The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-10-17
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

/ New Memories of Old Capcrnaun.
! 1 have been to Capernaum. My
| feet have stood on the very stones of
the porch of the synagogue where
Jesus himself often stood and looked
| out acyoss the lake he loved. Now
/ that I take up the regular Sunday
school lesson which opens at this same
| ynagogue-doubtless the one given
to the Jews by the Roman centurion
! and continues IN the city of Caper-
naum, and procseds to the adjacent
territory, 1 find myself dwelling upon
the setting of the story, which makes
| it all so real to me.
At Tiberias, late one afternoon this
summer, L had hired boat and three
men to take US to Capernaun, expect
+ ing to be back in the hotel by dark.
for d belated dinner. Instead. we had
| contrary weather, and did not reach
the ruins of Capernaum until o'clock,
/ long after the stars were out and the
! shores were shadows-exeept for the
stubble fire that was sweeping over
1.-THE hillside site of old Bethsaida,
| eventually ftaring up into a great blaze
as it reached the wheat stacks. The
/ flames crawled like a giant red worm
over the night-enshrouded hills From
| the lake, it was a spectacular sight,
and gave a wild touch to the silence
and gloom OF the scenery of the night.
Barking Dogs Amid Cityrs Ruins.
! When at length our boat was
| beached, amid the trees at the waters
edge, the leading boatmans helped
ashore his two passengers, my son and
myself He knew the way to the gate.
| of the wall which surrounds the house
and workings of the Austrian Francis
can archaeolgsts; 7and his knocking
at the gate brought no response for
! long time, except the fierce harkings
| of big dogs. At length a servant was
4 q n nd led oil II
questionings concerning this untimely
| disturbance. Travellers do not COM
monty journey by night in the East;
and there was no occasion that could
| be conjectured for visitors at such an
hour to the house of the single old
/ monk who represents the expedition.
The word "Americans' seemed to
resolve doubts, for the strange ways of
Americans abroad. are as well known
as their friendliness. The old monk
| himself had seen our boat battling
with the winds in the early evening.
and he quickly surmised the facts
and a few days later told the, King
| Crane Commission how two Americans
| had come in upon him at night, and
had seen the ruins by starlight and
| lantern-light.
The old man was really glad to see
US. 1t pleased him that anybody
should think enough of his dear ruins
J to Outright the storm, instead of turn
! ing back to Liberals. He pressed US to
spend the night with him: but, learn
| ing that this was impracticable, he
| cheerfully went with us over the won
derful ruins of the marble synagogue,
with the carvings still almost as fresh
as when the eyes of Jesus and His
friends looked upon them.
The entire plan of the synagogue
has been made clear by the archaic
/ ologists' spade, and one may see the
pillars and their places; the aisles. the
walls and the readers platform. There
are the very stones. with their beauti-
fully carved pomegranates and olives
and stars of David, which once heard
| the tender tones of the voice or Je-
sus. All, if they could but echo back
a single word of that Teacher who
spake as never man spake before.
A Porch and Its Memories.
There are only a few spots in the
Holy Land, where, despite the accu-
mutations of the centuries, one may
I say with certainty, Jesus walked
here; his feet pressed these very
stones" Old Jerusalem. for instance,
| lies many feet below the present sur
face of the city; and SO also do Beth
any and the Mount of Olives. But
here, alone of all the Lake of Galilee
region where Jesus lived and walked
| and taught, is the one place where
the traveller can assuredly say, Il am
standing in the footsteps of the Sa,-
! vior.''
| This porch of the old synagogue is
as it was when built. Upon it the
Master walked again and again; and
even as I watched the starlit, wind
i whipped waters of Galilee from this
vantage point, so he used to gaze upon
the lake where his friends had toiled
| for a livelihood, and where he had
companied with them, in storm and
| in calm, as one strong man with 9TH
ers. The Man of Galilee seemed very
near. as we stood on the portal of his
familiar place of worship in his own
home city.
Thoughts Of the church going hab-
its of Jesus; of his quiet acceptance
of the forms of worship of his day,
imperfect tho he knew them to be;
of his own musings as he reflected
upon the inability of his hearers to
grasp the fuller meanings of the words
he had uttered when standing by
these pillars; of his interest in the
w-worshjpers who jostled him
upon thisevery porch; and of his COM
passionate interest in all the throng-
ing, busy, cosmopolitan city spread out
before him. filled my mind as 1 stood
IN the moonlight on the marble porch
of the Capernaum synagogue, one of
the most precious treasures that
archaeology has given to the world.
a Mother-in-Law Story.
It was from this portico that Jesus
and His four disciples descended that
spring Sabbath long ago. when He be-
came the guest of Peter. somewhere
near by. There He found His friends
n1other-in-law ill. and He healed her;
for it was instructive, and a life pas
| sion, with Jesus to help everybody
whom He touched
There are two mother-in-law stories
in the Bible that naturally spring to
mind, and both are beautiful; and
truer to universal conditions than the
miserable mother-in-law jokes that
unoriginal humorists keep in currency
today One is the idyllic story of Mao
mi and Ruth: the other is the incl
dent which opens the present lesson
Evidently there was harmony and
helpfulness in Peters home. and the
illness of his wife's mother was
Gala nifty to the household. 1t was the