Evening star., 1920-11-20
BY REV. HUGH T. STEVENSON.

BY REV. HUGH T. STEVENSON.
Our lesson opens up the first chap
| ter of missionary history. Christs
campaign in Galilee had given. Him
was moved with compassion. as we
see from the preceding chapter. by
their condition, for He saw them IKE
| a flock of shepherdless sheep who
| had been left without protection to
the mercy of ravening wild beasts.
| They were mangled. rent and f1eeced
and had given up all hope of dellv-
erance. No one seemed to care for
| the great masses of the poor, SICK
and sinful. He was not only moved
by their condition. but tried to fl1
the disciples with His spirit of COM
passion by picturing the nation as
! great harvest field. where the crops
were being destroyed because of the
| lack of reapers. He summoned them
/ to pray, that the great need of reap
ers should be supplied by the Lord
| sending forth laborers into HIS
| harvest"
Z! Having spent the night alone lin
/ His mountain oratory in close COM
! munion with the Father. Jesus adopt
| ed a plan to evangeliZe Galiiee by
calling upon His twelve disciples to
share His work. Although this is the
first mention of the twelve by Mat
thew. we know that they had been
previously called to be His disciples
dentss in His peripatetic school. He
now commissions the twelve as
apostles, giving them the missionary
task of carrying His message to the
endangered multitude. In the roll
of the apostles given by Matthew
Of the twelve from that given by
Mark and Luke. They appear to be
divided into three groups, according
to their temperament. of four each.
They appear to be characterized by
being men of action, reflection and
! emotional tendencies, who were led
by Peter, Philip and James, who is
thought to have been close relative
of the Lord
The first missionaries. with one ex-
ception. were all Galileans. Judas
Iscariot was the only one who was
not q native of the territory that
| had been their training field. They
We're all plebeians, sons of toll who
| would sympathize with the masses
| in their struggles. Four of the num-
| Der were fishermen. No two of them
were alike, from Peter Bar-Jona.
| man of quick feeling and flashing
impulses. whose name always leads
the list of apostles. to Judas Iscariot,
whose name always ends the roll"
They represent all classes from the
dependable Andrew, who could always
be counted upon to- do the right thing
in an emergency, to his aggressive
and cratic brother, Simon, whose
life is full of encouragement to men
because he made so many mistakes.
Then there We're the two other BROTH
ers, James and John, the sons of
thunder, who became under the inf1u-
ence of Christ's teachings men of
peace and love.
Then there was Thomas the aouht-
er, who is found associated with
Philip, who, upon the last night Jesus
spent among men. requested that the
Father might be shown. as the only
Nathaniel. who is also called Bar
tholomew. revealed his pessimistical
spirit when he asked if any good
thing could come out of Nazareth.
Matthew, the keen city trader and
polished writer. who Renan says has
written in his gospel "the most i'm
portant book in the world" never
forgot that he had been a publican
He alone refers to that fact James,
the son of Alpheus, who is believed to
have been the first pastor of the
mother church at Jerusalem, with his
brother Thaddeus. who is also called
Lebbeaus and Jude, are the two con-
cerning whom the least is definitely
known. Simon, who was also called
the zealot. because he was radical
TeVoiutioHiSt, VINO was animated Dy
passion to free his countrymen from
the yoke of Rome. is one whose name,
like Matthews, raises the question
why Jesus selected the publican,
whose presence would arouse the an
tagonism 0f the nation, and Simon.
! whose associations with the apostles
would certainly create opposition
from the law-abiding element of the
country and the rulers of the land
Christ selected each of the twelve
apostles because they were picked
men. who had been prepared by His
instruction for the work of carrying
out His commission to preach the
gospel They were men of youth, who
represented all that is best as we'll
as worst. in humanity. and who were
apparently not chosen for their worth
and ability. but because He wished
to use the courageous and loyal weak
band of men to confound the mighty
The power and authority for their
five-fold- mission-preaching, healing
the sick. cleansing the lepers. raising
the dead and casting out demons
came from the Master.
Their mission was limited to their
fellow coantrymen. They were sent
forth upon q home mission task.
They were to neglect the foreigner
and the "half-breeds." This was not
the final orders of Christ, but it was
the Masters command for their first
efforts. They were not yet qualified
to go to the Samaritans. much less to
the Gentle world, with the gospel of
the kingdom, for their racial and ma
tional jealousies had not been re-
otic feeling as a motive for evan
gelism their message was to be of
Jesus Himself: the kingdom of
heaven has drawn near. 1t was to be
supplemented by healing ministry
that would enable men to understand
he nf 70 kincr h,t t.
Ia sovereignty of grace and re-
demption.
Their work was to be of a phil
anthropic nature so that men might
understand that grace was an un-
merited favor. Jesus adopted the
rabbinic principle of refusing to take
money in payment for their services
because He did not desire that they
should be beggars of gold, but mes
sengers of Gods love. Any modern
healer who charges fees for his serv-
ices mas departed from the practice
of Christ and the Apostles. They
were not to carry much baggage, food
or clothing, for their work would win
for them hospitality, but he warned
them against forming bad connections
and changing their dwelling places
! while in a city. They were not to in
suit any good man. who opened his
home to them by seeking a better
lodging place.
The mission was a perilous one,
even as His had been, for some COM
munitfes would not welcome them and
they might be prosecuted. They were
not called upon to needlessly expose
themselves to danger. 1t takes more
moral courage sometimes to preserve
ones life than it would be to even
die for a cause. 1t is more difficult
to live for Christ than to die for Him.
Jesus never summons men to do any
thing that He has not done or would