IS).
Jesus said, 7H0N hast answered right
DO his, and thou shalt lie. This was
according to the common teaching of
Jesus. He came not to destroy, but to full
fl the Law. He had never taught other
wise than that loving God with the supreme
love and loving man purely and unselfsh-
ly, was itself eternal life in the soul. With
the emphasis of his uniform teaching he
declared to the lawyer that such a divine
and human love is life in the soul.
The lawyer was discounted. He had
Unexpectedly found the reputed hereto
sounl Il the vital point. But he has heard
Of srs associating with sinners and out
casts he has been told that Jesus has even
chosen Roman publican as one of his