The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1912-08-23

ACNh 10 u must SNIlhlHE CbHlulthNdIy
upon" the words OF John, which form
our Golden Text. Those words are
the epitome Of this lesson In a very
real sense, The young prophet had
been proclaimed by his cOunsin John
the Baptist AZ he who was to come.
He had performed his early Judean
ministry, which includes the visit OF
N~icOdemus, and the meeting Of the
woman Of Samarla. John had been
shut up in prison and Jesus was about
entering upon that wonderful Gall
lean ministry,
In this lesson we can see him as he
returns to his boyhood homo, TO those
old and most familiar scenes Of his
youth.
Day Of Vengeance.
AS his custom was" ". 16) he On
tered the old familiar synagogue to
take part In the worship, praise and
discussion, rs had long been his GUS
tom In this his home town. Here II
was he had learned of the law and tho
prophets, here he had heard tho
prophecies discussed, here he had I'M
d%oubtedly participated In the discus
sions In the days gone by, for after
the worship he IL asked to conduct the
reading OF the second part OF the
service, a selection from one Of the
prophets, undoubtedly that portion for
the regular reading Of the day. His
method of reading was very significant,
Finding a portion from the prophecy
of Isaiah, chapter 81, he reads that
portion as we now have Il recorded
comprising verse one and In verse TWO
to the first punctuation mark, n ON
ma. This, said he, Is being fulfilled
before your eyes, implying that the
concluding portion, that which refers
to "the day Of vengeance Of our Cod
is yet to be fulfilled or performed.
Just what his exposition may have
been Luke does not toll us, although
he leads us to believe that he made
O. definite claim of being the Messiah
this Scripture hath been fulfilled"
They wondered at his gracious words,
but such an assumption from the
tongue OF this son Of the village car
penter was more than q challenge; ~
sounded Of blasphemy. II Is one thing
TO listen to beautiful platitudes, but
for one to assume authority such as
this Mt once arouses a~ntagonism,
To make this still more plain, no
makes a specific application. To para
phrase his words. he said, doubtless
you are saying, young maj perform
here in Nazareth some OF those mira.
cles you performed over In Caper-
naum, but ! say you would not accept
me even then, for no prophet Is 40
ceptable to his own countrymen.' Then
he goes on to illustrate by an incident
from the wife OF Elijah, also n from
the life OF Elisha. This vas too much
AS they listened the tide OF their
wrath had been rising, The plainly
implied truth OF their need OF that
ministry which no alone could give
and of their leprous condition was too
much and 1t broke all bounds. Rush
Ing him forth from the city they took
him to the brow Of the precipice upon
which the village was situated and
were for casting him hendlong TO his
death. They did not, however, know
who II was that had submitted thus
far. His time vas not yet, hence be
manifested the truth OF his calling
and of his miraculous power by PISS
Ing through their midst and went on
his way. leaving them to their cha
grin, anger and amaZement.
Graphic Lesson story.
In teaching this lesson we can I'M
pbasize the need and the Importance
of public worship, the observance Of q
day set apart for that purpose and
the public reading and exposition OF
Gods work. We a also lay stress
upon Jesus's knowledge and use OF
the Scriptures; also his emphatic APP
prevail Of inspired prophecy as ap-
piled to, and fulfilled In his own life.
In teaching the young scholars these
truths, the graphic lesson story Will
be all and probably more than can
well be covered during the lesson
hour. III
For the older scholars, n question
for discussion would be, why does the
Son of God speak of or claim the
spirit of the Lord upon me" OF
course he was anointed after Johns
baptism as an example TO all his fol-
lowers, but here VIC take It as mean
Ing that the Spirit Is upon him in .
..af 1nu.rur pns ,rrYtna aud for VkpuaR
In service. He is to witness and to
minister. He Is TO teach and to heal.
He Is to preach the Gospel to the poor
and deliverance to those bound with
the chains OF ceremoniallsm and OF
sin. He Is to heal broken hearts and
diseased bodies. to set the captlyes
free and heal the bruised ones. Verse
10 Ia a sad picture Of the state Of q
man without outside help. But Jesus
came into the world for this express
purpose. John 8:12. 10; Matt. 1921.
II has been pointed out that this
amounting was five fold, "a to pro
claim good tidings TO the poor. for the
poor are always special objects OF
Gods loving care. ~ to proclaim re
lease to the captives, those In the
captivity of the evil one. (3) "recov-
ering sight to the blind" physically,
but still more spiritually. az 70 set
at liberty them that are bruised. T. e.,
by Satan, though he cannot brulse this
anointed One; and (5) to proclaim
the acceptable year OF God, the time
of redemption, the time of his coming
again.
This prophecy means me- Come
unto me-" a indeed a bold prociarna-
tion. Did they beliNye7 Are Won