The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-22
For March "a Is Jesus Ministering to
the Multitude. Mark e:32-56.
Bread. the OId-NeM Problem

is slowly waking up to a realization,
of the fact that bread is the basic fac
tor in the world struggle. Nobody ever
gets far away from the bread prob
lem. In Russia, as one travels about,
he notices that all conversations are
with the word "klet,'' or
bread. Breadlines, long queues of
cold and weary women, are the ulti-
mate political factor in other coun-
tries besides Russia. High and low,
spiritual and worldly, ignorant and
learned, all quickly subordinate every
interest to concern for bread; just as
did the crowd who thronged about
Jesus by the shores of the Lake of
Galilee.
Most interesting of all bread lines"
is that horde of more than five thou
sand hungry persons who were lined
up and fed on a hillside overlooking
the Sea of Galilee by the great Naza-
rene teacher, two thousand years ago.
Picturesque, impressive, moving, mir
aculous-the scene has gripped the
Imagination of painter, student and
people, even as it laid such strong hold
of the minds of all four evangelists
that they have in common only this
one of all the miracles of Jesus.
No Time for Tears.
. AS the soldier is given leave from
the trenches and the hurried, har-
ried, overweight business man of to-
day seeks a few days of rest at noun
tain or seaside, SO Jesus and His fol-
lowers planned a quiet retreat for
themselves. One reason was that the
twelve had just returned from a tax
ing missionary tour of Galilee. Their
Leader had said, Come we yourselves
apart into a desert place and rest a
while: for there were many coming
and going and they had no leisure so
much as to eat The importance of
quiet times in the life of His servants
was clearly perceived by Jesus; and
| these words are still in force.
There was another reason why
Jesus sought seclusion from the clam
orous, uncomprehending rabble. A
great sorrow had come upon Him, an
event of deep significance to His life
and to His ministry. His kinsman
and, herald, John the Baptist, had
been decapitated by Herod. What
| Mary's Son even a dull imagination
| can partially comprehend. He had
| lost His great witnesser and His
| friend. Because of Him John had
/ died. This great sorrow over-shad-
owed His spirit, making of slight inn
portance the fact that He, too. had
to flee from the jealous Herod's jur-
| isdiction.
! AS a wounded deer seeks the dens-
est wood. so the smitten heart of
Jesus sought solitude in His grief.
Right here entered another duty and
a higher; for even the Son of God
may not cherish His own sorrow
above the worlds need. True grief
! is so holy that it dare not be selfish.
7 All, the glory of the brave smiles and
tireless service to the cause of those
who have lost dear ones at the 'front.'
H. 9 The multitude pursued Jesus, whose
I sha nd and heart had been proved to
kbe of such helpfulness to mems var
lied needs. Their motive was selfish.
but their want was real. The mira
Ia1a hoA I.rn nf fr nh III,
| of possible succor for his own peculiar
needs. The neighborhood crowd was
! augmented by the hosts of pilgrims
en- route to the Passover at Jerusalem.
for the fame of the Wonder-worker
| had spread widely So eager were
the masses to see and hear Him thai
| they ran afoot around the head of
the lake, which He was crossing by
boat.
The Compassionate One.
i That spectacle was irresistible. All
thought of His own grief and of the
! needs of himself and followers was
/ submerged, in the mind of Jesus, but
the sicknesses, griefs and Ignorance
of this claimant host. So He taught
them and healed them until eventide
There is great deal of nebulous
humanitarianism in the world today
Some persons would offer it as a SUBJ
| stitute for Christianity. Let it be re-
| membered that it was in Christ that
this spirit was perfectly manifested:
and that even today it is best found
among those who bear His name.
1 Where His spirit does not permeate
and dominate, the great works of
i charity and benevolence will be looked
for in vain. Heathenism builds no
asylums. hospitals or soup kitchens;
neither does agnosticisms or infidelity.
gospel in San Francisco's Barbary
Coast. Among his hearers was "a
well known infidel, who challenged
the evangelist to meet him in a pub
lie debate In some hall. The challenge
| vas accepted; but the preacher made
a condition. He asked the infidel to
come to the hall on the appointed
evening and bring with him a drum
kard who had been made a sober
man by infidelity; a fallen woman
who had become clean thru hearing
a lecture on infidelity, and a gambler
who had been delivered from the aw.
full passion by accepting infidelity.
Then the evangelist said, SCI promise
you when the time for the debate
comes. that 1 will march into that
hall at the head of a small army OF
former drunlsards, har1ots and gam
b1ers who heard the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ and were saved by
the power of Cod The infidel. with
a sneering laughter, left the street.
meeting.
A Cooperative Charity.
Where help is, the needy resort; be
it soup-kitchen for the hungry a
/ doctors office for the sick. a church
for the spiritually needy. That i.
why the miscellaneous multitude
with their varying wants, logged the
footsteps of Jesus, And, as all hui
manity is tethered by a short chair
to the elemental needs of nature. all
the assortment of desires that thi.
crowd pressed upon the Bountifu
| One, resolved themselves later into a
desire for food.
, This made the lieutenants of the
Master uneasy. They would have
sent the mob away. shifting back or
each the responsibility for food
They had not the wherewithal il
| sight to feed them, nor had they any
thing like the immense sum of thirt,
or forty dollars necessary to buy foot
| ha aai h 1anr I'LL IL.