One of the most dramatic moments in the life of the Master was that in which, having entered the synagogue of his home village, he opened the book of the prophet Isaiah and read those wonderful words of Messianic forecast: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." It was the moment of his first public self-recognition, when he daringly yet calmly declared that he who was known to them all as a humble carpenter's son, was indeed the hope of Israel, their Saviour.
These words are not less interesting in themselves than was this their first personal appropriation by Christ Jesus. Hundreds of years before its appearance they definitely outlined the vocation of the life that was to meet "the world's great need." Moreover, they reveal the compassionate completeness of the redemptive ministry of this life, and, as we come to understand in Christian Science, they present the pattern and design for all Christian lives, including yours and mine! "If ye abide in me," said the Master, "and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel;" "Heal the sick." In these and many other kindred statements he projected a vocational career for his disciples which was to be identical with his own in power and in beneficence, and it is thus in the glory of its aim and spiritual accomplishment that the simplest, humblest life may be "lifted up" and made savingly effective.
The question of vocation, "What shall I do?" must be met and answered by every individual. Normal men and women not only want something to do, but they want to do that which will tell. They covet not only success and happiness, but they would like to do something really worth while, something that will contribute lastingly to the human good. This desire deepens, grows more serious, ofttimes more impelling, with the average man as he grows more mature, and it is just here that Christian Science comes to stimulate and help its every student. It not only renders aspiration more intelligent, more unselfish, and more spiritual, but it gives him a satisfying proof of his capacity, as a channel for the expression of divine Mind, which frees him from an otherwise life-defeating sense of unworthiness.
