Evening star., 1932-02-06

/ Christs popular ministry in Galiles
served to arouse the opposition OF the
ecclesiastic leaders in Jerusalem. Like
| the multitude, who were convinced by
His demonstrations of power, exercised
| in healing the sick, ministering to the
needy and feeding the 5000, that Jesus
was the man the nation was looking fol-
to lead them out of their bondage tc
the Roman Emperor and restore the
glories Of the Kingdom of David, the
religious leaders in the capital city
would have welcomed Him as the Mes
Siah if He had not insisted that His
kingdom was not political one but a
spiritual realm.
He had a number of religious debates
with the representatives of the different
sects and parties while He was teach
| ing the multitude in the synagogue Ii
Capernaum following His feeding OF
! the 5000 The effect Of His insistencC
upon the spiritual character of His
MeSsiahShip and His claims concerning
His relationship to God, as we'll as be-
ing the bread and water Of life, pre-
Sented great difficulties of understand
ing to them because they had ma
| teriaistic attitude toward the Masters S
claims. His restatement Of the condi-
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of His former disciples openly separat-
ing themselves from Him. Others were
secretly unfaithful.
Meeting Opposition.
There had been frequent clashes with
the Pharisees and the Master because
Of the liberal interpretations that He
apparently gave to some Of the teach
ings, which they considered vital to
their religious faith and national hopes
Faith in Jesus was unpopular and at
the opening of the Feast of Taber-
nacles, mo man spoke openly OF Him
for fear" Of the consequences. Jesus
evidently felt the opposition and did
not appear as a public teacher of re-
ligion in Jersualem until the feast had
been going on for three days. The
leaders marveled at His teaching be-
cause He had never been regular stu
dent in any one o. their schools and
evidently was speaking without any
human authority. When He met their
challenge by claiming that He had Di-
vine authority, the multitude was d.
vided. Some thought Him mad.
The clash became more acute, Jesus
defeating His enemies, until they sent
officers to arrest Him. Upon the last
day of the feast He publicly promised
10 DC Tie reservoir Ol SplllIudl poNci
His offer of living water resulted in
division of opinion concerning Hin
among the people. The officers failed
to arrest Him, so we find plot made
to entangle Him. When Jesus appeared
the next day in the temple, the ma
lignity of the Scribes and Pharisees was
manifest. 1t is surprising scene, fol-
they presented a woman, who had beer
arrested in the very act of adultery
and asked the Lord to try her. They
were not thinking of purity, justice OF
righteousness Christ wrote on the
ground. This is the only reference tc
His writing that we have, but wher
He ordered that the one who was with
out sin should cast the first stone, not
, one dared to cast the stone, so one
after another left leaving the Master
alone with the sinful woman. He did
not acquit her. He gave her another
opportunity to live right. He sent heI
forth to live a new life. In this We
note that Christ seeks the reformation
of society through the saving OF the
individual Evidently He places some
responsibility upon society for the sin
that binds men in slavery.
The spiritual crisis in Judea was rap
idly approaching when Jesus pointed