Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-03-15
Sunday School Lesson
MARCH II
Marx, 6;1-30
DIR. MARION NIGH. HULL.

Golden Text-"TruIy We nave received;
freely give
Nearly two years before this time,
at the beginning of His ministry, Jesus
had gone to His old home, Nazareth,
and had been rejected by His people.
They had even tried to kill Him by
throwing Him over the precipice at the
edge Of the town. In spite of this His
great heart yearned for them still. Now
that He is beginning a third and last
tour through the towns and villages of
Galilee He goes back to His home town
to give them another chance His is
the love that will not let US go until
we have spurned it utterly.
At Nazareth on the Sabbath day He
went into the synagogue and taught.
This time they did not forcibly eject
Him, but they rejected Him just as
truly. They wondered at His mighty
works and wisdom They remembered
Him as a boy in the village, as a car
penter who had made furniture for their
homes and plows for their fields; they
recalled the humble home in which He
had been reared, and saw Him only as
an oldeF9s -eft Mary and as one of a
number of brothers and sisters who
were just ordinary people. So they said,
whence hath this man wisdom ?-as If
it were not more noble to be able to
teach in an original way than merely
to repeat what other teachers had said
before,
They Limited God
Their unbelief, their shoFt-sighted-
ness, their standard of judging was
that it was impossible for Jesus to do
many mighty works there. 1t is signi-
dcant that Mark, who is the historian
of the energies of Jesus, puts it thus
-. IL,
there because of their unbelief. He
does record that He healed a few sick
folk-their unbelief could not absolute
ly tie Gods hands. Possibly these are
the ones referred to by Matthew, who
says that He could not do many mighty
works there because of their unbelief.
The truth is most startling. 1t shows better
than anything else the tremendous power Of the
Euman will. In many other places have
Illustrations of it, but Psalm 7S:41 gives us the
most striking. In that wonderful psalm of
Gods dealing with Israel, the psalmist here
sums up the whole secret of their troubles when
he says, They limited the Holy One Of
Israel" The word limited means 10 put a
circle around. Think Of it, They put a circle
around the Omnipotent God so that He could DO
nothing beyond that! That is what the attitude
of the Nazarenes did; it put a circle around
Jesus, the mighty Worker, around Jesus who
was both the wisdom and the power of God, in
whom dwet all the fitness of the godhead
bodily, so that 1t was impossible for Him to do
any mighty work among them.
Have you put circle around Jesus so that
lie cannot do for you all that His great heart
yearns to do for you? He left Nazareth that
DAY never TO return. He went back after the
but when unbelief put a circle around Him, He
didn't go back again. There's chance for
you yet; let Him have the right of way in your
life.
False Standards
The incident is instructive though, from an
other viewpoint. 1t shows the utter abasement
of Jesus. So thoroughly had lie emptied Him
self. SO completely had He become man, that
they failed TO recognize His deity; and this in
spite of the fact that His life among them had
been perfect. This fact incidentally shows the
utter faliacy of those numerous legends about
the childhood Of Jesus which have grown up
and which sound more like fairy tales than his
torical incidents.
The attitude Of the Nazarenes also teaches US
the folly of judging by worldly standards. All
they in Jesus a carpenter, the son Of
Mary (why did they not say the Of Joseph y
The god of this world had blinded their eyes
that they could not the real Christ In the
carpenter. How like those NazaFeneS we are
We see only the veneer and form our Judgment
jumping at conclusions without sufficient
knowledge Of the facts to form one. We see
ami condemn the dTunkard, the unfortunate
sIrl, the thief, without knowing enough to know
the real person. May God help US TO see
clearly before we condemn.
The Divine Arithmetic
This attitude Of the NaZa-enes, the growing
opposition Of the SeFibes and Pharisees, and the
shortness OF the time made Jesus adopt a plan
for propag eating the truth that lie had not fol
lowed before. He sent His disciples out by
twOs into the cities whittier He Himself would
come, lie gave them explicit directions for
tteir work ana power over disease and demons.
Their mission was special one, and the direc-
lions given them were changed later to apply to
other conditions. For example, they were then
TO speak only to Jews; later they were told to
preach the gospel 10 every creature. Their mis-
sion then to present the King To the PEG
pie lie WAS among them and ready to
establish His kingdom. They presented Him to
Ills OVID, but His own received Him not.
Their work, however, made marked i'm
preston. 1t effective because they
lad gone out by t'gos. They could not have
accomplished twice as much by going out sing
ly, although they might have reached twice
as many cities. 1t is divine arithmetic 90
make half as many stops and do four times
much work, because Of cooperation. Get
side partner who will fit you like Peter did
Andrew, and james did John, etc. And the best
side partner for Christian man is Christian
wife.
Such results followed their work that Herod
Antpes heard of IL in the palace. Various
pla na lions were offered, but he insisted that
il was John the Baptist raised from the dead.
lie had heheaded him several months before,
not because he wanted to- but because he had
temporized, had diily-dallied with sin. lie
was much impressed with Johns teaching and
life he had heard him gladly many times hut
he had put off from time to time doing the
right thing until il too late, and lac was
caught in the meshes of sin and lost. Herod
a Sadducee believing that John was resurrect~
ed! Marvellous work.