The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1924-11-06
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON

SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Prepared Especially for The Repub-
hcan by Rev. U. S. Wright, DID.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1924
FEEDING THE FIVE THOUS-
AND.
John Ills. Read Matt. Ii Mark SLABS
am the bread of Life-John :s5.
IN THE HOUR OF BROKEN
PLANS.
What do you do when your cher
ished plan fyails? When Hawthorne
lost his job his wife said: "Now you
can write your book" and the Oscar
let Letter" was begun. 1t was in the
day when Phillips Brooke had been
dismissed from the teachers desk
with the curt word of the Superinten-
dent, amy change will be for the
BETTER" that he had his call to that
ministry thru which he blessed the
world. Disappointment are more nu-
merous in real life than anything else
and it is cur attitude toward these
that determines the measure of our
lives. Jesus shared in them so that
His whole ministry was one of broken
plans out of which He organized new
endeavor and touched even the defeat
Of the Cross with glory. 1t was only
another of these failures that is the
basis of the lesson. 1t is told by all
the Gospelers and is one of the turn
had been out upon their mission dur
ing which there came the death of
the Baptist in the prison beside the
Dead Sea and they hurried back lest
another be added to the list of deaths
at the hands of bloody Herod. They
had succeeded even beyond their eX-
pectations and We're in peril of the
, reaction. Jesus too needed the soil
tudes for John had been loved of Him
and his end tore the heart that loved
as no other has done. And it indi-
J Gated all too clearly the end that
would crown His own career not to
make inroads upon His composure.
! So they sought place where they
could talk and rest without Interrupt
ton and slipped away in bit of
! boat only to find that they were in
the midst of the Passover pilgrims
and the throngs of eager supplients
from Capernaum and other towns.
His plan was rest and quiet; in its
place were crowding needs and insist
ent throngs-what would He do?
There is nothing surprising in the
word Of the Disciples, Send them
away" We would have done the
same thing. Instead Jesus welcomed
them with all the graciousness and
helpfulness that made Him so attrac-
tive and healed their sick and minist-
cred to their minds. But the sur
prising thing is what He pressed out
: of His own broken plan. He made
this His first communion with its
broken bread and John tells us of the
use of the familiar phrases concern
ing eating His body and drinking His
, blood that He used in connection with
His explanation of it. And John
omits these from his Upper Room
story so that so far as his view is
concerned Jesus brought our sacra-
mental meal out of His broken plan
at this earlier Passover season.
IN THE HOUR OF HUMAN NEED
Determining to make this a great
hour in the lives of all present in
GLIDING Himself, Jesus turned to the
securing of supplies. There must have
been food in the wallets of the pill
grims else they were poor planners
for a Journey. The crowds from the
towns were within reach of home and
though they might have been a bit
hungry before reaching it there was
no pressure Of desperate need such
as is known among the Armenians
now. This meal, like all of Gods
provisions, was a matter of bounty
and means of supplying need that
did not center in the stomach. Doubt
less He had repeated His references
to the flowers and the birds as evil
dences of Gods care; now He would
give another illustration that could
never be forgotten. And the Discip-
les were lacking in sympathy and this
must be stirred into the substitution
of ministry to others rather than to
themselves. Il the crowd was given
first consideration by their Lord then
would it take on new import in their
thinking forever after. To deny them
selves for others was the necessity
in their. instruction just here and
Jesus covered the lives of all in the
planning that His swift mind devised
upon the spot.
He tested out Philip to discover his
attitude toward the problem set by
his Lord His only resource was in
money and his posterity is legion.
"If we only had the means" what a