Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-13

presented, as Matthew tells US. by tneir
mother. Salome, who in company with
her sons came to him, bowlng Gown 70
/ the ground, requested favor. mere rs
an evidence of faith that somehow he
must and would ultimately, triumph, Tor
they sought for association with the Mas,
tor when He would come into power ana
| authority. ;..,.o+or
| Whether the mother was the lnstleator
Of their request or the sons were mercy
us,ns the mother. as many crafty per-
sons have used a sweet-splriteo WoiIlah
to act as an intercessor, Is OF little IIlo.
ment In either case there Is present
the evidence of .selfishness; Ior me
and her sons thought only OF .n .har
selves. They did not consider the oti.er
tan anostles. or even Peter, who had al
ways shared with them the privileges
of the inner circle. when ,a rney the two
cbief n,aces." Their petition also SHOWS
that their conception Of the kingdom was
one of mower, prestige ana out"dr9
glory and not Of spiritual character anu
moral glory. A., ,art,e
manner in which He tried to show them
! tbair reouest was an unadvised one wouio
Indicate that possibly their petltion may
have been based upon a mscohcep.,oh
of some one of His own sayings or pion .
ises. We ourselves are not always 1ree
s1o,n personal or sectarian bias IN our
INTERPRETATION of the Scriptures. II is
hnman weakness to consider only those
portions of the Scripture tnat appea. "
US or appear to JUSTIFY our pos. n,nni
thnse portions of the Bible which DO
NOT suit our purpose, or conveniently
forget their application. .s;h,o
II is. as one has suggested, possible
nramise that If two OF you shall agree
On earth as touching anything thar tney
sbsII ask. If shall be done for them.
Their netition, Master, we would enal
thou shouldst do for US whatever we
shall ask of Thee" as well as the an
swer of Jesus appears to indicate lhe
correctness Of the suggestion. ,.,o,,
In View of their mistaken conceptloh
of the nature Of the Kingdom ana N.Y. va
pretatton of His words, the Master . .ou
thenn that they knew not what ny
stad because there were many Things
that they had failed to consider IN max
ING snch a request. He pointed oue tneir
error by asking them if they We're a a.,
to endure the painful experiences ss,, -.
sorrow, humiliation and death. hgula .,N,,
" set forth by the cup ana paptlsn
through which Jesus had told them ne
must pass Jesus implies tnat tney uiu
not know that the way TO tne nisHsss
nlaces in the kingdom was by path OF
suffering ana trla1 sii'"A ~
MANY Of us make prayers to God With
out considering what the consequences
would be If He should answer our re-
chests Gods love saves US from the fol-
~ of our self-seeking petitions, or we
would not be able to bear the burdens
of life caused by our neglect to pray
according to the Fathers will.
The spirit of confidence in the Master
triumph and of courage that they ex-
hihited when they declared that they
were able to stand the strain as Wen
as the suffering that He presented to
them as the cost Of obtaining the places
of power, must have given comfort TO
o,,r blessed Lord. He accepted their
declaration of love and loyalty and pro-
ceeded to correct their wrong ambition
by pointing out the law OF greatness
through service.