Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1904-05-26

The game of intrigue has been piayet
Tor ages. High and low. civilized ant
barbarism, have practiced 1t in all pur
suits. The Bible has many stories O
1t, and this incident from the expert
ence of Jesus and his twelve apostle.
is n of them. The two cousins o
the Master, James and John, with thei
mother, Salome. conspired to win from
Jesus Il pledge to award them the hes
places in the new kingdom which HI
was, as they believed. about to estab
hsh. There was nothing very deep OF
lark or discreditable i'm this little in,
trigue, viewed in h light of the times
1t was simply Il conspicuous instance
of self-seeking. Yet nothing could have
been more unseemly In that presence
and on that occasion.
a responsive chord is struck in the
FEELING of almost any audience by the
Did hymn. Some Time Wen Under
stand" Most persons feel that they are
misunderstood. But how sadly was this
son in the case of Jesus! His own
,hosen ones were constantly wounding
aim by their failure to apprehend what
was most fundamental in his character
n purpose. On the present occasion
he was drawing near to his Passion.
n triumphal entry, with the dark
contrast of Gethesemane and Calvary,
we're just ahead of him His heart was
weighed down by these solemnities, and
he sought the sympathy of the twelve.
With all his tender yearning for HUI
a fellowship n understanding. he
i~nburdened his heart to theme He told
hem of What lay before him: barred
ais soul to them.
LAUNDERING FRIENDS.
What was the result? How did these
= a ri ~ ne s>-1,
oathy? Why, the very ones who were
nearest to him in affection and blood
anne to him under the circumstances
With n selfish, petty scheme for their
personal ACKNOWLEDGMENT! Isn't It a
wonder that Jesus did not give them
up altogether as a hopeless lot? Could
my incident have grieved his sensitive
soul more In that hour of it's darkness
n hunger for sympathy? Truly. the
Man of Sorrows walked Il solitary way.
misunderstood of all men.
The Sons of Thunder" John and
lanes. with their mother, Salome. an
preached Jesus when he was apart
rom the Others. They came near to
lim, the text says-buttonholed him.
n modern parlance. The request they
had to make was bad enough, but to
'ut IT forth through their mother was
mail n unmanly. 1t Is not for a
mans women folk to be boosting his
interests 80; a man must attend to his
1wn AFFAIRS in manly fashion. The
5rltish war office, it is said, was seri-
'usly hampered during the South Afri-
IAN wal by the meddling Of influential
women. bent on the same purposes as
salome.
What amistake 1t all was! The very
,roffering Of the request that John and
James should sit on the right and the
eft Of the Lord in a temporal king
iom showed a total failure to appre-
iate Jesus had so patiently tried
% teach. John and James ought to
nave understood him and his mission
better. Or at the least, their long assoc
Aation with him should have impaired
q them enough of his spirit to have
prevented them from making such a
selfish request. with its implied unfair
less to the others. They were slow
witted pupils with whom the great
Teacher kept school.
Not a square DEAL would be about
he present c%olloquial putting of the
conduct of the family of Zebedee. The
:equest was not even fairly proffered,
They asked hat whatever thew might
ask be granted-trying to bind the Mas
:er to a course without knowledge of
what 1t was. But Jesus was too care
.ul to be entrapped. He made them
uncover their designs before he ex-
pressed himself. Disingenuousness
'ound no encouragement with him.
WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD.
With self-restrained mildness where
Indignation would have been warrant
ID. Jesus replied. I'VE know not what
re ASK OF how many present-day PEE
.itions he could say that? The child
VINO cries Tor the burning lamp is no
more amiss in his asking than are we
older children In many of our requests
d God. These brothers little under
stood what leadership in the spiritual
kingdom meant; the price of spiritual
power Is such that all but the brave
ana the consecrated shrink from 1t. To
standc close to Christ, which means DOS
sessing q measure OF his likeness, il to
ave gene with him over the hard and
Cd to a the Via Dolorosa."
Jauntily. because ~ignorantly, the two
apostles asserted their ability to share
the lot of Jesus. to drink Of his cup. to
baptixed with his baptism Of sor-
row and self renunciation. Their very
Willingness 30 to declare proved their
ignorance OF the Significance Of the
words which they 20 lightly spoke.
suddenly the Masters thought
changes. The hasty answer opens his
eyes to q vision. He sees these small
minded disciples. with their petty. IT,
noble ambitions. transformed In the
tw0-fold nres Of the heaven sent spirit
ana Of amiction. Their ~littleness has
sloughed on: their minds have been
opened: they understand, in the light
mat from h open tomb, the
true character and mission Of their
Messiah Lord, and they are genuinely
ready to share his lot. Looking for
ward to this, and tofthe sorrows that
were to follow them. he sadly says,
The cur that I drink ye shall drink:
ana with the baptism that I am hap
tised withal re shall be baptized" one
OF the " young men standing before
nim was to be the first martyr from
that chosen band. and the other was Ia
live longest. and to know the bitter
ness Of persecution. misunderstanding,
ineratitude and vain eacriace.
notwithstanding this. Jesus could mo-
Il |~ -