Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1900-01-11

| Found-A Learned and Concise Re-
view Of the Same.
| The lesson for Jan. IA tells OF the visit
Of the child Jesus to Jerusalem, and Is
from Luke 2: 41-52.
| or the childhood of Jesus we know
very little. 1t Is perhaps fortunate
that this Is so, for judging by the
fictitious and wild inventions con-
corning the child Jesus that are found
in the so-called apocryphal gospels, the
human mind Is hardly capable of con-
ceiving how such child would or should
act. 1t would be interesting to many
| teachers TO look ut some Of these stories
about the childhood of Jesus merely for
the sake of contrasting their absurdities
with the brief and simple statements and
significant silences of the gospels; for ex-
ample, some of these stories represent
the child Jesus as striking dead some
playmates who defied his will in games;
others represent him as using miraculous
power to amuse himself and his little
companions In the streets Of Nazareth.
Over against such extravagances the
scripture tells us that "Jesus increased
in wisdom and stature and in favor with
God and man"
His first twelve years at Nazareth
were quietly spent. Joseph and Mary,
as was suggested last week, were not
peasants in the ordinary meaning Of the
term, but they were plain people whose
life was Of the quister sort. Their home
in Nazareth was probably two or three
room dwelling, with its main room used
as carpenter shop. dining room and
lsx-.x. Inn ftnx
the gospels, was a carpenter, and much
of his work was at home; for Of course
in Palestine no houses were made Of
wood, and the carpenters trade was that
of making shelves, OK yokes, wooden
bowls, utensils, etc. Joseph, according
to tradition, was an elderly man, much
older than Mary.
1t is probable that Jesus had brothers,
though there has been long controver-
sy whether the brethren Of the Lord"
were his own brothers or merely cousins
or step-brothers. At any rate there were
other children in the home, so that Jesus
did not grow up as the only child, with
all that implies. His life was probably
the normal life of a Jewish boy in that
age of the world. His education, begun
at home, was continued in the syna-
gogue of the village, where he learned to
read Hebrew, the sacred language OF
his people, and to commit to memory
passages from the law. Doubtless he
had duties about the home, helping his
father at the bench, assisting his mother
in her household work, fetching water
from the village well, etc.
Explanatory.
The journey from Nazareth to Jerusa-
lem for the passover would be made not
by single family, but by group of
travellers or caravan travelling togeth-
er both for safety against robbers and
for the pleasure of companionship. The
natural route from Nazareth to Jerusa-
lem would be along the Jordan Valley
for most of the way, aud the trip would
take several days when there were wom-
en- in the party. These annual pilgrim
ages did more than anything else to keep
the national spirit alive during all the
varying fortunes of the Jewish nation.
when they had fulfilled the days:
that is, after seven days of the feast
were over, or possibly after the first two
days, which were the most important,
"the child Jesus tarried behind" Jeru-
salem at the passover time was an i'm
mensely crowded city, since all the adult
and the population Of the city was thus
temporarily increased by many thou
sands. Therefore, it was an easy
matter for the boy, interested in his new
ideas and plans, to become separated
from his mother md Joseph without
their noticing it.
"After three days they found him."
The anxiety of the mother during these
three days search must have been pain
full. 1t has often seemed that Jesus
should have thought of this and spared
her the anxiety. Certainly he did not
deliberately choose, to give her trouble.
1t was rather that the new life now be-
ginning made claims upon him which fire.
quently overshadowed the claims of home
and family.
How did Jesus happen to be in the
temple sitting in the midst Of the doc
tors?" The temple was the universal
meeting place for teachers, scholars and
investigators Of all kinds. Just as in
the golden age of Athens men resorted
to the groves of the Academy, so the
learned Jews gathered in the temple to
discuss, whether formally or informally,
weighty questions of scriptural interpre-
tation. The place where Jesus and the
doctors were found was one of the side
porches of the temple, where such dis
cussion was going on. 1t is not natural
to attribute to Jesus too precocious an
attitude on this occasion. He did not
take the place of a teacher. Hoffman's
picture, "Jesus in the Temple" or Jesus
Among the Doctors" is one of the best
interpretations of the scene; and it is a
picture that might we'll be made the CEN
ter of teaching in this lesson. The sort
of questions that Jesus would ask would
probably concern the meaning of verses
in the Pentateuch, and perhaps the in
depreciation of prophecies, and about the
Messiah.
"Son, why hast thou thus dealt with
us?" Mary was grieved at her sons
lack of consideration. 1t seemed to her
that he had been thoughtless and even
cruel, yet she did not condemn him un-
heard, but asked him to explain the mys-
terry. That is something that many moth
ers might profitably heed.
"Wist ye not that must be about my
Fathers business?" The revised YER
sion renders this, twist We not that
must be In my Fathers house?" Either
meaning may be attached to the words
used, and either would seem appropriate.
1t is not probable that by the use Of the
word Father" Jesus meant to indicate
any complete knowledge and realization
Of his unique relation to God, but rather
that he felt on this first visit to the holy
city, the city OF David, the home of kings
and prophets, new thoughts and ambi-