The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-15
THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON
Jan. 10, 1ses-Matthew iv, 1928.

The public ministry of Jesus burst upon the peo
pie who sat in darkness like moral sunrise. The
preaching of John Baptist had been the foreglean.
Such sermons that the mount were a COM
plete bringing TO light of the spirit, principles and
effects of the kingdom of heaven. 1t also an
unwilling of the Messiah himself. his disinter-
estedness, purity and authority. This light also
was not confined to a narrow territory
apt to think. 1t blazed across all Syria. It
not always gentle and diffused radiance. 1t
often concentrated into burning ray, which con-
sumed the mask of hypocrisy and ate with caustic
power into the Iutresceuce of insincerity. .
Parallel with this ministry of word there
ministry Of deed. The latter a series of
acted parallels designed to illustrate and enforce
the former. The miracles of healing showed the
benefcent spirit of the kingdom. while at the
same time they attested the divinity of its found
err; for, unlike others, the miracles of the Messiah
were wrought in his name, and with self
derived authority. 1t is certainly not a
mere coincidence that in this spirited account of
the beginning Jesus ministry. there is inserted.
as in parenthess, the call Of his human helpers.
1t pleased the Messiah to put this great honor
upon men, and make them his coworkers in the
founding of the kingdom Of heaven upon earth.
The prompt obedience and sef-forgetting conse-
Grafton of those who called is inspiriting,
and pledge of the phenomenal success after
wards achieved. The very scene chosen for
the opening of Jesus ministry is suggestive. Cali
lee of the nations, its very name signifies, was
polyglot district. The early preaching of the
gospel to this mixed population signified that the
new faith was to be an ailments religion.
Thus, in al respects, the beginning of the min
stry of Jesus fulfilled that lofty Isaiahan choral:
1.-The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtal,
Toward the beyond Jordan
Calilee of the Gentiles,
The people which sat in darkness,
Saw a great light.
And to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death,
To them did light spring up
MOSAIC FROM COMMENTARIES.
The kingdom at hand: Jesus sometimes speaks
OF His kingdom as already come-n His person
and ministry; but the economy of it only
.'at hand until the blood of the was shed.
| j. f. B,
The king was his herald.-Bengel.
Repent: Repentance includes two elements
nunciation of our past sin and the adoption Of
future better course.-Whedon.
Saw two brethern Jesus first meeting with
the brothers, recorded in John /. This call to
discipleship intervenes between that and their
subsequent Incorporation into the apostle col
Iege-Ibid.
Follow me: Calls of God are expressed in few
solemn words, which alarm the conscience and
impress the neart.-Clarke.
Receive my doctrines. follow my example.-Ibid.
SIraightWay they followed: PrOmtitude. In
the very ardor of doing their daily work they re-
ceived the call. Ingenuously, without immediate
agreement for reward.-Bengel.
With Zebedee their father: They therefore
youths; their father Zebedee in his prime, and
both their parents alive. These two mentioned
oftener than Peter and Andrew.-Ibid
Teaching in synagogues: Houses of local wor
ship. r. B.
Synonymous with our American word meeting
house. ''-Whedon.
All Syria: Term in widest limits. comprehended
all the country lying between Mediterranean and
Euphrates.--Ibid.
All manner of sickness: Every disease.-J.
f.. b.
All manner of disease: Every complaint. incipi-
ent malady.-Ibid.
And He healed them: These healings Were at
once His Credentials and illustrations of the glad
tidings which He proclamed.-Ibd.
There followed Him great multitudes: Thus not
only was all Palestine uDheaved, but all the
adjacent regions. Vast concourse varied com
plexion of eager attendants upon the great preach
err to whom the astonishing discourse of the
next three chapters is addressed-Ibid.
This paragraph gives general view of the min
;stry in Galiee 1t succeeds the account of the
temptation by which Jesus was perfected. and
prepares for the great summary of moral doctrines
contained in the sermon of the mount.-Whedon.
THE TEACHERS CULVER.
TIE orderly precision of Jesus movements is
well illustrated in the fact that He did not emerge
from private life until Imprisonment closed the
career his forerunner.
Galilee from it's frontier position a
cial highway, more Independent of current
ecclesiasticism and consequently more apt to
ceive the gospel. The wisdom of Jesus in the
choice of the scene of his earliest preaching is
apparent
On comparison OF the evangelists there seems to
have been series of progressive calls to the apos
ties A first call, after which there to have
been a dsmission TO their old environments,
where. free from the novelty of their situa-
ton, they might review what they had ami
heard.
The second call was not therefore as abrupt as
it would appear from the nara tive But it the
apostles were permanently attached to the person
% the Lord
The third call the formal induction into the
apostolic college.
These four were the most closely attached
of Jesus apostles. The mention of hired servants
and Johns acquaintance with the high priest
would rather indicate that Zebedee of
position, influence and possibly of wealth.
The triple Office and superlative industry Of
Jesus is indicated when it is said He taught. He
preached He healed.
The geography of prophecy is a pleasing study
lisa. tx /, p Matt. iv, 1916.