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Ee . Bmite difference between Christ ME his glory and perfectness and hia. Sunday School Lesson 1 LESSON II PREPARING FOR A LIFE OF SERVICE.--Mark 1:1-13 Golden Text--Make ye ready the way of the Lord. Mark 1:3. THE LESSON IN ITS SETTING Time.--We do not know exactly when John the Baptist began his preaching, but it is generally assign- ed to the summer and fall of A.D. 26, while the baptism of Jesus took place in January, A.D. 27, and was Smmedieiely followed by the tempta- on. Place. -- John's preaching took place in Judaea, the southern part of Palestine, which included the city of erusalem, though most of it was obably done on the eastern side of udaea in the Wilderness near the ordan River, where also Christ was aptized, and somewhere near which, possibly on the eastern side of the Jordan River, he was tempted. 1. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This verse is a super- scription or title, not for the first fifteen verses of Mark's Gospel, but for the entire book. All that Mark records, may be considered only as the beginning of the gospel of Christ. The word "gospel' meant simply "good news." In the phrase "the gos- pel of Jesus Christ" we are to under- stand the preposition "of" to mean "the gospel which concerns the Lord Jesus Christ," the message of good new." which men would never have heard, and which never wdéuld have had an existence, except through the life and work of Jesus Christ. In the very title "Jesus Christ" is the jospel deeply embedded, for the fact that there would come One to deliver his people, a prophet speaking for God, all are to be taken as not only good news, but the greatest of good news. The Son of God. Mark and the early Clristians knew the Lord Jesus to be the very Son of God, partaking of God' nature, of his power, of his holiness, of his wisdom, the only be-* gotten Son of the Father. John the Baptist 2. Even as it is written in Isaiah the prophet. The two passages here quoted are from Mal. 3:1 and Isa. 40:3. Professor Lenski well reminds us that Mark, by referring only to Isaiah; and indeed the form of this prophet's words makes them most valuable. The words from Malachi and added as of life nature. Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare the way." The Fa- ther is actually speaking to the Son concerning the messenger who was to precede him and prepare for his com- ing. 3. The voice of one crying in the wilderness. Literally, the wilderness kere referred to was that great desert including the: whole eastern portion of Judaea, and extending on both sides of the Jordan River. "In this very wilderness Elijah made his last appearance. John was a living illus- ration of how little man really needs here below, something we are prone to forget." ~ Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Jose- phus, when describing a march of Vespasian, says that with the van- guard of an Oriental procession were 'such as were to make the road even and straight, and, if it were anywhere rough and hard to be passed over, to plane it, and to cut down the woods that hindered their march, that the army might not be tired'."--Thomas M. Lindsay. 4. John came, who baptized in the | wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins. The word "repentance" means "to turn around," "to change one's mind," "to reverse one's attitude and verdict." It is not here said that baptism will secure the remission of sins, but that baptism was a public recognition that the heart had re- pented of sin. unless there is repentance and a washing away of sins by the Lord Jesus, is of no value whatever, but | really a mockery. 6. And John was clothed with cam- el's hair. This probably means that John wore a long, loose robe woven from camel's hair, a garment of coarse texture often worn by the ex- treme poor. girdle about his loins. "The girdle kept the robe from flapping apart, and enabled it to be tucked up for rapid walking." 8. And did eat locusts and wild Roney. "The law permitted the use, for food, of locusts and certain large kinds of grasshopper." "There Cometh After Me" 7. And he preached, saying, There | cometh after me he that is mightier thay 1. too is strong, the divine strength of the word having been given to him. The latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. In an Oriental household it was the | task of the slave to stoop dow: and unloose the thongs which bound the | sandals of a guest or the slave's mas- Ber to their feet, and John here ack- mowledges that there is such an in- all Baptism for adults, | And had a leathern . John here implies that he ) en it self in all of his human limitations that, though he is gladly the servant 1 of Christ, it is only by the grace of God that he is such, for in himself he is not worthy even to perform a me- nial task for the Lord Jesus Christ. 8. I baptized you in water; but he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit. The contrast between the work of the Baptist and that of the Messiah amounts to this, that the mightier One who is to follow John will do the real work of which the Baptist - is able to perform only the sign. Water cleanses only the body. But the Holy Spirit is the element in which man is cleansed inwardly and really, and it is this real baptism which the coming One was to per- form." Jesus Baptized 9. And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee. Nazareth was located midway between the Lake of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea. And was baptized of John in the Jordan. "Jesus recognizes that the office of John was of divine appointment. Though he had no personal need of baptism, by refusing or neglecting it he would (if he had not been baptiz- ed) have cast discredit upon the work of John." Furthermore, our Lord formally identified himself with the human race in its sin and degra- dation. 10. And straightway. Coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens rent asunder, and the Spirit as a dove descending upon him. The appear- ance of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove is indicative of the gentle- ness and pureness of the One upon whom the Holy Spirit rested. 11. And a voice came out of the heavens, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased. This is the first of three declarations heard from heaven; the second being at the transfiguration and the third being just before the passion of our Lord. There can be no question that the voice here heard was the voice of none other than God the Father. Of no other person in all history were these words spoken from heav- en, or could they be literally true. And straightway the Spirit driveth him forth into the wilderness. The strong urge of the Spirit met the con- sent of Jesus. He did not go into this temptation against his will. Yet Je- sus did not throw himself into this temptation of his own accord. Jesus was brought into it by his Father's own Spirit. This means that his temptation had to be, and at this very time . It was God's will to have his Son's ministry begin with this mighty battle against Satan and with the resultant victory. 13. And he was in the wilderness forty days. Forty is almost always in the Scriptures used as a symbol of testing, of trial, of suffering, of pun- ishment. Christ could not be tempt- ed in his divine nature, for God can | never be tempted to evil. The temp- tation relates only to the human na- ture of the Lord Jesus. And he was with the wild beasts. By inserting this phrase Mark probably intends only to emphasize the loneliness and the wildness of the environment in which Jesus was tempted, And the angels ministered unto him. An Austrian, asking for divorce, said :"My wife's skirts are far too short. She doesn't seem to mind how much of her legs she shows when the wind blows." She produced evidence that she was merely being fashion- able. Case dismissed. A Modern-Style Santa Drops Down From the Clouds 5 adequate in making his annual visit From Hollywood comes word that Mickey Mouse, with Minnie, and oth- ers of his famous gang, is starting a series of programs on Sundays from the Mickey House Theatre of the Air, which is aired over the coast-to-coast NBC-Red Network from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. It's a little over six years, now, that Mickey has been bringing smiles and hearty laughs to movie patrons and devotees of the comic strips, but now he comes in voice directly into the homes of radio listeners to enliven their Sunday afternoons. Behind the voices of Mickey and his gang will be the music of Felix Mills, noted Holly- wood musician. Bringing Mickey to the radio is another leaf in Walt Dis- ney's crown of laurel. Already, the antics of the lovable comics have brought fame and fortune to their creator, A native of Chicago, Disney found the study of art a troublesome problem in his youth, and it was not until he left his native city and set- tled in Kansas City that Mickey was born. It was there that the first Mick- ey Mouse movie was created. The working staff of the Disney studios at that time was alt and his brother, Rol. Today, the Disney studios em- ploy six hundred persons. * * LJ] Piano Team's Double Wedding The two piano team of Lou Snyder and Murray Ross, playing under the name of "The Sophisticates of the Piano," over CBC and the Mutual Net- works, is perhaps the most popular piano team in Canada. We understand that a double wedding is being planned by these boys at some date in Febru- ary, and this should be quite a novel feature in itself. Both Murray and Lou are very much attached to their respective young ladies, who are, by the way, non-professional. Fin me Community Sing-Song We dropped in last Sunday to see Century theatre. Stan Francis, the genial M.C. of the program, turned in quite a nice performance. The little Surprises that come in about the mid- dle of the .program are somewhat original, Vince Boyd, the man behind the piano, is quite a favorite with the audience in the theatre, and turns in a sparkling piece of solo work dur- ing the program. The tickets are free, A--C and all are welcome. owe the Community Sing-Song out at the | Around Y Th.Dial RADIO HEADLINERS : OF THE WEEK | It is a little known fact that those four boys known as the Ragamuffins, heard every Monday night at 10:00 o'clock, started their career in a cel- lar. The boys scrimped and saved to buy instruments, and what were too expensive for them they made them- selves. Between them they play two clarinets, two guitars, a bass fiddle, and a collection of pots, pans, wash- boards and tin horns, and believe me, they make music out of it. On top of all this, George Boyd, the tin horn ex- pert, imitates a trumpet and does a choice bit of singing. To say nothing of the vocal trios and quartets that the boys have arranged. Harvey Tem- plar, Alfy Enning and Tommy EII- well, constitute the remaining mem- bers of the organization. About a year and a half ago the boys were taken in tow by Wally Armour, conductor of the Pond's program, and after much work he hag produced a smart musi- cal band with just these four boys. BA * LJ] Aired Six Thousand Amateurs The Good Humor Amateur Show, heard every Sunday at 12:30 over an eastern network, is 'blazing "ahead, bringing to the microphone new voices and new novelties. It is now about one year since Good Humor started the amateur contests, and in that time approximately six thousand amateurs have been auditioned, and approxi mately three hundred have been pre- sented to radio listeners. In the next few weeks the Good Humor people will conduct the final contests, the winner of which will be sent to Holly- wood for screen and voice tests, From what we have geen of this talent, we feel that the lucky one to be sent down, will make a good stab at suc- cess in the glamor city of the world. There still may be an opportunity for | you to take part. Just send your ap- plication for an audition to Good Humor, in care of CFRB or GKCL, | Toronto. The smallest English inn consists of one room measuring 16 ft. by 11 ft. It is the Smith's Arms, Godman- stone, near Dorchester, and has just been sold. British housewives buy something like 1,600,000,000 tins of foodstuffs every year. 85, Still At Work on Ruins of Crystal Palace Workmen are still breaking up the metallic wreckage of the famed Crystal Palace in London, irgland, 13 Trying to Return Land io Indians Weary Homesteaders in "Dust Bowl" Area Are Willing to Sell Out Discouraged, weather-beaten home- steaders of New Mexico proposed to give their land back to the Indians. Several score work-hardened set- tlers met with blanketed Navajo in a big pow-wow at the white man's kiva at Crown Point, N.M., uniting efforts to get the Great Whiie Fa- ther in Washington to buy up the high, . wind-blown plateau homestead lands and present them to the Navajo. To the Indian, success would mean a return nearer '"Dinetah'"--the sa- cred, immemorial homeland of the Navajo in Nerth Central New Mexi- co. To many a, white homesteader, it would mean a chance to sell out lands on which he has battled heat, drought, bitter cold, dying range and all the pioneering vicissitudes. The immediate goal of this unique association of Indian and paleface is passage in Congress of the Navajo boundary bill. The measure would add approximately 250,000 acres to the Navajo reservation--land now "checkerboarded" in alternate strips of public domain, homestead lands and Indian holdings, ; Sentenced To Life Nick Megugorac, 19, is the youngest person to be sentenced to life im~ prisonment in Los Angeles, Cal., in 10 years. Patients Vote in the First Soviet Election Cop.fined to a hosp.tal in Moscow, Russia, Mrs. Z, Khodakova casts her vote! in the first general Soviet election. NAAN OOO DODOIINIAIOOXIXHXAXIHXXIHXIXX IHX NIHRC 2x i i] i The Stars And Y g & Mi % e Jdtars And You 1 x By A. R. WEIR 2 WHAT THE STARS FORETELL FOR THOSE BORN ON KS JANUARY 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 OX CX al \/ IX XXX moon in Capricornus. QR \/ al YOUR OWN BIRTH DATE: XX (XX ously. seriously. Wav, SX XX XXX X towards others. XXX Ve XX tions are good. ov XX XXXXOO financially is indicated for you. OOD v, a XP yourself. Relatives will benefit you. OOO K fluence on your later life. rd health will KS w_.1l also be .Jucky in love. * ¥k If the date of your birth is listed above, CAPRICORNUS is your Zodi- ac sign. This makes the White Onyx and Moonstone your lucky stones and black or very dark blue your lucky colour. you should marry one born between August 21st and September 20th; Dec. 21 and January 20 or April 21 to May 20, or one who has the Capricornians usually live to a great age and are zealous and diligent people as a rule. JANUARY 7--Your viewpoint ks usually serious. You take life seri- You take people seriously. Try A optimism. This should be a successful and prosperous year for you--there should be more stability in your life. JANUARY 8--You are very affectionate, very loving and very kind hearted yet no one is aware of thie. You are too quiet, dignified and secretive about your motions and even cold and selfish in your manner You should be much more demonstrative. 1e Vi important changes are indicated in your business affairs and all indica- JANUARY 9--TIndications are that you have let yourself get into a rut. Why? It is important to success that one should keep pace with progress. Capricornians usually amass great wealth when they are ambitious and steadily and patiently industrious. JANUARY 10--You are sincere but selfish. You are zealous and dili- gent but melancholy and introspective. ; The year is good for social affairs and also for love. Business affairs should be excellent. JANUARY 11--Much happiness should come your way this year. If 9 you are single you may marry. You do not make friends easily but X should cultivate a more friendly attitude toward others. 3 JANUARY 12--Your financ al affairs this year should have a big in- It should be a prosperous period. Your e good and a pleasant holiday is indicated. ! lest your natural thrift becomes meanness. % JANUARY 13--A considerable improvement, is shown in your finam- I cial affairs this year also important news from a long distance. You In business you have great ambitions but ¥ socially you consider your family all you require. You may allow yourself to get into a rut. % If you birth date is rot listed above and. you would like a horoscope "4 for any birth date in the year, or if you would like a complete personal %! horoscope for any date listed above, send 10c to A. R. Weir, 13 Adelaide St. W., Toronto. Please print your name, address and birth date plainly. t 1 BOOED IIIAII AH RIIHXIXXHXIXNXXHX XX IAIN XOX CA wv OOOO IN at It also suggests that OO XO OXON a You take your troubles much too wv, Ve oe CATA Some very An unexpected gain Do not live so much alone with Bae careful 'This is not good. |) 3 1H ), » E) VavavaYs ---