One of the things which Jesus said concerning the erroneous conduct of the Pharisees was this: "They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." No doubt many of us used to read this statement superficially and to think that what Jesus meant was that the Pharisees were not inclined to do anything for their fellow men, and that they did not try to live according to the precepts which they urged upon others. But while Jesus' statement unquestionably includes that view, it has also a much deeper meaning.
No doubt some of the Pharisees gave liberally of their goods to others; and certainly they were not necessarily all hypocrites to the extent of not endeavoring to practise the ritualistic precepts which they believed would take them into the kingdom of heaven. Some of them, like Saul, who later became Paul, made every effort to live what they understood to be good lives. They actually fasted at the time for fasting, and faithfully prayed whenever and wherever the ritual required prayer. They may have been, as "touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." Yet Jesus' statement applied to them as to the others, and for this reason the burden which is laid upon the race by a false theory of life can never be lifted one jot by any one who believes in and supports that false theory.
Christian Science shows that it is as true today as it was in Jesus' time that the advocates of false theology and false medicine can never lift the burden from the shoulders of the race; for that burden has been imposed mainly by false theories of religion and medicine. When the race has been freed from these theories by the understanding of divine Truth, there will be nothing left of the load under which it has staggered for so many centuries. Liberation, then, must come today, as it came so many centuries ago, through the true theology of the Master, who said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
