The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-05-18

Jesus probably arrived at Bethany
on Friday. On Saturday evening he
and his disciples were dined at the
house of Simon the Leper, Lazarus
and his sister being present. At this
feast he was anointed by Mary.
During the night the Chief Priests,
irritated at hearing that Mary of the
Jews had been to see Jesus and Laza-
rus whom he had raised from the
dead. consulted as to the ~advisability
of putting both Jesus and Lazarus to
death.
The next morning-Palm Sunday
occurred the Triumphal Entry into Je-
rusalem. This was the final offer of
himself to the people as Messiah and
Saviour. 1t was the fulfllment of the
prophecy of Zechariah, made 500 years
before. Rejoice greatly, o daughter
of Zion; shout o daughter of Jerusa-
lem; behold thy king cometh unto
thee; he is just and having salvation;
lowly and riding Upon an ass, and
upon the foal of IN ass".-Zech. 90.
The Triumph was of short duration.
1t consisted of a joyous out-burst of
homage, loyal and true on the part of
many of his disciples, but quite super
fetal on the part of the multitude.
He was not received by the City, and
his reception by the pilgrim crowd
was with temporary enthusiasm and
shallow faith.
Riding upon an ass instead of a
horse indicated that he presented him
self as the Prince of Peace, not a hero
of war. When the people realized
that he had not come to set up an
Earthly throne their enthusiasm be-
gan to wane and at evening he re-
turned to Bethany accompanied only
by his disciples.
AS he approached Jerusalem on
this Triumphal entry, his soul was
full of sorrow, and he wept over the
city because he foresaw the ruin that
awaited the people because of their
rejection of him. Forty years later
tu0 uSoOldtlOA oCCulICo. o1ldI
beseiged the City. The defence of
the Jews was weakened by discord
among themselves. "The City was
taken, the temple burned, 1,100,0 900 of
the people persisted, 100, 900 were sold
as slaves. 1t was an awful whitening
of Jewish life and hope and joy. They
had looked for the Messiah. He came,
was rejected, and rejected them
Chalmers.
The next morning On his way back
to Jerusalem he pronounced a curse
Upon a fig-tree that made a fine show
ing of leaves but bore no fruit. Sym
bolically, this act told of the setting
aside of Israel because her religious
system was all profession and bore no
fruit.
Judge Rooney, of Chicago, fined a
man 500 and costs and sentenced him
to Jail for ninety days for imperson-
ating a doctor and practising medi-
cine without a license. l wonder how
many protesting Christians, ministers
anu ldyIleu, WOulu D6 Iii ny d law
fining those who pretended to be
Christians and were not. Are we lead
ing or misleading people by our pre-
tentions From the Expositor.
The judgement which Jesus had ex-
pressed typically in c~ondemning the
fig-tree, he now expresses publicly in
condemning the dissertation of the
Temple, the center of Jewish national
worship. He found the sacred pre-
cincts crowded with unholy traffic.
However plausible the excuses offered
for this traffic, Jesus knew that ava
rice and ~covetousness lay at the root
of the matter. The Temple authori-
ties had so far forgotten their holy
calling that they shared the profits of
the merchants in their unlawful traf-
fic.
The Master shows by this example
that true spiritual worship can never
be promoted by irreverent use of a
sacred building. A house of worship
can never be made a place of traffic
without losing its value as a house of
prayer. Opening the doors to worldly
pursuits closes the windows that look