The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1943-03-11
Sunday School
Lesson In Brief
By REV. b. A. MEEKS

Bible Passages: John Is and IA.
Golden Text: Jesus saith unto
him, l am the way, the truth, and
the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but be me. John 1876.
This small upper room in a
house in Jerusalem where Jesus
observed the last Passover sup
per with His disciples and insti-
tuted the sacrament of the Lords
Supper is one of the most sacred
spots to all the true followers of
the meek and loWly Jesus. The
experiences of the disciples in
this upper room are symbolic of
mountain-top experiences of the
Christian life. Every little detail
of the happenings here are just
as vivid and fresh in the mind of
John years later when he wrote
his gospel as they were when
he wrote his gospel as they were
when they occurred. The eye
witness account of those taking
part with Jesus on this memora-
BILE occasion has inspired the fin
est and most famous paintings.
It is doubtful whether any 9TH
err scene in the life of Christ has
been painted more often than
that of "The Last Supper, but
few, if any. can compare favora-
bly, with the painting of Leonardo
da Vinci, of Italy. This picture
in most marvellous and vivid
way reveals the love, terror, grief
and amazement of the disciples
as they heard Jesus say, Zone of
you will betray me-.
In this upper room we have
one of the most marvellous dem
or!strations of greatness. Is it
not startling to hear John saying,
Jesus knowing that the Father
had given all things into his
hands, and that he was come
from God, and went to God; He
riseth from supper, and laid
aside his garments; and took a
towel, and girded himself. After
that he poureth water into ba-
sin, and began to wash the dis
ciples' feet, and to wipe them
with the towel WhereWith he was
girded"? This was a new ex-
preston Of greatness to the dis
ciples. 1t is still a contrast to the
worlds idea of greatness. Jesus
manifested His greatness by do
ing the Iowly services usually re-
served for servants. Jesus iden-
titled Himself with the poor Of
this world, both in His birth and
in His ministry to humanity and
thereby revealed His greatness.
His greatness was set forth by
exalting the sacredness of per
sonality and humble service,
and not by identifying Himself
with worldly riches, worldly
fame, worldly honour, or worldly
pomp. 1T took God Himself to
think of greatness in terms Of
lowly, loving service. The very
simplicity of the thing made it
startling. Christ, knowing that
He was the King of Glory and
that God had given all things in
to His hands, did the most unex-
pected thing possible. He might
have called to the angels, Bring
my crown and My royal robesH
He might have clothed Himself
with heavenly splendor. He
might have said to the Twelve,
and through them to every one of
us who are trying to follow Him,
Bow down before Me, your
King and your Godn. Yes, Jesus
could have done all these things
to show His greatness and we
would not have thought it
strange, but instead, He took
basin of water and bathed the
disciples feet.
Here in this small upper room
in Jerusalem, Jesus is putting in
to practice His teachings con-
concerning true greatness. We
hear Him saying, And whosoev-
er will be chief among you, let
him be your servant: Even as the
Son of man came not to be min
istered unto, but to minister, and
to give his life a ransom for
many" One of the recognized
principles of greatness among all
Christian peoples is that the
higher the position held, the
greater is the responsibility for
those who are weak or unfor-
tunate or disadvantaged. Prob
ably one of the worst of all the
bad things aout the Nazis which
outrage the feelings of all the
civilized world is their continual
disregard of this mark of great
ness, as they abuse and torture
weaker peoples, mistreat prison.
ers and women and children,