The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1921-03-24
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Prepared Especially for The Republic
can By DIR. U. S. Wright.

SUNDAY, MARCH 27
THE LIVING CHRIST.
easter Lesson)
Matt. 28:1-2O. Read Mark 16; Luke
"a; John "a.
] am with you always, even unto the
end of the wOrld.-Matt. 2S:20.
DARKNESS AND DAWN.
We say, "day and night" God says,
"The evening and the morning were
the first day." Day always follows the
dark with God. Saturday of Passion
week was the blacklist day the Disci-
pies had ever known. Christ was dead,
buried and their dream vanished into
nothingness. Jesus was not the Mes
siah. Israel was lost, hope had flown,
love was helpless. John had his hands
full in comforting Mary and in hold
ing Peter steady. The women were
busy planning for additions to the
store of fragrance that Nicodemus had
furnished and eased their heartache
bit by the activity. Just as we do,
they turned toward the place where
and loved body rested and were earli-
est astir on that day that has become
the worlds chief marker. Every book,
newspaper and magazine prints it up
on its foremost page. Every Sunday
trumpets it aloud. Every church pro-
claims the event. For on that great
day Jesus wound the worlds clock and
set it in harmony with heavens time
The rule of death was ended by the
reign of Life. Christ rose from the
dead and became the first fruits of
them that slept. Mary with loves
eagerness outsped the burdened wo-
men and first saw the opened tomb.
She rushed away to tell Peter and
John. The laden women had the first
message and turned to take it back
into the town. Peter and John ap-
peared and found the angels of empti-
ness and order speaking such words
that John was the very first convert.
After that Mary came and could not
discern her Lord for tears, but was
lifted to the seventh heaven by His
voice. Don't attach yourself to My
body" was His warning, for that was
the goal of all their seeking. To Mary
was given the first revealing of the
transcendance of the spirit. Then the
wondering women, tongues and minds
busy as they bore their burden back
into town, slow footed for the very
unbelievableness of their story, were
met and their pace quickened by the
certain vision of their Lord and Mas
ter. He walked with two to Emmaus.
He appeared to Peter perhaps while
they were returning to Jerusalem. He
met with the Ten and others in the
Upper Room. And through all that
day it had been the most needy to
whom was given the sight of His face.
A week later He met the Eleven. He
entertained seven beside the Galilean
talk. He talked from some hilltop to
the Disciples and great throng five
hundred at once is Pauls story. He
sought out and found His brother
James After forty days of such COM
munion He led them to Olivet, and
having given them His last commits
sion, they saw His face no more.
Gods day had replaced the darkness
and so full was the evidence that the
skeptical old world has accepted it as
sufficient and taken the day of resur-
rection seriously enough to mark all
its time by Him whose day it was.
THE UNCHANGED CHRIST.
Death brought no alteration in the
personality of Jesus. He carried the
marks of those other days. He called
each friend by name He met them
under almost every circumstance.EX
plantations impossible before Calvary
were now made and the message they
were to bring to the world received
it's final form. The old Scriptures were
illumined as never before and they lis
tened to their Teacher at the familiar
task. There is a singular parallelism
with the old days. Both began at
Jerusalem among interested souls. 1t
was confined in Galilee where the call
was again sounded among the fisher
men and emphasized by big catch
He gave His second inaugural from a
Galilean hillside to a great throng,
but with the little group in its midst
as at the first. On a hill outside the
city's wall the final scene was trans
acted. For three years He had led
them over unfamiliar paths; now in
the forty days they retraced their
steps along that now illumined way
and saw the meaning of its windings
at every turn. Now we see through a
glass darkly, but then face to face. So
will come the illumination of the I'M
explainable way over which each of US
has walked with as many misunder
standings as ever the Disciples held of
just the meaning of their Lord and