Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-10-16
,UNDAy SCHOOL LESSON |
JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY.
Matt. 4.12-25.
Golden text: Repent. ye; for
the kingdom of heaven Isl at
hand.-Matt. All.
BY REV. HUGH T. STEVENSON

1
| Matthew omits from his story of
| he life of Jesus the Masters minis
ry in Judea. His labors during that
year of obscurity' centered in Jeru-
| ,alem. We are indebted largely to
| Johns gospel for the record of His
! the period which followed His temp
alton up to the Imprisonment of John
| the Baptist. Herods antipathy to
John providentially opened a new
;enter for the Lords activities. me
ministry of the rugged reformer had
prepared the way for Jesus to enter
, the most hopeful field of Palestine,
where he could enlarge upon John the
Baptist's ministry and carry on the
work with which Christ ldentlhed
Himself by His baptism.
Judea was Influenced by the for
malism of the temple authorities.
whose worldliness, intrigue and SUI
perciliousness had filled the southern
portion of the nation with an antago--
nistic attitude toward the spiritual
ministry of Jesus. When the Master
| cleansed the temple He aroused their
bitter opposition. so that the rell-
gious authorities rejected the Lord
| claims. The Imprisonment OF the
Baptist appeared to open up proVlden.
TALLY Galillee, SO that Jesus selected
the strategic commercial center. as
sured that the open-hearted, oroao-
minded, active and cosmopolitan Can
cans would welcome His Messlanlc
message His decision to take up
johns work, which had been inter-
| rupred by Herods antagonism, re,
vealed the Masters courage. He mad
! identified Himself with John at the
Jordan When He commenced HIS
ministry at Capernaum, which was a
| center Of commerce, travel and strate-
ric news distributing point. Jesus took
up the precise message of John, Re-
pent, yet; for the kingdom OF heaven
! is at hand" and made it the burden
of His message. with the slgnincant
addition. which Mark (, records as o anu
believe in the gospel" He not only
| Endorsed Johns ministry by appro.
| priating the words of the Baptist, put
| He made His own distinctive contribu-
| ton. While He incorporated John S
| movement into His own. Jesus hence
forth in His efforts was entirely dis
| tinctive from the Baptist, although
christ did build up on the foundation
! of Israel's prophetic teaching the mo
| jestic system of truths that we kno"
| today as Christianity.
| Although Jesus came near LOSING
His life when He preached in the
synagogue at Nazareth. where ne mao
lheen brought up. because He pro
iclaimed a universal. falth Wnlch lhey
considered destructive of JUDAISM ye.
when He came to CaperhauIi; . ee
crowds flocked to hear Him. HIS per-
sonality won for Him a popular near
ling. His authoritative method OF
urea ching the word of God moved the
masses who were ATTRACTED ny r'Is
ienlightening, evangeHsic ana earnes,
Him to the seashore, where he
borrowed a boat for pulpit from
some of the fishermen who ha l
followed Him, upon the recmenda
ton of John the Baptist It was
latter He had tested their falth py
commanding them to Try 10 sr sou
after they had toiled all night ane
caught nothing, that He summoned
| them to follow Him. In obeylng MS
WORD they secured great haul OF nsn;
! The miraculous result convinced
that He was indeed the Messiah: IT
prepared them to obey His calI TO
t"Follow Me and I will make you nsh-
ers of men," They understood the
lsignificance of the summons TO matrlc-
ulate in the apostolic college, anu
| had been in Judea. where tnes niS.
met Jesus, and were acquainted win
His break with the Jewish authorizes
They understood the peril tnat they
/ faced if they followed Christ, VINO mao
taken I'D the slogan of JOINS mn
| istrv They knew that it meant the
giving I'D of their businesses, but they
| determined that religion should take
precedence over revenue anu ihilhe
diately left all to follow Him ana
receive from the great preacher
training different from that ever pc
| fore given to men. No men were ever
called upon to make greater sacrlnces
! than these fishermen OF Galllee, " ho
left their nets, homes business am g
companions because they believed In
Him.
| mower of the personality of Christ to
make them ''fiSherS of men was Justi-
fed by His ministry. which had at
tracted men SO that He needed as
sistance They were ready to subordi-
nate their personal wishes to those
Of the Lord, as we all ought to be.
| even when they did not recognize the
spiritual range and sphere of the
kingdom that He planned to estabhsh.
They recognized that His call to re-
pentance demanded new life il
they were to become citizens of the
new kingdom. They entered His school
in response to His call, as all success
full ministers and missionaries
throughout the centuries of Christian
history have done: While Capernaum
was the center of the Masters min
fstry, he frequently made a circuit
of Gallilee, teaching His disciples by
precept and practice how they were
to carry on His work of winning men
for the Lord.
Andrew and Peter, the Master COM
menced instructing them by healing
Peters mother-in-law of her fever.
Mark tells US how on the way to
Simon Peters house Jesus had en-
tered their synagogues and taught
them. He preached as one having
authority and not as the Scrlbes. His
message would be full of suggestions
to His newly enrolled students. 1t
was probably along the lines which
He had preached at Nazareth con-
corning the kingdom. He may have
selected the same text that outlined
the program of Christianity. He fol-
that were i'll. His conflict with and
conquest over the demon who could
not keep still in the presence of the
Lord Jesus. stirred the city SO that
at night they brought the sick to
Peters home to be healed In touch
ing those that were i'll. as He did in
the case of Simon's mother law,
Scripture how He Himself took our in
firmities and bore our SINS Back of
the Old Testament teachings in the
prophets. psalms and law was the
Christ. who made real the Messianic
message by it's application to life.
Mark and Luke point out how in this
circuit about all Galilee how Jesus gave
himself to prayer. 1t was the secret of
the Masters power. He invariably
would turn a great while before it was
yet day to some quiet place, where He
could commune with the Father in close
communion concerning the tasks of the
day. Christ did not believe that his
body needed sleep SO much as He did
that His soul required that He be alone
with God. He had learned that they
that wait upon the Lord shall change
their strength, Transforming energy of