The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1922-11-16
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Prepared especially for The Republic
can by Rev. U. S. Wright, D. D.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10

can by Rev. U. S. Wright, D. D.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10
JESUS THE FRIEND OF SINNERS
Luke Z.
Faithful is the saying, and worthy Of
all acceptatiOn, that Jesus Christ
came into the world to save SIP
ners.-I Timithy lis.
CLOUDS ACROSS THE sun
Five persons walked thru this
chapter and each had a Swallowed
path. The first is a soldierly figure,
erect and strong, who strangely
enough is in sorrow over the sickness
of a slave. Yet men were cheaper
then than now, but the pain of so
small a member of his company af-
fected him and reveals the fine quail
ity of the centurion who had built
synagogue for those he ruled. Sem
sitive sympathy made him worthy
model for men of today. Carrying
care for servant might affect that
so-caled problem somewhat. The
second figure that approaches is
bowed with grief and her mother love
following the still form of the one
person of her desire clutched at heart
and throat with choking fingers. A
lone widow with bowed head crushed
under a weight of sorrow that
brought a company of kindly neigh
bors to her assistance carries all the
load she can bear even with their
kindness. Another figure rattles III
chains as he passes. Sturdy old John
the Baptizer, who had spent months
of idle waiting in the grim prison
beside the Dead Sea that seemed the
type of all his hopes is beginning to
question whether the Man to whom
he had borne witness was really what
he had proclaimed. Where was the
Kingdom day? Why was he allowed
to rot his virile energies that had
stirred Judea and Galilee and made
possible the work of Jesus when they
might be serving the high purpose
of his life? Had he been tricked by
a CLINT of sunshine amid the colored
lights of the Jordan until he thought
he saw a dove? He is comrade Of
every disheartened questioner over
the inescapable riddles of life. An
other appears. Stepping proudly along
this man does not even know that he
is in the shade Rich robes, well fed,
crushing a flower with his foot and
striking a stray dog with his cane, he
is completely shrouded in his own
petty place of which he is so proud
he does not know the need of sun.
Unfelt shadows are more perilous
than any others. Another woman
comes. Passionate, impulsive, a piece
of white goods from Gods loom dam
aged by the careless handling of dir
ty fingers, wrapped in the sorrows Of
conscious sin. Here is an everyday
company to be met upon any street
of any town at this very hour. All!
Here comes Another along the way
to meet every one of them and where
He walks the sunshine covers the
path. What will He do for these other
lives?
THE SHARED SHADOW
Small wonder that He met that
soldier with praise and a smile, for
Christ is ever a lover of those who
think of others, as He is of those
who have faith in Him. Speedily that
faith did its work and the shadow
was gone. The next case was differ
ent, for the eyes were too tear-flled
to see the Figure who was so eager
to help that He lest His synagogue
privilege that He might do it, for to
touch a dead body or what it rested
upon was to do that very thing. No
matter, He would put Himself into
her sorrow and so share it that its
keen edge would be dulled. Life
met death that day and death fled
from Him. But if death does not
flee? That Presence that enters
every sCrrowing doorway and shares
its hurt lifts its bitterness out of the
heart. And for the questioner that
day He simply lived His life and
said: Look at what happens where
am" What did He give that day?
A proof of His goodness, nothing
more, yet this is the need of every
heart that is uncertain over the hurts
of the world and the slowness of the
Kingdoms coming. If He is good then
we can trust and be patient even tho
the chains still gall. For that next
man there is the same ccmradeship
gladly given as to every other in
need even tho in this case there was
no need known. He would sit at the
same table and accept all the man
offered in order that whatever good
there was might be multiplied He
would even be patronized-thatt thing
that rouses blind rage in human
hearts-if by that the shadow night
pass from soul. For the last form