The Washington herald., 1914-03-14
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
THE LAWFUL USE OF THE
SABBATH.
>March rs. 1914.
BY @. CAMPBELL MORGAN. d. D..
The >ursatest Living Evangelist
LEssoN.Lnks xiii ;ieiI, Iir:l&.

SA00A In.
LE;sON-Luke xiii ioi7 xrl6
| GOLDEN TEXT-Mark liz.
| And BE ssid unto them. The Sabbath was made
for man, and not man for the SABBATH
| Q0 And He was teaching in one Of the
synagogues on the Sabbath day.
! CID And behold. a woman which had a
spirit of infrmity eighteen years: and she
was bowed together. and could In no wise
lift herself up.
n9 And when Jesus saw her. he called
her, and said to her. Woman, thou art
loosed from thine infirmity.
| u0 And He laid His hands upon her;
and Immediately she was made straight.
and glorified God.
QD And the ruler of the synagogue.
| being moved with indignation because
Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. an
swered and said to the multitude, There
are six days in which men ought to work;
| in them, therefore, come and be healed,
and not on the day Of the Sabbath.
QD But the Lord answered him. and
said, Ye hypocrites. doth not each one Of
you on the Sabbath loose his OK or his
ass from the stall, and lead him away to
watering?
us And ought not this woman, being a
daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had
| bound, 10. these eighteen years. to have
been ioosed from this bond on the day OF
the Sabbath?
u0 And as He said these things, all
His adversaries were put to shame: and
all the multitude rejoiced for all the glori-
Gus things that were done by Him.
% And II came TO pass, when He went
into the house of one OF the rulers of the
Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread,
that they were watching Him.
90 And behold. there was before him
a certain man which had the dropsy.
60 And Jesus answering spake unto
the lawyers and Pbarisees. saying. Is IT
lawful to heal on the Sabbath. or not?
CD But they held their peace. And He
took him. and healed him. and let him go.
C0 And He said unto them. Which OF
you shall have an ass or an OK fallen into
a well. and will not straightway draw
him up on a Sabbath days
C6) And they could not answer again
unto these things.
The Narrative.
In our lesson two narratives are
brought together. both OF which Illustrate
a method which the Lord adopted during
the period of His public ministry. They
are sabbath stories. The scene OF one Is
a synagogue: the scene of the other Is
home. In the first case woman was
healed: in the second. a man. These heal
violation of the traditions of the elders.
and Il is impossible to read the Gospels
without coming to the conclusion that our
Lord ran counter to these traditions OF
set purpose. In addition to the two
stories which constitute our lesson We
have the account of His healing of the
man with the withcred hand. casting out
an unclean spirit. probably on two occa-
sions, healing Peters wife's mother OF
fever. healing a man with dropsy. giving
sight to a man born blind. and healing
a man in the porrhes OF the Bethesda
pool: all on Sabbath days.
In the case of the healing of the woman
Luke records the fact OF the Indignation
Of the ruler Of the synagogue. and OF his
command to the people that they should
bring their sick to be healed on the six
days appointed foE work. Our Lord an
swered this attitude by reminding these
men that they did not hesitate to give
attention TO their cattle on the Sabbath
day by leading them to watering. and
declared the claims of humanity to he
superior as illustrated in the case OF this
woman who was a daughter OF Abraham.
In the case OF the man the question OF
the Sabbath was raised by the Lord Him.
self as He asked them. rs II lawful to
heal on the Sabbath day or not? II Is
quite evident that He asked the question
in answer to their mental attitude, Tor
Luke tells us that they were watching
Him. As they gave Him no reply. He an
swered His own question, first by healing
the man, and then again by reminding
them that they would give attention to
their cattle II either an ass or an OK
should fall into a well: the implicate OF
course being that IL il were right to give
such attention to cattle. IL could not pos
sibIy be wrong to relieve humanity on the
Sabbath day.
The Teaching.
The teaching Of these two incidents
harmonizes perfectly with our LORDS
constant teaching with regard TO the Sab
bath The intention of the Sabbath in the
life of humanity is that OF rest. IL Is
perfectly true that the deepest meaning OF
the Sabbath rest is that of worship, but
that is because mans profoundest rest
physically is only found in true and intel |
Iigent spiritual fellowship with God Any |
thing, therefore. that hinders rest. or
makes it impossible. breaks the Sabbath. !
and should bc removed. in order that the |
Sabbath intention may be fulfilled. IL - |
interesting to remember that in the He
brew economy IL was distinctly declared |
that the sabbath was TO he observed as a
dav of rest for cattle as well as men. |
They were perfectly justified. therefore.
in leaulnE tnCH 10 VII |
the Sabbath. or in rescuing ass or OK
which had fallen into peril. Therefore. |
any work which supplies the true need
of humanity, q: relieves humanity. and
thus enables men TO enter into a Sabbath
rest. Is not only justifiable, but necessary
in the interest of the Sabbath itself.
Taking these two stories, and remem-
herring that all the rest TO which we have
referred reveal the sane facts, we see
how the method of Christ. in dealing with |
these men. wes in itself an interesting
and searching revelation of the meaning
of His own ministry. as the One sent by
God. In both cases He appealed to them
bv reminding them that they cared for
the cattle not only in the interest Of the
cattle. hut in their own interest. and
quite properly. Applying this aspect OF
His illustration to His own activity, We
al once see that God cares for men not
only in their own interest, but in His in
tcrest. and that with eternal propriety.
This method OF looking at the teaching
has another value. Beginning on the 1
level OF the illustration we see that in the
perfect economy, the interest of man in
cludcs the well-beins of his cattle. A
man is most highly served when his cat
tie are properly cared for. Reverently