The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1925-02-05
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Prepared Especially for The Repub-
ican by Rev. U. S. Wright, DID.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1925.
CHRISTS INTERCESSORY
PRAYER.

John II.
Holy Father, keep them in thy name which
thou hast given me, that they may be one,
even we are.-John 17:II.
CHRIST PRAYS.
The thing a man does in an hour
of high emotional stress is a charac-
ter index of the greatest value. For
ones will is not in control and the
person is swept along without much
volitional direction so that the action
becomes instructive and revealing of
the usually suppressed currents flow
ing through the mans soul. There is
another screen that may be removed
and that is the fear of being nnisun-
derstood. "You can do things with
your frat crowd that you wouldn't
think of outside" is the way one col
lege man expressed it. To be in an
understanding, congenial group where
one can Gust let himself go" and be
his actual self is one of the revealing
hours in any mans life. All inhibi-
ton disappears and the real self
shines forth. This is what was hap
pening to Jesus. From the time that
Judas had left them He had been in a
circle of loving intimacy in which He
could and did unbosom Himself of the
deepest desires and longings of His
heart. And these were hours of emo
tional reaches that for Jesus, under
standing what lay within the compass
Of the dawn, were far higher than for
the rest. They had walked down the
deep slope and were facing the little
stream that flowed through the val
ley beyond which Christ knew lay the
tragedy of Calvary. AS naturally as
He breathed He began to pray. And
as at no other time in all His life the
door opens into the secret springs of
being that were hidden in His heart.
Not very much is made of the pray
er life of our Lord by the writer's,
but one can catch glimpses of its
large place in His days. In it He
made the decisions that were vital in
the direction He would take. 1t was
out of an all-night prayer that the
disciples were chosen and the little
group to be taught, so that His work
might not fail after its completion at
His hands, was made up. In it came
the great experiences of His life like
that of the consciousness of His "call"
at the baptism. In it came the thrush
of power for healing 'this kind 60
eth not forth except by prayer
and for that stupendous Bethany
shout to Lazarus to "come forth"
from the clutch of death. When His
ministry was threatened with beconl-
ing mere healing or mere politics,
early dawn found Him in prayer and
making His decisions in the light of
1t. Prayer was vital, wholesome. en-
Tightening and that this hour held it
marks it as one of the most signif-
cant things among the habits of soul
health which He predicted.
CHRIST PRAYS FOR HIMSELF.
Why shouldn't He? Can anyone
keep himself out of his praying, I
wonder? There is a leaping exulta-
ton in the word, "the hour is come"
Our Lord had been waiting for it and
now under the press of these great
hours He knows that it has arrived.
"Glorify thy Son"-it is something
greatly desired and the time has been
reached and Christ is all excitement
over its coming. But beyond all ask
ing is the purpose of it. Do we ask
that we may spend the gift upon our
selves? Is it more comfort, more
anything that l may possess? He
wanted glory, but that He might use
1t for the Father. "Give me health.
money, position, power" are all per-
fectly legitimate requests if the same
motive controls the asking that lay
behind that of Jesus. What was the
glory? Jesus had been commissioned
to give eternal life and this life is
knowledge of the Father God. He had
finished the work given, He had made
God understood by men. And men
have never climbed higher than that
revealing of Jesus and there has been
no solace for the hurt hearts of them
like His that pillows the head upon
the breast of God and knows that He
Father the child. Now Jesus is ask