Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-05-10

mother Salome, conSplreu 10 VIII
from Jesus a'pledge to award tnem
the best places in the new klngaon
which He was, as they belieVeo'
about to establish. There was moth
ing very deep or dark or discredlt-
a BILE in the light of the times. IL was
simply conspicuous. instance OIL
self-seeking. Yet nothing could nave
been more unseemly in Gat pres
ence, and on that occasion
A responsive chord is struck In
the feeling of almost any auulenCe
by the old hymn. Some Time we II
Understand" Most persons leel
that they are misunderstood. bus us
how sadly was this so in the case Oh
Jesus, His own chosen ones were
constantly wounding Him by thelr
failure to apprehend what was most
fundamental in His character ana
purpose. On the present occdsloli
He was drawing near to HIS pas
sion. The triumphal entry. with the
dark contrast of Gethsemane anu
Calvary, were just ahead OF Him.
His heart was weighed down py
these solemnities. and He sought the
sympathy of the twelve: with an
His tender yearning for human H lei
Iowshin and understanding, He un-
burdened His heart to them. ne
told them of what lay before HIM.
hored His very soul to them.
Blundering Friends
What was the result? How did
these particular friends snow tnSil 1II
sympathy? Why, the very ones why
were nearest to Him in anectlon anu
blood came to him under those CIR
cumstances with a selnsh' PellS
scheme for their personal aggTan-
diZement! Isn't it wonder tia'
Jesus did not give them up aI.o
rether as a hopeless lot? Could any
;ncident have grieved His sensitive
souI more in that hour of its dark
ness and hunger for sympathy
Trulv the Man of Sorrows walked
solitary way. misunderstood Oh All
The "sons of Thunder" John and
James. with their mother, Salome,
approached Jesus when he was
apart from the others. They came
near to Him, the text says-puItOl- ytJ,
holed Him, in modern parlance' me
request they had to make was uaS ,I
enough, but to put IT iorth tnlouSn
their mother was small and unman-
". 1t is not for a mans womantolk
to be boosting his interests So
man must attend to his own at1alrs
in a manly fashion.
What a mistake it all was! The
very proffering of the request tiiat
John and James should sit on the
right and the left of the LORD IN
temporal kingdom showed totai
failure to appreciate what Jesus mao
so patiently tried to teach. John
and James ought TO have under-
stood Him and His mission better.
OR at the least. their long associa-
tion with Him should have impaired
to them enough of His spirit to have
prevented them from making such
a selfish request, with its implied
unfairness to the others. They were
slow-witted pupils with whom the
great Teacher kept school.
Not a square deal" would be
about the present-day colloquial
putting of the conduct of the fam
lily of Zebedee. The request was not
even fairly proffered. They asked
that whatever they might ask be
granted-trying to bind the Master
to a course without knowledge OF
what it was. But Jesus was too
careful to be so entrapped. He
made them uncover their designs be-
fore He expressed himself. Disin-
Senuousness found no encourage
ment with Him.
Where Angels Fear to Tread
With self-restrained mildness
where Indignation would have been
warranted, Jesus replied: "Ye know
not what We ask" OF how many
present-day petitions He could say
that! The child who cries for the
burning lamp is no more amiss in
his asking than are we older chill
dren in many of our requests of God.
These brothers little understood
what leadership in the spiritual
kingdom meant; the price of spirit
ual power is such that all but the
brave and the consecrated shrink
for it. To stand close to Christ,
which means possessing a measure
of His likeness, is to have gone with
Him over the hard and lonely way
which the world has learned to call
the Via Dolorosa."
Jauntily, because ignorantly. the
two apostles asserted their ability to
share the lot of Jesus, to drink of
His cup, to be baptized with His
baptism or sorrow and self-renun-
citation. Their very willingness so to
declare proved their ignorance of
the significance of the words which
they so lightly spoke.
Suddenly the Masters thought
changes. The hasty answer opened
His eyes to a vision. He sees these
small-minded disciples, with their
petty, ignoble ambitions, transform
ed in the twofold fires OF the Heav-
en-sent Spirit and of afIliction. Their
ignorance has slouthed off; their
minds have been opened; they un-
derstand, in the light that streams
from the open tomb. the rue char
acter and mission of their Messiah
Lord. and they are genuinely ready
to share His lot Looking forward
TO this, and to the sorrows that were
to follow them. He sadly says: THE
cup that / drink ye shall drink: and
with the baptism that / am baptized
withal shall we be baptized" One
of the two young men standing be-
fore him was to be the first martyr
from that chosen band, and the 9TH
er was to live longest, and to know
the bitterness of misunderstanding
ingratitude and vain sacrifice.
Rewards For the Ready
Notwithstanding this Jesus could
not-simply could not. because of
His own nature, because of His low
atty to His disciples best interest,
and because of His implicit obedi-
ence to the pre-arranged program of
the Father-grant the request. The
places of power in the new kingdom
We're for those for whom they were
prepared. and who were prepared
rof them. Fitness. not favoritism
wins the places in the kingdom of
truth. In modern business and poll
tics a man may be catapulted into
a situation for which he has no
qualifications, by the friendly offices
of those in power. But that is no
real kindness to the person so fa-
vored. Pull" in the long run pulls
FTFn-