Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-30
A MIRACLE AND A MYSTERY
The international Sunday School Lesson For April
Is, Jesus Gives Sight to the John 9:1-38
~sss ss-s --sss-

BY William T. Ellis


him, and was concerned with his
| needs.
over and over again. with tireless
iteration, let 1t be said that one of
I the first and most obvious lessons
taught by the life of Jesus is that Of
being compassionate, of caring for
folks, of doing deeds of helpfulness.
Nobody is walking in the footsteps of
Jesus, no matter how clear his theo-
logy, or how eminent his ecclesias-
tical position, who is not busy at the
art of being kind. Heartaches are as
common about us as blind beggars
in old Jerusalem, yet we are not per-
mitted to grow accustomed to them,
or callous in our feelings concerning
them.
Without stopping to speculate upon
whether he belonged to the deserving
poor or not, Jesus undertook to meet
the blind mans most evident need.
He made clay of spittle-for so by the
use of means did he provide a crutch
| Tor feeble faith-and sent the man to
bathe his eyes in the Pool of Sloan.
| Not that the man needed either the
clay amounting or the bath in the pool.
| but that he needed to give token Of
his belief. The miracle is told in one
! short sentence: He went away there
fore, and washed, and came seeing"
The Riddle of Sin and Suffering
whereas Jesus saw in the blind
peggar man needing help, some
saw in him only a theological per-
pleXity. Had the man himself sin
ned, or his parents? The pettiness of
| many qufbblers in the presence of
a great question reminds me of an ex-
perience l had at the seashore last
summer. l was fishing in the surf for
channel bass, when a small boy came
along with the inevitable question,
Catch anything, Mister?" No; not
yet We'll | can tell YOU where w
can catch plenty. Right over there by
the boardwalk there is little pool,
and it's just full of minnies." | thank
ed the lad but did not tell him that
was batting with fish that could
swallow dozen minnows. and that
L was after bass weighing thirty, forty
or fifty pounds. In the fashion of the
small boy, some of us talk in terms of
! minnows, when the real objective is
big fish-fighting fish.
Like grief-crazed parents who can
| not see in the death of a child any
thing but personal hostility to them
on the part of God so these by
ISLANDERS, with their concrete think
ing, were sure that the somebody's
sin was the immediate cause of this
mans blindness. Indubitably, sin is
often followed by suffering; any ply
sician can give particulars upon that
point. But there is much suffering
| that may not be so easily explained
In the case of the blind man, the
Master made plain that it was for the
| glory of God that this visitation had
come upon him. That is to say, the
secret lies behind the veil of the in
scrutable purposes of God. "Haply
we know somewhat more than we
! know"
God has plans that work out be-
yond our ken. All his vast designs
need two words for their fulfilment
| When George Matheson was Tilted by
a selfish sweetheart because of his
blindness, it seemed a cruel and in
eXplicable providence. yet surely the
| clear vision that came to him of
spiritual verities, so that he could
trace the rainbow through the rain"
and minister to the broken hearts Of
millions, is justification for his great
sorrow. Now and then we glimpse
these mysteries as from ''the heaven
side of the river of DEATH" and per-
ceive that if life is to be an ordered
thing, with God in control, then His
| Will must be supreme; and that it is
| also beautiful and good. He is work.
ing out larger designs than now we
know; but it is He who is working
them out, and his other name is love.
The Urge Within the Great
so much to do! So little done!"
cried General Armstrong on his
deathbed. That plant is one that is
heard from all great spirits. We
| must work the night COM
eth" declared Jesus. Every soul with
vision experiences this sense of ur-
gency. In a world of need. and of
flying days, this spur is required to
! keep us up to the level of our best.
Time worketh. let me work too;
Time undoeth, let me do
Busy as time, my work ply
Till l rest in the rest of eternity"
"The night cometh" Soon it will
be too late to lift that burden, to
speak that word of praise, to whis-
per that confession of love, to make
that apology and explanation, to do
that deed of brotherliness, to stand
up for Christ, or to act upon that
other noble impulse.
Plain, practical, unacceptable is the
message written here, that simple
Industry, the everyday art of doing
things now, rather than of dreaming
of greater ones tomorrow, is both en-
Joined and exemplified by Jesus. Being
| busy Tor God in the commonplace
ways of the ordinary days accomp-
fishes more for him than the occa-
slonal high resolution or heroic deed
! In the wayside opportunities, like the
beggar whom Jesus helped, we find our
uuty 10 Goa. CHRISTIANS do not need
to know of new things to do for the
Master so much as they need to keen
on doing the commonplace tasks,
done in His name, which glorify the
Father in heaven.
| "Unhasting, yet unreSting" Jeesus
went His way, a minister to men. The
urge within His SOUL sometimes ex-
pressed itself. Yet He thanked God
for His work. One of the basic Joys
and boons of life is work to do. Pity
not the people numbered with cares.
but pity rather the idlers and the
empty-lived. What can they know of
fellowship with the Master of all
good workmen, or with the brave
spirits of all times, who, by hand or
tongue or pen, have served their GEN
grafton? Thank God when you have
learned the majesty of the motto of
Jesus, II must work"
a Man AS Marvel
Naturally, the old town of Jeru-
salem was set by the ears when this
familiar figure, the blind beggar, was
seen walking about with sight re-
stored. The marvel made town talk.
Never before had it been seen on this
wise. A deed always creates more
interest than word. Two-legged
sermons go farthest. When a blind
man-physically or spiritually blind
receives his sight, he has only to
| go about seeing, among those IU,o