The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1925-03-19
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Prepared Especially for The Repub-
ican by Rev. U. S. Wright, D. D.
SUNDAY, MARCH %, 1925.
THE FORTY DAYS AND TIE
ASCENSION


THE LAST LESSON
In that fine story of Daudet's that
pictures the little French school in
Alsace upon the DAY when the Ger
mans had forbidden any further
teaching of the old language, the
teacher seems intent upon compress
ing into those few hours everything
he knew. There is q rare. thrill in
the last moment when with the feet
of the alien soldiery sounding on the
pavement he reached high up on the
board and wrote, give la France,"
There is similar tenseness in these
days Of Jesus and a wonderful thrill
when at the close of His teaching
time He stretched Himself high above
the little group and wrote across the
sky, Immortality"
For Jesus was ever a teacher and
was continually trying to bring the
mind of that little group into possess
sion Of some of His own pure knowl-
edge. They had been bound by the
material presence that mac been their
high joy through these years of COM
radeship and it was a lesson, sorely
needed still, that affection and rela-
tionship do not depend upon things
seen. The kindergarten child entered
a new world the day his teacher
taught him that her love and his were
strong enough to stretch clear across
the circle and he could surrender his
place beside her without any loss in
the loving. 1t was such lesson that
Jesus set for His disciples during
these days following the resurrection.
They knew He lived, but only occa-
sionally did they see Him. There were
five appearances upon that first day
and then a week interviewed before
there came a sign of His presence.
Thomas had his special line here that
banished his doubt forever. Then
there was longer interval and the
intimate camp breakfast beside Cali
lee where eight figures lay prone up
on the sand and love had unimpeded
way. Afterwards there was a larger
company gathered upon some slop-
ing hillside and they caught the COM
mission to carry the tidings to the
ends of the earth as proof of His
trust in them. Sometime during these
days He slipped quietly into Naza-
reth where He faced His brother
James and captured his allegiance
forever and through him wooed the
brethren who were in Jerusalem at
Pentecost. Finally came the last walk
together and their closing lesson per-
fecting the education of the years in
the school Of Christ SO that, so far
as their understanding was concerned,
they held the necessary fundamentals
for tho in IF L111nlCY,,
upon earth.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Luke attempts the impossible. He
is describing at second hand a scene
unlike any other ever occurring
among men. What is outside our ex-
perience is dependent upon our vivid
ness Of imagination and all sorts of
VagaIIes may be included in its activ-
tiles. In torrid Africa, natives lis
tened to the story Of water getting
solid enough for men to walk upon
and so utterly unreasonable did it
seem because so remote from any
thing they knew that they coined an
entirely new expression, and instead
OF saying in the face of some untruth
You told lie" they say, you told
an ice" So whatever form one may
choose to impart to the fact Luke at
tempts to describe there is no room
for controversy. Was it physical?
Perhaps. Was it spiritual? Per-
haps. There isn't a single line by
any person who saw the event and
one may be granted liberty interpret
ing it.
The place is significant. 1t was not
to the Bethlehem of His birth; not
to the Nazareth of His training; not
to the Jordan of His call; not the
Jerusalem of His cross, but to the
Bethany of His friends that He went
upon this final journey for the last
time of His earth life. To the place
where He had ever been welcome,
where love had never doubted or de-
MED, He turned His steps and it was
there that His feet last pressed the
earth. How often has the expression
been heard: 81 want to go back to
blank to die To that spot where
the heart had been homed it turns in
stinctively for its last hours. 1t was
so with Jesus and every saint that
totters toward such a place may be
sure of His company. Then came the
end OF the vision as He lowered above
them into space in which He was fin
ally lost to view so that all the limit
less reaches, star studded as they are,
have become His dwelling place and
however far one may be flung from
this whirling globe upon which we
live we will only be closer held in His
embrace.
THE RESULT
Ones vision cannot reach into that
homecoming of Jesus, but there
must have been rare stirring in this
event, the only one in all the eternal
ages. 1t was quite a reception when
Abel entered, earths first offering of
a candidate nyaTc emmm m m nm
a man as a candidate for eternal hon
ors, but that was not to be compared
to this when He ''led captivity cap
tive and gave gifts unto men," For
1t was out of this homecoming that
Pentecost emerged and His spirit was
inbreathed into earth. To all these
things were the disciples to become
witnesses so that with the completion
of our Lords work theirs began. So
thoroughly did they obey His com
mand that they soon filled Jerusalem
with His doctrine, were flung beyond
its confines until the news has gone to
the ends of the lands and into the