The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-01-04
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The Sunday School Lesson.
SERIES FOR 1896---FIRST QUARTER.
Studies in the Gospel According to Luke.


agogue at Nazareth was school, taught
by duly qualified scribe; in this school
Jesus doubtless gained substantial
education. The literature taught was
the best then in the world; it has been
preserved to US in the Old Testament.
Various other proverbial sayings which
were in jesus day impressed upon the
memory of the young, have come down
to US. This is one of the sayings in the
synagogue schools: MAKE the best of
your childhood; youth is a crown of
roses, old age of thorns." Here is an
other of these sayings: DO not fear
death; it is only kiss if you fear God"
Here is another of these sayings which
suggests the great hope which was
afterward made effective in the Gospel.
Trust in the mercy of God, even if the
sharp sword be at your throat: He for
sakes none of his creatures to give them
up to destruction"
Religion was the fountain of his home
life; it was the central theme of his
the peaceful influence of nature harmo-
niously blended. The grace of God aoas
upon him.
i. Jesus Accompanies his Par
ents to the Passover in Jerusa-
lem,-vs. 40-42.
At twelve he reached the first crisis in
his life. At this age all Jewish boys
must be set to the learning of some
trade. He was now required to fulfil all
the religious duties imposed by the Mo-
sale law. He was now first privileged
to accompany his parents in their pill.
grimage to Jerusalem to attend the great
national feast. the Passover.
That he was eager to see the great
city; to behold with his own eyes the
wondrous temple, where he had been by
his parents dedicated in his infancy:
that he had even hilarious joy in the
foot journey of seventy miles from his
home TO the capital, mingling with the
hundreds of thousands going on the
same joyous religious errand, is all i'm.
piled in the brief descriptive touches
given in the record.
2. He Became Absorbed i'm the
Teaching of the Rabbis in the
Temple COurt,-vs. 1880.
Note what chiefly interested the
youthful Jesus at the feast. 1t was
customary on certain of the feast days
for renowned teachers of the law to
teach the people in the Court of the
Women. The instructions OF these doc
tors at other times could be obtained
only for price. Now the whole He
brew population was invited to freely
share the instruction which only such
teachers as Hillel and Gamaliel could
impart. The people were even invited
to ask questions; to state their personal
difficulties in their religious experience.
The learned teachers endeavored to
supply the need of popular religious
guidance.
To mingle with the hearers of these
recognized teachers of the Jewish re-
ligion was the most interesting and alb
sorbing of all the attractions which
Jesus found in the holy city. To be
among the inquirers, to state the prob
lens which had already become his in
ner companions, this was the pursuit in
which Jesus at once engaged. In this
pursuit he forgot the passing of time.
After two days, the sacrifices having
been meanwhile offered. the pilgrims
were privileged to return to their homes
1t seems to have been pre- arranged that
Joseph and Mary and Jesus should thus
early start for Nazareth. But Jesus
had been from the first left to himself
He was boy, surely, who could be
trusted. He had found some shelter in
the city; or to sleep in the open air would
have been to him no hardship. His
food bag or some friendly person sup
piled him with sustenance. He was ac-
corded temporary independence. And
he could not leave the feast in its midst,
while such privilege was his of learn
ing from the Jerusalem schools, which
were otherwise barred from him all his
life. 1t was his duty to profit by the
manifold boon which had now come to
his inner life.
Joseph and Mary. on the third day of
the feast, started homeward. 1t shows
the free life Jesus lived in bis youth,
and the parental confidence which was
reposed in him. to be told that they had
gone full day on their journey before
they learned that he was not of their
company. Then, inquiry among their
kinsfolk and neighbors In the caravan
failing to give them any news of their
son, they returned to Jerusalem. Ar
irving in the city they searched full
day among the people and in the places
where they expected to find him, but not
In the temple enclosure.
At last they went to the temple. And
there, among the adult pupils of the
great teachers. they saw their son. They
could but observe that the young boy
had an unwonted Difference paid to him.
His questions betokened religious ex-
perience unparalleled for depth and
breadth in one of his years. Son, said
HE am n rad mofhar 9.b9t bOef fIyCS3l fh9ls