Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1899-04-01
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON i, SECOND QUARTER, INTER
NATIONAL SERIES. APRIL 2.

l1:SS.-tosanit verses Ai-AA.
~rrhen when Mary was come where
Jesus was and saw Him. she fell
down at His feet, saying unto Him,
Lord, If thou hadst been here my
brother had not died"
This home at Bethany, which had
been visited by the death angel, was
one where Jesus took delight in stop
ping. Mary loved the Lord and was
fully persuaded that had He been
with them the gloom and sorrow OF
death would not have settled over
their home.
We cannot entertain Jesus as Mary
and Martha did, but nevertheless we
can have Him with us as surely as
they did. Ii we have not hidden Him
to enter and abide with us, we should
do so at once. His coming will make
as great a change in our homes as
Mary declared He would have caused
in theirs had He been there.
when Jesus. therefore, saw her
weeping. and the Jews also weeping
which came with her He groaned in
the spirit and was troubled"
"And was troubled Peloubet says,
means ito agitate. to disquiet, as the
waters of the sea-
The true feeling of Jesus was that
of sympathizing sorrow for the suffer
ing of His friends.
And said. Where nave We laid him?
They said unto Him. Lord, come and
see.''
They little thought what would fol-
low the invitation. Come and see."
There are many sad hearts to-day
that could be made happy and bright.
If they would ask Jesus TO come and
see where they have buried their
hopes.
"Jesus wept-
This is the shortest verse In the
Bible. but one which has given com
fort to many heavy hearts.
sThen said the Jews. Behold how
He loved himr'
Peloubet says. "The word for love
here is the one that expresses passion.
ate intensity, and not the word used
in verse $ to express Jesus love for
the Bethany family. which was the
love of choice, of friendship, n deep
spiritual love-
"And some Of them said, could not
this man, which opened the eyes of the
blind, have caused that even this man
should not have diedT'
IL He could restore the sight why
could He not lengthen the life by driy-
ing away the death angel? This was
proper question to ask, and similarly
we NAV ask, IF God could heal in
olden times, has He any less power
noww
Jesus therefore again grooming in
Himself cometh to the grave. 1t was
cave, and a stone lay upon it,"
1t is supposed that the tomb Of Laz-
arus was an excavation in the side of
q rock These graves, or caves, were
usually ON a level with the door. "A
stone lay upon it." 1t is said, would
be better rendered 81 stone lay against
It," Canon Tristram, writing in the
Sunday School Times, says. "There is
not a glen or hillside in Palestine
which does not TO this day bear its
silent testimony to the faith of the
Jews of olden times in the resurrec-
ton of the body.
Jesus said, Take We away the stone.
Martha. the sister of him that was
dead, saith unto Him. Lord, by this
time he stinketh; for he has been dead
four days.
The embalming of the Jewish dead
was merely wrapping of the body
in perfumes: it did not prevent the
dead from decaying
"Jesus saith unto her, Said / not I'M
to thee. that, if thou wouldest believe,
thou shouldest see the glory of God?"
Many who condemn Martha for her
apparent disbelief and doubt. reason
themselves the same as she did. They
forget that natural laws are no bar to
God working in His own way for His
own glory.
"Then they took away the stone
from the place where the dead was
laid. And Jesus lifted up His eyes
and said Father, / thank thee that
thou hast heard Me-"
Jesus, in lifting up His eyes, took
"a natural, simple, but expressive"
attitude in addressing God, the Father.
In calling upon the Lord we are too
apt to look down, when our blessings
come from above.
"And l know that Thou nearest Me
always, but because Of the people
which stand by l said it, that they
may believe that Thou hast sent Me-"
Jesus could have caused Lazarus to
arise without calling aloud unto the
God, but He wanted the Jews to see
| that He was the Messiah, and had
been sent by God.
"And when He thus had spoken, He
cried with loud voice, Lazarus, come
! FORTH
| Prof Riddle says that Jesus cried
with a loud voice Ito demonstrate
most clearly that His demand was
the direct cause Of the coming forth
! Of Lazarus"
| "And he that was dead came forth.
bound hand and foot with grave
clothes; and his face was bound about
with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them,
Loose him and let him CO."
The Egyptian custom was to wrap
each limb separately. and Prof. Hovey
tells us that probably that was the
manner in which Lazarus was bound
hand and foot; it may have been that
1.-THE grave clothes were wrapped
about him somewhat loosely, so that
with the new life pulsating through
his body, he was able, i'm obedience to
| the words of Jesus, to come forth
- n Al Il