Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1900-03-15
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
A Pleasant, interesting, and Instruct-
I've Lesson, and Where IT May he
Found-A Learned and Concise Re-
view Of the Same.

I've Lesson, and Where II May BE
Found-A Learned and Concise Re-
view Of the Same. Il
The subject of the lesson for March IL
IL Jesus ut Matthews House." The
Scripture IL Mark 2: 1922. After the
hearing of the paralytic in Capernaum
Jesus began a new sort of work there; q
mission to the despised classes of the
community, chief among whom were the
tax collectors (publicans.) Bruce's COM
ment on this passage Is suggestive: Our
thoughts have been too much biased by
the assumption that the call of Matthew
in this section Is the main thing, and the
feast an accoTAanying incident, fare
well feast of Matthews in which Jesus
passively partook. The truth, probably,
Is that the call was preliminary to the
feast, the first step i'm the working out
of plan. Jesus aims at mission
among the reprobated classes, and his
first step is the call of Matthew to disci-
pleship, and his second the gathering to-
gether, through him, of large number
OF these classes to social entertainment;
the place of meeting being, possibly, not
a private house. whether Christ's or Mat
thew's, but a public hall. II Matthew's
house or Simon's lin which Jesus proba-
bly, had his home) was large enough to
have quadrangular court, the gathering
might be there.
| Explanatory.
HE went forth again by the sea side:
| where there was more room to gather
crowds than in the narrow streets Of a
Jewish town.
Levi the son of Alphaeus': 1t is, of
course, certain by comparison with Matt.
D: 9-13, that Levi and Matthew are iden-
teal. Many Jews had two names; and
Matthew may have been called also Levi,
| or Matthew" may be name given by
Jesus, like Peter" Levi was one Of the
| employees of the Roman officers charged
with collecting the customs or tariff du-
ties. These collectors had their Offices
| in the form Of open booths-at the gates
| of cities, on the principal streets, etc.
They were universally hated by the peo-
pie both because they represented the
| hated empire, and because the most of
them were extortioners for personal gain.
The call of Levi showed that Jesus need
ed disciples in all classes of society. He
needed the humble and the prosperous,
but despised government employees. 1t is
to be supposed that Levi had been a dis
honest or avaricious tax collector. Most
Of his class were, but nothing in connec-
ton with his call to discpleship or his
after life shows that he partook of the
general cupidity.
las Jesus sat at meat in his house."
There is slight question whether Ibis"
house means Lewis or Jesus house-that
is, the house in which he resided while
at Capernaum; probably Lewis, though
some hold the other view. This dinner
is probably not to be thought of as imme
diately following Matthew's call; rather
as coming after an interval of some
weeks during which Jesus used his new
disciple to gain the interest and attention
of many men of his class-the govern
ment employees of Galilee. The mention
of Matthews call in the two preceding
verses is logically a parenthess to ex-
plain how this mission to the tax collect
ors was begun; just as in Matt. IA: 3-12
the evangelist tells the story of the death
and burial of John the Baptist in long
parenthetic passage for the sake of ex-
planning the saying of Herod that Jesus
was John risen from the dead.-The
number OF the "publcans and sinners
was large; Luke says "a great multi
tude." In the phrase "publicans and
sinners" we are to understand by sin
ners" the despised classes, Indifferent to
Pharisaic pretensions and ceremonial re-
quirements, while also morally defective;
but the moral element is not the only one.
The term Sinners" in it's Aramaic equiv
alent was the name of reproach applied
by the Pharisees to the rough rude, out
cast part of the populace; and the moral
delinquencies Of this class, though not
small, were probably different in kind
rather than in degree from those of the
so-called superior classes, the so-called
righteous" "pious," etc. This fact must
be remembered in interpreting verse II.
'They that are whole have no need Of
the physician, but they that are sick: l
came not to call the righteous, but sim
ners." This utterance has been under
stood in two ways. 1t may be the sim
pie utterance of a principle guiding Je-
sus' conduct in his ministry; taking the
terms righteous and sinners" in their
accepted sense as designating two classes
of the community, as we might say 'the
church members" and ''the non-church
going class s." In this Interpretation
Jesus simply announces his principles:
my work lies rather among the people
that neglect religion than among those
who have had abundant religious oppor-
tunities." That is probably the correct
understanding.
There is at once humor and pathos in
the reply of Jesus to those who asked
why his disciples did not observe Gus
tomary fasts. Here was a serious de-
parture from prevailing usage, which
raised an honest difficulty in the minds of
some, and gave a chance for severe criti-
cism to others. Jesus, as we may well
believe, smiled quietly when he answer
ed them. A bridegroom, the center Of a
festival group. he proclaims himself. No
bcSy else could see the resemblance; for
bridegrooms were elegantly clad, attend
cd by groups OF gay companions, honored
and congratulated by all. Not even the
disciples probably felt much like we'd
ding attendants just then. under the at
lacks OF enemies and the doubts Of
friends. But Jesus knew best how the
matter really stood He knew how it
would be when they looked back on ii in
after years. Yes, these were festival
times; no fasting; nothing but joy, for the
season would be all too brief and the
ending all too soon and terrible. What
insight into the sunny, tender nature of
Jesus these words give us How SUI
premely lovable he must have seemed.
| In ordinary English, when you are
patching old clothes use cloth that has