Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-04-25
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson lV.-Second Quarter, For
April 26, 1908.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.
Text of the Lesson, John xiii, 1-2o.
Memory Verses, 3-5-GoIden Text,
John xiii, 34-Commentary Prepared
by Rev. D. M. Stearns.

Copyright 1905, by American Press Association.]
After the amounting of last lesson lie
made His public entry into Jerusalem
and wept over the city. He cleansed
j tbe temple and healed many poor peo-
! lie. and from day to day he taught the
people concerning the two sons, the
vineyard, the marriage sUSAer, tribute
! to Caesar, the resurrection, the great
commandment, the widows mite, the
! hypocrisy of the Pharisees. and also
gave to His disciples the great Olivet
discourse of Matt. xiv and XIV. Then
| followed the preparation by Peter and
John of this Passover at which we
now find Him and which is more fully
described in Luke xxi, 7-3S, today's
/ lesson giving us an incident omitted
/ by the other gospels. In every Pass
over study we must look back to Elk.
xxi and onward to the yet future
and greater deliverance of Israel, al
WAYS finding for our own hearts the
comforting assurance of perfect safety
under the precious blood of the Lamb
and the privilege of fellowship with
| Him in His sufferings while we daily
| feed upon Him. with loins girded
ready for His call.
| Many a time His enemies who want
ed to kill Him could not touch Him
because His hour to give Himself up
had not yet come, but now His hour
was come and He was about to let
them take Him and kill Him, yet see
! vs&S Of
this world unto the Father. Doubt
| less this includes His resurrection
from the dead and His ascension, but
we know that for all who believe in
Him death means absent from the
body and present with the Lord,
great gain, very far better" Gil Cor.
v, s; Phil. /, 81, 23). There is an hour
or a time-for every event in His
great purpose, and when the hour
strikes the event comes to pass. 1t is
most restful thus to leave all to Him,
abiding in His unchanging love, which
loves to the end or to the uttermost
(verse 1; Jer. XXI. 81, and which, hav-
ing received all things from the Father
(verse 5; iii. 35). is therefore able to do
for His own all that His heart desires.
Elsewhere we are assured that all
things are ours, and He said to His
Father that He had also given us the
glory which had been given to Him
q Cor. iii, 21-23; John xvii, 22). Judas
had received from the devil the
thought of betraying Christ, and, hav-
ing allowed the thought to enter his
mind, he next allows the devil him.
self to enter into him oversees 2, %.
We must resist every wrong thought
and thus give the great adversary no
foothold
It was customary to have water for
the feet on entering a house or after
a walk (Gen. xviii. 4; Luke vii, Al,
but no one seems to have attended 70
this What an opportunity this was
for one Of the twelve to have thus min
istered to the others, but specially to
Him, yet they all missed it. 1t is to
be feared that we, in our selfish
thoughtlessness, miss many such. He
gave them full time to seize the OPP
portunity, and, all failing, He Himself
took the basin and towel and washed
and wiped the feet of each disciple.
He was ever ministering. After His
resurrection we see Him ministering
to them at the sea of Tiberias John
xxi, 49,, and in heaven He ever liveth
to make intercession for us. We hear
of no objection or remark from any
of the disciples until He came to
Simon Peter, and to Peters question
of surprise He replied, "What l do
thou knoweth not now, but thou shalt
know hereafter" We give this saying
a far reaching significance and make
it cover all the many events which are
to us now so dark and mysterious, and
it is doubtless true concerning these,
for now we know In part, but then
shall we know as we are known q
Cor. xiii, 12). 1t may be, however, that
the Saviour's reply had immediate ref
erence to the lesson of humility which
Peter learned more fully before he
wrote that which we find in I Pet. v,
$40.
The Saviour's reply to Peters re-
fusal to be washed-"If I wash thee
not thou hast no part with me''-led
to Peters extravagant request to have
his hands and head included, and we
all need cleansing, for all that is signi
fed by head and hands and feet in the
Mosaic ceremonial Qev. i, go. Our
Lords reply to Peters last request
! (verse 10) sets forth two great truths:
If we are redeemed by that precious
| blood which cleanseth from all sin
and makes whittier than snow q John
1, Z; Ps. i, z; lisa. 1, 49,, then in the
sight of God we are clean every whit
| XIV, 3, washed, sanctifed, justified
q Cor. vi, III, made even as Christ is
before God; this is the standing in
Christ, before God, of all the re
| deemed. But as to our daily life in
| this world and in our conflict with the
world, the flesh and the devil we need
continual cleansing, and this is pro-
vided for by John j, z, 8.
Possibly the pride in the hearts Of
the disciples led each one to shrink
/ 5oi, oil oof of