The Tupelo journal., 1904-03-18
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson i'm the International Series
for March 20, I0O4-Jesus Feeds
the Five Thousand.
LESSON TEXT.

THE LESSON TEXT.
Matt. A:13-23)
Is. When Jesus heard Of 1t. He departed
thence by ship into a desert place apart;
and when the people had heard thereof,
tney Followed Him on foot out of the cities.
~: Ano Jesus went forth, and saw a great
multitude, and was moved with compass
sion toward them, and He healed their
sick.
10. And when it was evening, His dis
clples came to Him, saying, This is a desert
place. and the time is now past; send the
multitude away, that they may go into the
villages, and buy themselves victuals.
10. But Jesus said unto them, They neeo
not depart; give ye them to eat.
II. And they say unto Him, We have here
put nVe loaVes and two fishes.
10. lie said, Bring them hither to Me.
~. And He commanded the multitude to
Sit down on the grass, and took the five
to Heaven, He blessed, and brake, and
gave the loaves to His disciples. and the
disciples to the multitude.
~. And they did all eat, and were hlled;
and they took up of the fragments that
remained twelve baskets full.
Il. And they that had eaten were about
five thousand men. beside women and chill
dren.
%. And straightway Jesus constrained
His disciples to get into a ship. and to go
before Him unto the other SIDE, Wnlle lie
sent the multitudes away.
"a. And when He had sent the multitudes
away. He went up into the mountain apart
to pray; and when the evening was come,
He was there alone.
TEXT.-Jesus said unto
them, L am the bread of Iife.-JOhn
6:35.
OUTLINE OF SCRIPTURE SECTION.
Feeding Five Thousand......Ma Matt. 14:13-23.
Feeding Five Thousand. ....... Mark 6:3O-46.
Feeding Five Thousand........Luk 9:10-17.
Feeding Five Thousand........John 6:1-15.
TIME.-April, A. d. %. End of The
Year of Public Favor Very soon after
the last lesson.
PLACE.-Capernaum 60. then a great
grassy plain rising from the northeastern
shore of the sea Of Ga.!lee; very likely the
plain of Butaiha, not far from Bethsaida.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
(Matt. lab, 40. Now when Jesus
heard it," The story of John the Bap-
lists death. He withdrew to a
desert place apart" AS to the reasons
for this Withdrawing, be sure to read
the accounts of the other three Gospels.
This is the only miracle related by all
four. Grief over the fate of the noble
mar who was gone made Jesus anxious
to get away from the crowd to think and
pray. The murder of John meant much
to Him in every way-the shadow OF the
cross was beginning to fall across His
path; within a year He was to fol-
low the Baptist. This "a His first e
son. A second reason, as Mark shows,
was the return Of the disciples from
their mission, enthusiastic but weary.
They needed His advice and counsel, but
anything like privacy and quiet was i'm
possible at C~apernaum; the only thing
to do was to get away. 1t is possible, too,
that the stir the new movement was
making led Jesus to fear that Herod
would mistake it for the beginning of a
rebellion. The account Of Mark adds
many details not in Matthew. The null
tltudes followed Him on foot" Je-
sus and the disciples went across the
lake; the crowds went by AND around
the head of the lake. 1t was a six or
eight-mile walk. Saw a great multi
tude:" He must have been both glad
and sorry to see them. That they came
at all indicates the excitement that was
abroad in the land.
(Vs. 15-21). "The place is DESERT"
U~ninhabited; the nearest town was a
long way off. The time is already
past" The time for the evening meal.
Send the multitudes away" For their
sakes, that they might get food. The dis
ciples were thinking of their own re-
sources; they had nothing to give the
people. Jesus was never resourceless
Give We them to eat" A pulling COM
mand to the disciples. Obedience
seemed impossible, but Christ never
commanded what we canno do. When
He commands we may be sure, either
that we a make a way, o. He will make
n for us.
Tvs. %, 23). The first three Gospels
tell us that after the miracle Jesus sent
the disciples away hurriedly to the other
side of the lake and remained behind
Himself to dismiss the multitude, This
strikes us at once as being strange, and
we ask: Why? John GA, Is makes
it all plain; the people thought because
they had been miraculously provided
with food that the golden age foretold
W JIG ploPiOIo was q hoho ILL IhoI
the last Messianic King they had been
expecting was come. They were about
to proclaim Him king. Jesus saw their
purpose, knew that such action would be
disastrous and that He must take in
slant measures to prevent it; a single
unwise move and their enthusiasm
would fame up and it would be too late.
He preferred to manage the crowd en-
tirely alone, and then the departure of
the disciples-next to Jesus the most i'm
portant persons there-would show the
people that no political move had been
planned, and would turn their thoughts
from a coronation to the fact that it was
late and time to be going home. Jesus
Himself knew that the Messiah they
hoped for would never come. He could
not for a moment lower His own concep-
ton of His mission to make it agree with
the Messianic hopes Of prophets and
people. He put the ROY from Him; it
was not hard now; Lat had all been
fought out in the wilderness before His
preaching began. But after it was all
over "He went up into the mountain
apart to pray; and when the evening was
come He was there alone"
Grapes from Canaan
Mans horizon depends On his heart.