The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-01-04
For January Is John Prepares the
Way for Jesus"-Mark 1:1-11.
The Man Who Was a EingerbOard.


year to every student of the Inter-
national Sunday School Lessons. And
Marks message to the man or woman
of today is aglow with an illumination
that sheds a flood of light upon the
intricate ways over which we are pass
ing.
This gospel was put into the soul
of John Mark to give to the world.
He was a son of Mary of Jerusalem.
Jewish woman. and he was a cou-
sin of Barnabas. Peter was his father
in the faith q Peter SID and it is
evident from the character of the gos-
pei that it bears many signs of Peters
quickening influence upon his convert.
1t is probable that Marks gospel
was written about 55 A. D., and for
Gentiles particularly, rather than for
the Jews. It is distinctively, as DR..
Griffith Thomas points out, the gospel
that Emphasizes the activity, author
ity, and energy of Christ, His deeds
rather than His words. Here we get
the very frequent repetition of
'straightway,' indicative of the con-
slant movement and activity of Christ,
as he is doing deeds of kindness, teach
ing the truth. and fighting evil
Into the study of an inspired mes
sage with such marvellous fitness for
our own age and conscious need, we
may we'll enter with high expectation
of discovering therein divine ideals of
service for swift application to the
complex and challenging days in
which we live.
The Fprerunner.
Once upon a time there lived that
rare wonder, a man who did not pre-
tend to be what he was not There
was almost as much posing and pre-
tending and "bluffing' in his day as
in ours; but nevertheless this remark
able man would not put up front"
hot tho a
opportunity in the world to pass as
some great one, and to receive honor
and reward, he doggedly stuck to
the statement that he was only
'sais"-such as you see all over the
Orient, running ahead of Some
body's vehicle to prepare the way for
him.
Pressed to declare himself a dis
tnguiShed parsonage, he persisted in
protesting that he was not a man on
horseback, not the man in the royal
vehicle, not the man behind the palm
branches, but only the forerunner, the
servant who ran ahead on foot He
was not ''It:" he merely cried aloud
that The One was coming, and that
all should be prepared for Him. He
was not the kind of press agent who
puts flattering notices of himself in
print, when he should be advertising
the cause he represents.
OuF O"h NldhC.OD.
All this is enough to make this
hairy man of the wilderness, John the
Baptist, a unique character in history.
Of course, We see now-in his case,
not in ours-that it is real wisdom,
and at least the glimmering of great
ness, not to pretend anything. The
person who sets himself up to be
taken down. 1t is better to seem
less than you are, rather than more
than you are; the discovery of your
real merits starttes people into paying
you high honor.
If the twentieth century could go to
school to this uncouth desert prophet,
the Baptist, it might give less time
and substance to beauty doctors,
massage artists, BARRIERS, manicurists,
tailors and jewelers., but 1t assuredly
would give greater heed to the real
qualities which make for essential
manhood and womanhood. 1t would
care a deal less about its position in
society" and a deal more about it's
standing before God. Utter honesty,
which enabled him to respect himself
in the solitudes of the wilderness as
well as amid the crowds by the Jor-
dams bank, was Johns first character
iStic.
''Who Art Thou"
Some men make their living by
hunting up, or making up, diStin-
guished genealogies for persons-an-
tipodes of the Baptist-who, having
acquired money or power, want also
social distinction. They desire to be
prepared to answer the worlds in
evitable question, who art thou?"
That was the query flung at John as
soon as he began to make a stir. The
dc ctors of the law and the ecclesias-
teal aristocrats would have liked him
to produce such credentials that they
could recognize" him.
Johr was drawing crowds; straight
y y the same peril doomed before him
which confronts every personality.
that the Good Society of his time
would open its arms to him and take
him into It's suffocating embrace, and
soon reduce him to its own level of
mediocrity. Social recognition" has
been the end of many a promising ca
reer. The Pharisees who went out to
examine John wanted to make him
of their own crowd They would hon
or him with office and standing and
their own gracious favor.
Holding a Job or Doing 1t.
These Pharisees were known for
the jobs they held and the positions
they occupied; and contemporaneous
religious life has plenty of analogous
figures. But John was a person to be
reckoned with because he was him
self. He did not need an ecclesiasti-
cal job or a rich or fashionable pull
pit; he had a message. And man
with his own message may go to the
sands of Sahara and lift up his voice
(not voice trained in school OF
elocution, ether, and the world will
resort to him. The man with a vita
m essa ge-which possession makes a
true preachers as rare as the sar-
torially immaculate, carefully drilled
pulpit ornament is common
This man claimed to be merely g
voice" crying in the wilderness. He
was only himself, and claimed moth
ing but his true work. He was nc
chameleon. He flew his own flag and
stood by it. A servant fore-runner, q
mere messenger of the great Coming
One was he. and nothing more
A Stick May Point.
Any kind of a stick. so long as il
be not crooked many point John con-
ceived of himself as a fingerboard
For that office he did not need polish
or social graces or the approving sea