Evening star., 1918-05-18
Sunday School Lesson.
By Rev. Hugh 7. Stevenson.

By Rev. Hugh T. Stevenson.
| All four of the gospels record the
triumphal entry of Jesus into Jeru-
salem upon the Sunday preceding His
crucifxion. His calm, deliberate, de-
cision to force the issue with the po-
litical and ecclesiastical forces of the
nations capital inspired the apostles
with hopes that the Master was about
to inaugurate His kingdom by once
more publicly presenting Himself
| as the Messianic King, and immediate
| ly establish His reign in the city of
| David. His requisition of the colt and
his riding. in accordance with the
prophecy of Zechariah. upon it's back
| amid the enthusiastic acceptance by
| the multitude. who had assembled
| from Galilee. Perea and foreign lands
to observe the passover. encouraged
their faith.
The multitude. moved by a common
impulse, took the branches of the
palm trees and went forth, waving
these emblems Of victory, to meet the
| Lord. calling upon Him to save the
| nation with the chorus Of the Mes
sianic psalm, selected from the Hallel,
| which was chanted upon every great
occasion by the worshiping Jews.
Their enthusiastic welcome spoke
volumes to the Master. It came to
Him at the hour when the passover
entrance was not only public pre-
lude to His passion. but 1t was pro-
phetlc of the Anal triumph of His au-
thority by His being accepted by all
nations as the King Of Kings. His sud-
den appearance in the temple. fulfill
ing the nrnnhacv nf Mol fN1I
by the enthusiastic multitude,
warned the Pharisees Of the immi-
nence OF an open break between the
Master and themselves. Jesus avert
ed It for the time being by returning
TO Bethany. which was only a short
with Lazarus. Mary and Martha in
the home where He loved to be dur
Ing the closing hours of His ministry
There He found the rest and peace
that He could not find in the crowded
city. This seclusion gave Him oppor-
tunity for prayer and conference with
His followers and friends
Early Monday morning, after having
spent the night, in all probability, in
prayer that taxed His physical re-
sources. the Master turned His face once
more toward Jerusalem. A fig tree, with
leaves an out. indicating that it had
Iruit upon 1t ahead OF time. attracted
HIS attention. He was exhausted, and.
although 1t was one Of the religious fast
Gays, Jesus drew near the tree eager to
satisfy His desire for food When He
found that the tree had no fruit upon
portunity to draw some spiritual lesson
from the experience Of the day, could
not allow the incident Of the barren fie
tree to pass without using it as a warn
ing against the peril of hypocrisy and
as an Illustration Of the power of faith
-
the nations religious pretensions. and
HIS condemnation Of the barren tree In
d1cated the final overthrow of the ma
ton. The same Lord rules the world
today. The hypocrisy of the German
government has been revealed. so one
may look FOR the same disast to over
take them as overlook Jerusalem for
turning away from Christ. While He
exercised His authority in condemning
the barren fig tree. 1t was more apparent
In the second cleansing Of the temple
Entering the court of the gentiles,
Jesus commenced to remove the dis
honoring dissertations that not only pro-
famed the temple but prevented the wor-
ship Of Jehovah by the gentiles. Little
by little the most shameless abuses had
grown up about the temple and invaded
the very courts because the grasping
and greedy desire Of the priesthood for
gold had made them grafters, who
sought to enrich themselves by sharing
In traffic which robbed the people It
was both lawful and right. as well as
necessary. that provision be made to
furnish worshipers from a distance with
proper sacriflcial offerings; but 1t was
the greed for gain that had allowed
these bankers and brokers under the ex-
cuse that 1t was a service Of the peo-
pie to profane the sacred precincts,
advantage Of their necessities and ex-
acting immense axtortions. The priests
had permitted the men, whose fra udu-
lent actions was so notorious that the
dealers evidence was refused In the
courts OF Justice" to pollute and pro-
fame the temple.
Jesus rebuked the national religious
leaders by this second cleansing of
the temple which He accomplished
through the exercise of His divine
authority. He defended His actions
by citing passages from Isaiah and
jeremiah. which lamented the reli-
gious decadence OF the national life
and demanded a reformation Of both
hear. and life. In His efforts to re-
store the temple to the purity Of its
glory was not its wealth. but its pro-
vision for all nations to hold holy
communion with God. He showed
that His sympathy was international
the spirit Of the profiteer. who placed
personal profit before that Of the
glory of God and religious service. II
Christ was SO solicltous about the an
cient temples purity Is He not apt
to be moro desirous that every tom
pie Of God today should be kept pure
80 that the world may be won for
Him?
When He had cleansed the temple area
Jesus commenced to teach and heal the
multitude that nocked to Him. The en-
thusiasn OF the masses found express
sion in His praise by the voice Of the
youths, which resulted in the forming
Of conspiracy that combined the
Pharisees. Sadducees and Herodians in
q comman cause to crush the rapidly de-
veloping religious revolution by destroy
ing Christ, whose increasing power they
feared.
When Jesus resumed His teaching upon
Tuesday morning in the temple the re-
lgfous leaders determined to challenge
His authority, because He had claimed
| to be the Lord Of the temple Every
| rabbi was authorized by proper authority
to perform the duties of a public teacher
OF religion. The Jewish faith gave the
privilege to any person to talk publicly
about any religious question. but the
| rabbinical authority surpassed that Of
a layman. Christ had never been or
dained or authorized by any school or
conference of rabbis or the Sanhedrin.
80 that Christianity was a layman's re-
ngion.
| They had L>@ grasped the idea of a
divine authority which Jesus claimed
by his categorical answer. which oues-
toned them concerning the source Of
/ the authority Of John the Baptist. who
had declared that he had been sent to