The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-01-25
For January 81 Is Jesus Forgiving
Sin.'-Mark 2:1-12.

OIL
+ Quibblers in a Crisis.
I War is running a sharp line be-
tween the big and the little, the doors
and the critics, the conventional and
the daring. Some persons-even gem
erals and diplomats and other govern
ment officials among them-have
proved too small to rise to the heights
of this new day. They. are the slaves
tof precedent and conventionality.
There is more red tape than red blood
about them. Even with the world
afire, they have eyes for the proprie-
ties and usages of another day. These
clubbing minds have cost the world
dear
1t is an old, old principle by which
they stand condemned. Jesus himself
dealt sharply with this sort of two
by-four saint when they began to
raise their Quibbling shop talk in
great human crisis. A man was seek
ing life, and getting 1t: but the scr1beS
objected to both the manner Of re-
ceiving and beStowing it. Doubtless
if those scribes were alive today they
would want to utilize the army camps
for the preservation of their denomi-
national peccadilloes among the troops.
They still would insist upon all the
rules of the book of church discipline
i'beine applied; and they would con-
tinue to Judge a mans religion by his
conformity to the rules of the village
church
Two great principles stand out in
this Sunday School Lesson story. The
first is that supreme goals may pc
gained, in spite of all handicaps. by
those determined to attain them.
Nothing can balk a resolute man. The
second is that there are times when
everyday usages, and the small con-
ventiCns O., life must give way before
a great necessity. Smash roofs and
break up meetings, if need be, but win
to life. AS for the petty objectors ana
offenders, they must be disre-
garded.
The Hope of Man.
The story is laid in old Capernaum.
1t was a great day in the life of Jesus
He made His headquarters in a pri-
vate house, perhaps in the home of
Peter The crowds thronged Him.
Not only was the city at His door,
but the whole countryside from as far
away as Jerusalem had been drawn
by the lure of His wondrous works
and words. Inside the small house.
the people were damned, hanging on
His words Among them were many
sick and crippled, eager for a single
touch that would mean healing. Calm,
compassionate, helpful, Jesus was the
center of needy multitude, then as
now, the hope of man.
The figure has never lost its charm
| for mankind. Jesus, the healer and
the helper, is the fairest picture that
| the imagination of mortals conceives.
Always He was helping, always He
was teaching. The hurried, harried,
heavy. hungry hearts of today find
satisfaction in Him.
The Man Shut Out.
| All over the world a chorus of 'ifs"
are arising. ''If I could only be of
some real help in the war" signs
the person who is non-available for
dr1txr nnlx- 10,
the hospital says the poor sick man
| in the remote rural parts. IF I could
only go to Colorado says the me-
chanic threatened with tuberculosis.
| "1f | could only have a little capital"
says the ambitious young man, eager
| to start into business. And in the
| Aramaic speech that day at Caper-
naum, many were saying, IF 1 could
only get in and He could but look on
me-" The crowd was SO great that
many were shut out. Such a slight
distance, such small barrier, sepa-
rated between the man in need and
4 the Man with health to give.
! 1t is a proposition generally sound
| that if one wants anything in this
| world badly enough, whether it be an
| education, or a business, or a quality
of character. he gets it if his wishes
have will behind them. One of the
sick men shut out from the Caper-
l a
| aiytic who saw the numbers of peo-
pie intervening between himself and
his dreams of deliverance from bond
| age. How he won is meaningful
| story.
| -Four Unconventional Friends.
The average woman, finding her
| home inadvertently locked, will sit
on the doorstep for a night, risking
| pneumonia, rather than break a pane
1 nj C1a mi
ventionality has all of US so thoroly
in its grip that we hesitate to do the
| unusual, the audacious thing The
paralytic and his friends faced a stu
| alton calling for unconventional
measures. What should they do to
reach Jesus? They could not elbow
the other needy ones out of the way
for these. too. had equal right and
| equal eaeerneSs, and rudeness to them
would merit sure rebuke from the
| fearless Teacher.
As the old proverb says, Love will
| find a way" These loyal friends
were not daunted by conventionali-
ties The house was of the kind still
| typical in Palestine: its fiat mud roof
| could easily be broken into, and the
space between the supporting beams
was wide enough to let the figure of
the sick man thru Without hesita-
| ton they deliberately tore w the care
fully laid, watered AMI rolled mud
| roof What is roof when a life is
at stake? The great are usually I'M
| conventional and these four friends
showed evidence of greatness in their
| conduct.
The Sick Mans Riches.
We could wish to know more about
| this paralytic. He must have been a
rare character. No whining, COM
planning, embittered chronic Invalid
he Such friends as he possessed are
won by another kind of character In
them the man was rich. He might
have no goods but the pallet or Quilt
| which constituted his bed. but he
| was rich in loyal love and devotion
of at least four friends. Life has no
greater prize than friendship The