The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1900-11-16

Lcsson In the international series fos
Novcmber ~. iooc-Thr Ten
Lepers CiennSed.
prepared by IA. c. Lenington.1
THE LESSON TEXT.

JffO~AitHl tHhA III lHFFtu AiitNnA Ano
midst Of Samaria and Galilee.
~ And as lie ontsred into certain VII
lnge, there met Him ten men that were
opcrs. which stood afar on
ID And they lifted up their voices, and
said Jesus. Master. have mercy on US.
a. And when lie saw them, lie said
unto them: Go shew yourselves unto the
priests. And 1t came TO pass, that. as they
went. they were cleansed.
10. And one OF them. when he saw that
no was healed. turned back. and with a
loud voice glorihed God.
l6 And he fell down on his face at His
feet. giving Him thanks; and he was
samaritan.
II. And Jesus answering said: Were there
not ten cleansed7 but where are the nine?
IS. There are not found that returned to
give glory 10 God. save this stranger.
10 And He said unto him: Arise. 20 thy
way: thy faith made thee whole
GOLDEN TEXTILE ye thankful
Col. 3s1S.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
We have come TO March. A. ID. 30, .
time shortly before the crucifixion.
Jesus and His disciples are on the bor-
der line between Samaria and Galilee,
on the way from Ephraim across the
Jordan, and down through Perea TO
Bethany. The events intervening be-
tween this lesson and the last are two:
G) Jesus raises Lazarus. the brother
Of Mary and Martha. (2) He retires to
Ephraim, in northern Judea, till near
the time for the feast of the Passover.
1t is somewhere on this journey that
Jesus meets the ten lepers.
LESSON ANALYSIS.
The Ten Lepers. .....................vs. Ills.
The I.pneFS Healed Il
Lesson on Gratitude. .............vs. IBIS.
Lesson on Faith. .....................y 10.
The Ten Lepers.-The prominence in
the Gospel given TO the healing Of
leprosy is probably due to two facts:
% The disease was. and is TO this day,
Invariably Tin so far as concerns phys
zeal science) fatal and incurable. (2)
.eprosy is a type Of sin and its effects.
Like sin. il is unclean and defiling II
IS contagious. Like sin. It is destruc-
tive. William NJ. Thompson says of the
results of leprosy that "the hair falls
from the head and eyebrows: the nails
loosen. decay and drop off; joint after
joint of the fingers and toes shrink up
and slowly fall away; the gums are alb
sorbed. and the teeth disappear; the
palate are slowly consumed Like sin.
il is often latent. its presence not be-
ing known to others by any physical
appearance. II is said that modern
medica. treatment removes for a long
time the external signs Of the disease
The cure of these lepers has moral
significance. Science has not been abe
10 cure leprosy; science cannot help
the man who is burdened diseased,
with sin.
The I.crers Healed. They stood
'afar Off because the law protected
the unia.nicd. l'ut they had heard
OF Jesus an4 cried to him: Jesus.
Master. have mercy on u.s." There is
no word save that IL love which i so
full Of meaning as that word mercy"
and il ifapit. love Of the most bound
less characier. One Of the beatitudes
Is for the mercifu' 1t Is a Divine quail
ity. Happy j. he who emulates the
Master by showing mercy. In answer
20 the prayer OF the lepers Jesus said:
$50 show yourselves 70 the priests"
This assumed that they were healed.
When a leper was cured ne showed
himself 10 the priest and so restored
70 his former status as member Of
society. 1t implied certain amount
OF faith on their part that they started.
On the way they were cleansed
Lesson on Gratitude From the
fact that we are told special emphasis
is given (verse l6) 10 the fact that
the one who returned was a Samaritan
We may fairy imply that the other nine
were Jews. The lesson on this account
was all the more striking. The Samar-
ians hated the Jews. \ jew might
have been expected to return TO thank
Jesus. Himself jew. but il remained
alone for the Samaritan 10 come back
10 own his gratitude TO a jew for his
healing. The Jews. We may take for
granted. saw little connection between
the word Of Jesus and the fact that
they were healed. The lesson for such
as they is this. that even though one
gives thanks unto God for what can
not be done without the Divine agency.
yet should he be grateful for the kind
~ wish and word OF fellow man. The
Samaritan had probably cultivated the
grace OF gratitude. and assuming no
more, yet are we in debt TO him for
lesson we all need TO learn.
A Lesson on Faith.-Yet there was
more than gratitude in the heart OF
the Samaritan. for Jesus commcnds
also his faith. Without faith he could
not have been healed.
stimulus of Opposition.
Who that pleads for the King would
not rather face opposition than heart
less acquiescence? Missionaries write
that the Muhammedans in Persia have
way Of asserting readily to all they
say. Here is difficulty almost TO hope
lessness. Ezekiel knew il: And. 10.
thou art unto them as a very lovely
song OF one that hath pleasant voice
and can play well on an instrument:
Tor they hear thy words. but they 10
them not" Bitterness is better than
mawkishness. and cold than lukewarr-
ness. and canfradicfinne arc worth