The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-03-02
THE LEsSoN STORY.


An important clue to our lesson-passage
is found in the preceding record.
The Sanhedrim, for self-preservaton,
after the raising of Lazarus, had con-
demned Jesus to death. Jesus had for
season retired to obscurity in the village
of Ephraim, twelve miles northeast of Je-
rusalem. The approach of the Passover
caused him to set his face again toward
the capital. Along the borders of Galilee
and Samaria he went eastward to the Jor-
dan, and crossed the Jordan into Perea.
On the way he discoursed to his disciples
and the people concerning the nature of
the kingdom of heaven. In the village of
Perea where we now find him, he had given
important instruction concerning marriage
and divorce. He was now in the neigh
borhood of the Essenes, the hermitpurists
who condemned marriage. Will Jesus,
himself celebate, commend such of the
Essences as had divorced their wives and
fed from the evil of the world to the desert?
Will he, on the soil of Herod Antipas,
condemn divorce, and invite to himself the
fate of John the Baptist? He plainly
taught that the marriage state was sacred.
(Matt. 10: 3-I2 Mark Io:2 -I2). Heplain-
ly condemned both such divorces as the
Essences had practiced, and such disregard
of the marriage-bond as Herod and Hero
dias had made conspicuous. He taught
that while some might be from birth I'M
fitted for marriage, and some might refrain
from marriage because they would give
themselves in entire conservation to a
righteous cause, the home.makers,-one
man marrying one woman and the two for
saking all others and cleaving together till
death, -were obedient to the original I'M
repealable law of God and merited the
Fathers benediction.
An immediate sequence of this exalta-
ton of the home was that many parents of
the neighborhood, especially mothers, were
prompted to bring their young children to
him for his blessing. These parents had
been accustomed to hear the Essences de-
clare the marriage-state to be unholy.
When therefore they heard Jesus speak of
marriage as an original appointment of
God, sacrament, they recognize him as
a friend of the home. The disciples
thought they were doing him favor by
keeping the mothers and the children at
distance. Why should the burdened and
wearied Master be delayed and dis
tracted by being made the victim of these
beseeching parents? This was no time
for him to be disturbed by trivialties. But
it displeased Jesus that his disciples had
seen no more depth of meaning in his
words concerning marriage and home.
How little did they yet understand him as
one who had entered on mission to be
fulfilled through the ages. Suffer the lille
cAildren, he said, to come unto me, and
TO, bid them not; TOR of such is the king
dom of God. His last act, before depart
ing from the Perean village on his way to
martyrdom, was to take the little children
into his arms, and lay his hands upon them
and bless them.
This teaching, enforced by such an OBJ
jectlesson, had specially touched the heart
of one beholder; a young Pharisee, very
religious, very rich; the ruler of the local
synagogue, an unusual honor for young
man.
He could not question, after beholding
Jesus and listening to his words, that the
Mysterious Man lived as in the bosom of
God. He felt, in comparison, his own
spiritual poverty. New aspirations were
born within him. What could it mean to
become child and enter the kingdom of
heaven?
4. The Rich Young Ruler Asks i.
of Jesus how He Shall Obtain
Eternal Life,-v. 1870.
1t was not until Jesus had started on his
journey that the young man overcame his
indecision; thea he ran and kResked TO
him, and asked him, GOOD Master, aVhaf
shall I 40 that I may inherit eternal AjfSS
For ruler of synagogue to address Jesus
simply as Teacher would have been al great