Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-10
Christian Endeavor Hour
Conducted by Grace Livingston Hill-Lutz.
For Sunday, November IL, 1906,

OF Suuudy, NOVEMBER 10UO
Topic: "Christ's Life. XII. His Sorrows and How
He Bore them John ii:30-3S; Isaiah lii :3-5
John. 80: Now, Jesus was not yet come
into the town, but was in that place where
Martha met him.
81. The Jews then which were with her
In the house. and comforted her. when they
saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and
went out, followed her, saying, She goeth
unto the grave to weep there.
80. Then when Mary was come where
Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at
his feet, saying unto him, Lord, II thou
hadst been here, my brother had not died.
80. When Jesus therefore saw her weep
ing, and the Jews also weeping which came
with her. he groaned in the spirit, and was
troubled,
"a. And said, Where have We laid him?
They said unto him, Lord, come and see
35. Jesus wept.
SO. Then said the Jews, Behold how he
81. And some of them said, Could not this
man, which opened the eyes OF the blind
have caused that even this man should not
have died?
80. Jesus therefore grooming in himself
cometh to the grave. 1t was a cave, and a
stone lay upon II.
Isaiah, liii:3: He is despised and rejected
of men: man of sorrows. and acquainted
with grief: and We hid as 1t were our faces
from him; he was despised, and we esteem
ed him not.
f. Surely he. hath borne our griefs, and
carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten Of God. and afflicted.
8. But he was wounded for our transgres-
sions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement Of our peace was upon him;
and with his stripes we are healed.
The Lesson.
They misunderstood Jesus then, just as
We do today. Even His loved followers
watching Him thought He was weeping
with them in the keen sorrow at the loss
of their beloved Lazarus. Behold how .le
| loved him." they CRIED at sight of those
| blessed tears, and they thought His sorrow
was the grave. the dismal cave of stone.
! and the thought of a cold white body in
| the form that had grown dear, lying alone
| forever under a stone. They thought He
sorrowed because He would see His friend
| no more. They had not yet-nor have we
really, either-come to understand that God
| is greater than death. Marcus Dods says:
| He was in sympathy with the mourners
| and felt for them. but there was that in
| the whole scene with which He had no
| sympathy; there was none of that feeling
| He required His disciples to show at His
own death, no rejoicing that one more had
gone to the Father. There was a forget
| fulness of tine most essential facts of
| death. an unbelief which seemed entirely
| to separate this crowd of waiiing people
| from the light and life Of Gods presence
1t was the deeper anguish into
which mourners are plunged by looking
upon death as extinction. and by suppos-
| Ing that death separates from God and
from life. instead of giving closer access to
God and more abundant life. 1t was this
| which caused Jesus to groan.'
/ Strange that the thing which caused
Jesus sorrow and tears scarcely ever causes
\ heart tlrOh in His followers Vot do
| not understand How many of us have
| shed bitter tears over the unbelief of any
| one? 1t may be we have wept over some
| member of our own family who has gone
| astray and brought bitter shame upon us.
but even then it Is often the shame that
brings the tears. not the fact that that
loved one has wandered far from GOD and
Will not believe lin Him. True, there have
| been grand men and women whose lives
have been devoted exclusively to the saw
Ing of souls. who have SO far forgotten
themselves as to care more for the saliva
| ton OF others SOULS than for their own
| personal troubles. There are also here and
| there quiet disciples who pray in secret for
| some soul with the agony of Jesus, but as
| rule the majority of us keep our tears
like Mary and Martha and the rest of the
Jews. for the dead ones in our families
for the losses We have sustained and the
| disappointments that have come upon us,
and II We have any left we need them
! wherewith to repent of our sins, and shall
not be able to spare them to weep over
Jerusalem and its lack of faith
What grand outlook, to be able to be-
lieve so perfectly that only such things
could trouble US as troubled Jesus, to trust
| our Heavenly Father so perfectly that dan
ger. and destruction. and DEATH and enc
\ mics, and privations caused us not sigh,
seeing II was all in the appointment of
God. and practically saying, as one COM
mentator has put 1t to those who urged
him to avoid danger: Are there not
twelve hours In the day?" That is to saw.
Has not every man his allotted time 10
| work. and which no danger nor calamity
can shorten? What might we not accom-
plish for the kingdom il we were not ham,
pered so by our petty SORROWS? Then In
deed, we might say with the psalmist "Put
| thou my tears into thy bottle, are they
not In thy book?' and not feel ashamed OF