The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1900-02-22
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Le,.ou in the International series for
Febrsary Is. 1aOO-Jesus Re-
jected at Nazareth.
Prepared by Hector c. Leniugton.l
THE LESSON TEXT.


Q.uke 4:16-A)
16. And He came to Nazareth. where ne
had been brought up; and as His custom
was, He went into the synagogue on the
Sabbath day, and stood up for TO read.
H. And there was delivered unto Him
the book of the prophet Esaias. And when
He had opened the book, He found the
place where 1t was written:
is The Spirit of the Lord Is upon Me,
because lie hath anointed Me TO preach
the Gospel to the poor: He hath sent Me TO
heal the broken-hearted, TO preach deliv-
erance to the captives. and recovering or
sight 10 the blind. to set at liberty them
that are bruised:
l9. To preach the acceptable year of the
Lord.
90 And He closed the book, and He gave
It again to the minister. and sat down.
And the eyes of all them that were in the
synagogue were fastened on Him.
81 And He began to say unto them: This
day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.
20. And all bare Him witness. and won
dered at the gracious words which pro
ceeded out of His mouth And they said:
Is not this Joseph's son?
2S. And He said unto them: Ye will sure
ly say unto Me this pruverb: Physician,
heal myself: what soever we have heard
done in Capernaum. do also here in Thy
country.
"a And He said Verify say unto you:
try.
GOLDEN TENT.-He came unto His
own, and His own received Him not.-John
I'LL
NOTES AND COMMENTS
We come now to the great Galilean
ministry Jesus arrives. after the brief
stay in Samaria, in Cana some time in
December, A. d. 81 The healing of
the nobleman's son is the only incl
dent recorded during a period of
about four months. He may have
gone into partial retirement. Then
for the feast of the passover CA. d 2S,
Mar. 30-Apr. 81 He visited Jerusalem.
man was healed by the pool of Beth
esda. After this John the Baptist was
thrown into prison and Jesus returned
to Galilee and was rejected by His fell
low-townsmen of Nazareth. An easy
and natural way, then. to firmly fix
in the mind this period in the life of
Jesus will be to group the events and
teachings about the three following
topics:
Healing Nobleman's Son .......John 4:4S-5a
Healing 1mpotent Man ......... John 5:1-47
Healing Nobleman's Son.-Jesus has
closed the year of beginnings and His
second of public ministry is one of
popular favor. We are told (John 4:45)
that "the Galileans received Him. hav-
ing seen all the things that He did t
Jehusalem at the feast" And Luke
tells us (4:14-15) that "Jesus returned
in the power of the Spirit into Galilee:
and there went out fame Of Him
through all the regions round about.
And He taught in their synagogues. be-
ing glorified of ALL"
1t was at Cana that Jesus performed
His first miracle of turning the water
into wine. 1t seems appropriate that
it is here that He shows that His Divine
power is not limited to His immediate
surroundings. 1t was not necessary
that the Christ lay His physical hand
upon the sick, His gracious word would
heal as well.
after this there was feast of the
Jews" This feast was probably pass
over, but as to that we do not positively
know. The question is interesting
though, as on the answer depends the
determination of the length of Jesus
public ministry. Three passover feasts
we know Jesus attended. This would
make the ministry of Jesus little over
two years. If this feast mentioned in
John 5:1 is passover the ministry
lasted little over three years.
Healing Impotent Man.-In connec
tion with the healing of the impotent
man by the pool of. Bethesda occurs
Jesus first clash with the Jewish no
tions of the Sabbath. The rest day o.
the Mosaic law had been through cen
turies of rabbinical teaching circum
scribed to such an extent as to become
ridiculous. The letter had been made
so much of that the spirit had been lost
Jesus met the Jewish prejudises will
the common sense idea that the Sab
bath should be so used as to glorify
God. Then He shows them the inheren
falseness Of their teaching. They
search the Scriptures for the smallel
rules of conduct, but failed to reat
there the great principles of life. They
read to have eternal life. but fail to Sc,
that their prophecies point to Jesus tn,
Christ who gives eternal life. Then tn,
Saviour adds: "Do not think that viii
accuse you to the father; there is on,
that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom
ye trust" Moses had given them grea
principles, but the rabbis had convert
ed them into a mere set of rules.
Jesus Rejected.-Jesus did not sta,
long in Judea. After hearing of tn
arrest of John He left for Galilee. II
preached in various cities, coming a
length to Nazareth. where He ha,
spent His youth. Here. as at othe
places, He began His work in the syn
agogues and took as His text Isaial
GIL, 2. This prophecy was for tn
comfort of the exiles in Babylon. bu
Jesus gives it larger meaning. Al
the words Jesus spoke al this time ar
not recorded, but we have enough t
suggest that He preached gospel a
much for the Gentiles as for the Jews
This in part aroused their wrath, bu
the further fact is to be noted that
is always hard to see anything wonder
full or exceptional in one brought u
under the same influences and ami
the same surroundings as oneself
AFTERTHoUGHTs.
Jesus offers sight to the blind.
Liberty is a distinct Christian doc
trine.
Jesus words are as wonderful as Hi
, miracles.
How hard II ie 20 rr;ra duo o,oJ;. {.