The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1917-03-28
3l5l -
SUNDAY SCHOOL NOTES
Side Lights on Next Sundays
Lesson for Teachers and Puplis
Edited BY Charles K. Meyers. /

%. G. Dannatt, Vice-President, West SID
Executive Committee
F. +. Hoffman. Denison; VIM Lindbere
Kiron; F. L. vanslyke. Manila; n. !
Cook, Denison; Frank Woolston' Deni
supsrintsndsnts.
Elementary Grades; 2. :. =. ........
....-.-..... Miss SUSIE Craft, Deniso
Secondary Grade, r L, Hoffman g Deniso
Au..' ''. 20. :. Prof. B: j Still, Manill
llolie D .s.:. Mrs. E W Pierce. Deniso'
Teacher rr Re1 s. C. rourteiiot, Deniso
nempetanee Miss Manetta jorrgensen, val
Missionary Department, t.: X. ,,:;;:,,
April 1, Jesus Gives Sight to the
Blind. John 9: 1-3S- rs
We shall have another illustration
this week Of the forceful manner in
which Jesus took to set forth the i'm
portant truths of His Gospel. When
sitting by. the we'll in Samaria, and
calling on the woman for water tc
drink, He made use of this so neces
sary liquid to impress on the world
that He could give water which, il
taken caused the person who took II
to thirst no more. He performed the
miracle of the feeding of the five thous'
and with bread and then proclaimed
that He was the bread OF life IN the
lesson of today, JESUS gives sight to
one horn blind and used the miracle
to set forth the words Of the golden
text: Il am the light of the world .
The lesson verses tell us that upon
a certain Sabbath day., Jesus met q
blind beggar. man who had been
born blind. 1t had been the custom
for the unfortunate one to ask help
i for these many years and thus his con-
,.dition was we'll known to all the peO-
pie about Jesus had compassion on
the man and stopped near him, in. a
way to direct the attention of His dis
ciples. One OF them gave utterance
to the then common belief, that bodily
ills came from sins committed either
by the unfortunate one, or his par
ents. In other words, that the blind
ness of the man before them came as
q punishment for a sin. Jesus re-
bukeI this thought, saying that neither
had the man sinned or his; parents for
in this particular case the blindness
was to give opportunity for miracle
to be performed. ~
There is no record that the man
knew Jesus and asked for help, but 1t
appears that he was quick to carry
out the commands of the Master when
given. In this case, Jesus made use
OF mixture of the spfttle Of his
mouth and the clay of the nearby
ito form "a substance with
which He annointed the eyes of the
blind man, and then told him to go
wash III the pool of Sloan. This man
was not like the leper of the Old Tes-
lament who found fault with the place
sof washing, but he Went ct once and
o, Joy, his sight was restored.
The healing Of the blind man caus.
ed great excitement among those who
knew the man before his meeting with
Jesus. The ruling Jews who hated to
see Jesus popular were quick to take
up the cry that the sacred Sabbath
had been profaned by healing on that
day. They tried to get away from the
force of the miracle by pretending to
doubt whether the man was the one
who had been born blind. They called |
the mans parents to identity whether
it was indeed their son. They were
afraid to mix UP in the affair knowing
the hatred of the Jews for Jesus
and so replied that their son was OF
age and could speak for himself. The
man was called and told the plain
story of the healing He could not
fell lust how it was done but made
bold to say that whereas once he was
blind now he could see, and he refus-
ed to give the glory to God as COM
manded by the Jews, attesting his
loyalty to Jesus, the one who had given
him his sight. When the man held to
Jesus and even went so far as to ask
whether his questioners did not also
believe in his benefactOr. he was put
out of the temple, which was sew
ere punishment for Jew. Jesus, upon
hearing of this action, made special
effort to see the man, declared that
He was the Son of God, and the sub
jiect of His solicitude believed and
made public profession of IT. I'D
81 am the Light of the World" This
claim from the lips of Jesus was not
an idle one History, past and pre-
sent shows that where the religion
of Jesus is not known and practiced,
the condition of the people becomes
desperately bad. They live like ami
mails morality is not known, human
life has no sacredness, ard one shrlnKs
back in horror from living with them.
Happily into such darkness, the light
Of Christ's gospel can shine, and In
few years work wonders. x l.
The poor fellow begging at least
knew he was blind and did not hesitate
to take the means to see, but the Jews
We're deliberately blind in their minds,
and would not see. There was before
them the perfect evidence that Jesus
had such power as could only be
possessed by one of divine origin, and
yet they closed the eyes OF their un.
derstanding and with rage ordered the
man cured, out of the temple. His
only offense was insisting that man
named Jesus had made him see. There
are men and women today, who seem
to delight in spiritual blindness. They
will not read the gospels and the.
writings of Paul, they are blind to
the evidences on every side Of the,
truth of the Christian religion. We
think the Jews of old very foolish, but