Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-07-01
THREE PICTURES OF JESUS.

/ Il Il -.
BY Rev. N p. Nichols.
Ant Jesus increased in wisdom and
stature, and in favor with GOD
and D.an.-Luke H., 81.
The scripture is almost wholly silent
on the early life of Jesus Christ. The
circumstances of his birth are given
with detail. the visit of the shepherds,
and the wise men, the presentation in
the temple, the massacre of the limo.
cents, and the flight into Egypt. Then
| for twelve years silence, and we see
/ the matured boy again up to the great
feast of his people. Then again silence
| for eighteen years mora Silence IL
lumined by only two allusions found
in the biography of his three years
| ministry. is not this the carpeGt a,'s
SOM AS his custom was. he went
! into the synagogue on the Sabbath
| day Jesus Christ died young man,
and thirty years of his youth are TN
written, save one week at the age of
u and two retrospective incidental
| hints.
! There are three pictures suggested to
us in these unrecorded years-Jesus
in his homo, Jesus at worship, Jesus
/ at the carpenters bench.
| Jesus in his home That home was
! Nazareth. quiet town isolated among
the hills. Mary, the mother. sweetest
type of womanhood. kept aloof from
| It's roughness, guiding her household,
cherishing the sweet mystery of her
boys birth. Joseph. gentle, quiet, faith
! erly, protected and cared for the little
home. And Jesus, growing in height
to manly yigor, growing in wisdom
of mind and heart growing in favor
the love of God, the love of the child
rem in the market place, the love of
beasts and birds end flowers on the
steep slopes of the village
Jesus at worship. Every Sabbath he.
with his household. attended the plain
little synagogue. At the proper age
he went up to Jerusalem for the great
er worship, n narrative preserved for
us in striking detail by st. Lukes
graphic pen. In his fathers temple
seems to have come to him the first
deep breath of the divine tragedy and
triumph in which he was to be hero
and conqueror.
Jesus at the carpenters bench. His
fellow townsmen cried in contempt:
is not this the carpenter" Their
scott is bis glory; the carpenter is the
worlds Savior. A pious bishop in the
middle ages prayed often TO God that
it might be manifested to him what
Jesus did in his youth. Then the
bishop had a dream. He saw car
penter working at his trade and little
boy beside him gathering chips. Then
came forth a maiden clothed in green.
who called them to their meal, and set
porridge before them. And the bishop
STOOD looking from behind the door.
Then the little boy said: Shall not
the man eat with us?' The glimpse
of that reality is better than all the
medieval fancies of Madonnas and
Ameoles.
Three unrecorded lessons are sug-
gested TO us from these thirty years of
the maturing life of Jesus. the Son of
God-lessons most ennobling for hu
man living.
The first: the family is divine. The
Son of God for thirty years was
child, dutiful son, brother, mem
Der of home. Home comes to be
the dearest word of human life; home
comes to mean heaven The hardest
place to be good is in the family.
there is no escape from the family
table; there seems nothing big or noble
IN family Righteousness. Jesus proved
family life TO be the best school for
ripening divinity. Nothing is more true
in theology than that in these family
years Jesus was saving the world
even by living through these closest
relations of life and making them beau.
tiful. Then it was the great wor,, of
the second Adam was done rather tn, n |
in one transcend20t momen: on tie !
cross: then it was that by one mans
obedience many were made righteous.
then it was God came among men in
the glorious, cheerful, dutiful life this !
one boy lived on to his manhood. We |
may not follow Jesus in all his minis
trations, as he teaches and heals AMI |
suffers a martyrs death; we may share /
the yet more effectual means of recoy |
ering Gods children to their heavenly |
father, by self forgetful. self-sacrifcing
home living.
Labor is divine. The son Of God !
was an industrious carpenter. Every |
man needs TO have something to do. |
1t not only makes him safe for this
life; it is a divinely appointed means |
for making him safe for the life to |
come. Character Is perfected the |
divine possibility discovered only by |
labor. Labor saves the man and saves
the world. In Holman Hunts noble
picture we see Jesus. the carpenter
saving a board at the bench; the sun
as ii streams in from behind is caught
by his figure at its toll. and there
is cast on the workroom floor the
shadow of himself on his cross. As we
do our days work we are bearing the
worlds burdens. are helping to save
the world unto the Divine Carpenter.
One fact stands out in dearest light.
the hope Of the world is in its youth
The lives that are to lift the world
to God are the lives that with Jesus
have begun and grown on Ia wisdom. [
and stature. and favor. grown on TO be
more divine If we have begun late to
put on Jesus let us learn even now
the ,essgn and hiring others IL