The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1945-03-09
Sunday School Lesson

down. But when Jesus came
down from the mountain the
people who had thronged about
Him gathered again. and as the
opening verse of Matthew 8
says, great multitudes followed
Him"
The chapters that follow are
taken up with the stories of how
Jesus, who had come not to be
ministered unto but to minister,
brought healing and help to
many. First was the leper whom
He cleansed and told to 60 and
show himself to the priest, ac-
cording TO the Jewish law. Next
was the healing of the Roman
Centurion's servant, with the
strong commentator of the
Centurion's faith, and the decla-
ration that in the very begin
ming marked the universal ma
ture of Christ's mission and sal
walton, and the complete antag.
onism of Christianity to every
form of religious and racial
bigotry: II say unto you that
many shall come from the east
and west, and shall sit down
with Abraham, and Isaac, and
Jacob, in the kingdom of heav.
en-" Such words said to a Ro-
man Centurion could only be
unmistakable in their meaning.
In Peters house Jesus found
Peters mother-in-law sick of
fever and healed her, while at
evening many brought their
sick, both in mind and in body,
to be healed. Hard-pressed by
the multitude Jesus went into
ship and made that famous pas
sage across the Sea of Galilee,
in which the storm arose while
Jesus was asleep. 1t must have
ben terrific storm, for the erst-
while fishermen were afraid,
but Jesus babe the waves be
still, land there was great
calm"
On the other side of the sea
occurred one of those incidents
that tend to destroy ones faith
in human nature and in the
goodness Of man. AS Jesus came
from the ship there met Him
two men possessed with dew
lis" or as we should say, insane
men. They asked that their
devils" should be cast into q
nearby herd of swine, and these
"ran down a steep place into the
sea-"
The passage Is obscure in the
terms of modern Interpretation,
and I shall not attempt to ex-
plain or expound it; but what is
not obscure is the attitude of the
people of the nearby city when
they heard what Jesus had done,
and came out demanding that he
should depart out of their
coasts" 1t meant nothing to
them that two fellowmen had
been healed from their terrible
malady. They set a higher value
upon their hogs, and they want
ed no wonder-worker in their
midst.
There are men, and even
communities today that are like
that; but thank God! Jesus also
was the Son Of Man, and the
multitudes who have lived in
His spirit quicken our faith In
man, despite those who have
quenched the light that God jim
planted in them.
There were religious folk that
were not much better than those
Gadarene hog-raisers. When
Jesus healed man sick of the
palsy, and said, "Son, be of
good cheer, thy sins be forgiven
thee" they became more con-
cerned about what they called
blasphemy than about the act of
mercy and healing that Jesus
had performed.
There are religious people
like that today, too; far more
concerned about matters of
speculation and doctrine, and
about their own religious ideas,
than about genuine goodness,
and kindness and mercy. Per-
haps many of us need, as we'll as
those of olden time, the admoni-
ton Of Jesus, go we and learn
what that meaneth, ! will have