The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-03-11
International
SundaySchooHesson
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS

/
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For March IS. is: 1.-THE Lords Sup
| per."-Matt. 26:20-3e.
The Traitor at the Table.
| Soldier service taught chaplains
many things: not all of which the
stay-at-home church is needing. There
lis a consensus of opinion among reli-
gious observers of both the American
and the British armies that the men,
especially before action, sought the
strength of the Sacrament of the Lord 8
Supper. Most ministers were amazed
lat the eagerness of the soldiers for the
communion Many chapiains, who had
scant opportunity for preaching pro-
vided often the sacrament for their
flocks in khakl-and in France there
! were~no questions asked as-to which
branch of the Church of Christ man
belonged.
| During the war one of the foremost
of the Scottish clergy told me that the
lessons learned in France would en-
tirely revolutionize the attitude of the
church of Scotland toward the Lords
Supper. Instead of annual or semi
tannual communions, they would hence
{ forth provide this means of grace"
more frequently. A fresh understand
ling had come of the meaning and value
! of this sacrament to the average man.
1.-The churches which offer frequent OPP
lportunity to Christians to partake or
the Lords Supper, said my friend, have
better understood the deep need of the
i human heart.
That Upper Room.
/ This Lesson, like the last, links up
to home. 1t was in, the upper room
| of the house of some unnamed friend
of Jesus in Jerusalem that the Last
Supper was held. Thereon had been
Iceremonially prepared for the Pass
over, according to the Jewish law. II
was with the great desire of the SOL
fdiers about to go over the top that
/ the Lord desired to keep this feast
with His friends.
| For centuries great controversy has
ragged among the theologians over the
! Significance of the sacrament: and
Views have been championed as diff
1 ferent from each other as those OF the
Quakers,-who contend that the COM
Emunion is wholly spiritual, and so dis
regard the use of bread and wine, to
the Catholics, who maintain the doc
trine Of s-substantiation," which
| is that every time the bread and wine
is administered by thE priest it is actu-
| ally and literally changed into the
physical body and blood of the Saviour.
! With these points We are~not here
| concerned. Whatever else it was, We
are sure that the Last supper was
| feast of fellowship and memory for
| a heart-hungry Man who craved the
comrades with whom He had COM
panied over the flower-decked fields
of Galilee, and on the Lake and amid
the cities and towns of Israel. 1t was
| in verify a last supper" together Of
| friends holding a precious, final re-
union, beneath the shadow of great
| separation.
| All the intimacy of friendship was
there. Jesus, the Leader of the group,
was pouring out His heart in self
1 r--4r, ~
| ing and loyalty He coveted; and He
was reaching forth for that sympathy
j which even the stoutest soul Graves in
its darkest hours. Let US not be SO
overwhelmed by the majesty and mys-
/ terry of the Eucharist that we shall
miss the present truth that the Divine
| Redeemer of the world priced the ties
| which knit His life to His human COM
rades Christ craved closeness with
His flesh-and-b disciples, even as
He does today. One even dares to
wonder what memories the enthroned
Christ cherishes today of that sacred
upper room.
AS the Story Stands.
To recall the familiar story. in mod
ern phrase, let us quote the Weymouth
translation of the lesson:
| when evening came, He was at
the meal was proceeding, when Jesus
said,
"In solemn truth I tell that one of
you will betray me-
Intensely grieved, they began one
after another to ask Him, u
lean it be I, MASTER
""The one who has dipped his
fingers in the bowl with Me,'-He an
| swered, is the man who will betray
Me. The Son of Man is indeed go
ing as is written concerning Him; but
alas for that man by whom the Son
1 nP ic h0& had a
happy thing for that man IL he had
never been born
/ Then Judas, the disciple who was
betraying Him, asked,
"'Can it be I, Rabbi
1T is YOU He replied.
! y+During the meal Jesus took Pass
over biscuit, blessed it and broke it.
He then gave it to the disciples, say
ing,
Take this and eat It: it is My
body
"And He took the cup and gave
thanks, and gave it to them saying.
"'Drink from it, all of you; for this
is my blood which is to be poured out
for many for the remission of sins
the blood which ratifies the Covenant.
4 I tell you that I will never again take
the produce OF the vine till that day
when 1 shall drink the new wine with
you in my Fathers Kingdom
$50 they sang the hymn and went
out to Hhe Mount of Olives"
The Traitor at the Table.
i All people seem to have a knack
of magnifying the hypocrite out of all
proportions to his real Importance
We sometimes talk about sun-spots as
if they really were the sun. and not
merely ineffective blemishes upon it.
An astronomer told me, the other day,
that the chances of our earth's COM
ing into collision with the newly dis
covered and incredibly speeding star
bodies were "as one to infinity"-yet
some minds are dwelling on the one
! chancei We have always attached
too great importance to the hypocrite
in the church, even as to Judas in the
picture of the Last Supper.
Judas was at the feast: but he was
not the feast. The real meaning OF
the great night was not the presence
of the traitor. Eliminate all allusion
to the money-loying renegade whose