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January, 1944
four Gospels. There must be a reason for this frequency. Doubtless it is be- cause\the event sets forth most vivid ly and simply the origin and manner of dissemination of the Bread of Life. In this miracle there was clearly an act of creation. Jesus provided food for the hungry multitude. He was the source of this provision. But the Lord saw to it that the created bread was distributed by the disciples. Thus it is with the gospel. On the divine side, only the Lord has created the gospel. But on the human side, the Lord has no other plan than that His followers shall make known this gospel to the ends of the earth. 2. "And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties" (v. 40). The primary meaning of “rank” in the Greek is “ a garden bed, a plot of flowers.” The imagery is of a well- ordered and beautiful garden in which there is evidence of care and planning. Thus we see in this figure that God is a God of order and not confusion. In such an orderly arrangement of the multitude, the distribution of the loaves and fishes was made more easy and thorough. Likewise careful planning should characterize our work for the Lord, in order that no essen tial phase of His work be neglected. 3. "And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away" (Mk. 8:9). Because of the resemblance between the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand and that of the feeding of the four thou sand, some critics have held that the two narratives are records of the same event. That the two accounts are rec ords of separate events is evident for two reasons: (1) The testimony of our Lord in Matthew 16:9, 10 makes it clear that there were two miracles. (2) The points of difference set forth in the records demand two miracles. [See article by E. Schuyler English in this issue.] How much better it is, therefore, to accept the Scripture r e c o r d as it stands than to believe the inharmoni ous patchwork of the critical school! On a famous bridge spanning the river which flows through an Austrian city there are twelve statues of Jesus, representing Him in various charac teristic vocations in life. There is Christ as physician, teacher, carpen ter—Christ in twelve separate callings. The weary men who cross this bridge -at morning, noon, and night may turn their eyes toward a semblance of that Christ who, touching humati experi ence at every point, has brought God within, the compass of every devout heart willing to receive Him. —G. P. Eckman. . Golden Text Illustration J ohn 6:35
A Hungry Crowd M ark 6:30-44;, cf. J ohn 6:5-13 MEMORY VERSE: “The Lord , . . giveth food to the h u n g r y ” (Psa. 146:5, 7). AIM: To show that Jesus is the di vine Son of God, and that He lovingly cares for our daily needs. APPROACH: For Christmas, John received the s h i n i n g new train he wanted. He was so happy playing with it that the minutes, seemed to fly, and soon a whole morning was gone. It was past lunch time, and he hadn’t even thought about 'being hungry. Something like that happened when the Lord Jesus was here on earth. . LESSON STORY: A great crowd followed Jesus, listening, and His words were so wonderful that they fo r
It*D»IA
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A B iscuit in a B asket OBJECTS: A biscuit and a waste- paper basket. (A slice of bread can be used if a biscuit is not available.) LESSON: What would you think if you were to see me throwing a biscuit into a wastepaper basket? “We would think you were wasting good food.” Yes, such an act would be considered wasteful. But suppose I should throw away a whole loaf of bread. That would be still more wasteful. If a whole train load of bread were wasted when hungry people were going with out food, that would be still worse. In thinking of wasting bread, let us remember that Jesus said, “ I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that be- lieveth on rhe shall never thirst” (John 6:35). He was speaking of those who would come to Him and have their soul’s hunger satisfied by accepting Him as a personal Saviour. We were a little shocked when we thought of throwing this biscuit away. We were even more concerned when we thought of wasting a whole train load of bread.- Isn’t it strange that many people who would not think of wasting bread, think nothing of refus ing Christ, the B r e a d o f heaven? Doubtless, many of those who were fed by Christ’s miracles never accept ed Him as Saviour. Travelers tell us that in the land of Palestine a piece of bread, if dropped by some careless person, is never left on the ground. The thoughtful passer by always picks it up, even though he does not need to eat it. He puts it in a place where some hungry person can find it later. It would be wonderful, if, in our day, people h ad m o r e respect for Christ, the Bread of heaven, and would accept Him as Saviour instead of care lessly passing Him by.
got about eating. Soon the people were far f r o m their h o m e s or any places where they c o u l d buy food. And it was lunch time. What should they do? The Lord Jesus knew the people
were hungry, and He was sorry for them. He knew He could help them, because He is the Son of God. But He wanted them to know this too. He said to His closest friends some thing like this: “We should invite these men and women and boys and girls to dinner. They are tired and hungry.” The friends of Jesus were surprised that He should say that, for there were no big picnic baskets, and no stores near by. But one of the Lord’s friends had an idea. He knew there was one boy in the crowd who had with him a lunch of five little biscuits and two tiny fish, and he told Jesus. Because the boy was willing to give all he had to the Lord Jesus, keeping not even a bite for himself, the Lord made the little lunch grow and grow until there was enough food for everybody to have all he wanted, and twelve baskets full were left over. As the hungry people ate the meal the Saviour had given them they may have said something like this: "The Lord Jesus is the Son of God. Nothing is too hard for Him. And He loves us very much.” We should say that, too.
FEBRUARY 13, 1944 JESUS ON THE M O UNTA IN A N D IN THE VA LLEY • M ark 9:2-29
Mark 9:2 And after six days Jesus tak- eth with him Peter» and James» and John, and leadetft them up into a high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfig ured before them. 3 And his raiment became shining, ex ceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. 4 And there appeared unto them Elias
with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter answered and. said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 6 For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid. 7 And there was a cloud that overshad-
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