All Christendom is agreed that Christ Jesus was by far the world's greatest teacher of all time. He is accorded this distinction not only because of the great importance of the message he conveyed, but also for his marvelous skill in setting forth vital truth so effectively that all having ears could scarcely fail to hear and understand. In no phase of this art did he more excel than in his consummate skill in the use of parables. By this means he both conveyed his message in the most telling terms to those ready to receive it, and at the same time protected its deeper meanings from the thought unprepared to accept it; that is to say, from those who, having ears, yet heard not.
A notable feature in the Master's use of parable is that sometimes in the midst of an allegorical relation he departs entirely from the figurative language to deliver, perhaps, the central thought of his message in plainest terms. An example of this is found in the parable of the shepherds related in John's gospel. Having drawn the parallel between the good and the bad shepherds, and having announced himself the good shepherd, while recounting the deeds of the unfaithful, he injects a sentence setting forth the purpose of his mission, a message fraught with deepest meaning for all who should ever become his disciples, and of great practical value in human experience: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Surely the greatest exponent and exemplar of abundant Life was Christ Jesus himself. None has ever attained to his degree of understanding, and in consequence none has paralleled his demonstration, through the application of divine law, of the power of good over evil. Yet it is manifest that Jesus left it to later generations to reveal to the world the deep significance of many of his teachings and the rule and application of the law whereby he wrought his greatest works. What it means to have more abundant Life, and how to gain the increase, is precisely the message given to the world by Mary Baker Eddy. Christian Science defines Life in terms of the infinite, and makes plain the way in which those shall walk who would gain it.
Surely there are none who do not desire to gain a larger sense of Life and a more intimate relation with it. Even those who hold to a material sense of being with its support and satisfaction in matter, seek for a larger environment, expressive of unfolding desires, albeit they pertain wholly to the world of physical sense. Such have been denominated by a modern writer as "thinging people;" that is, with lives so encompassed by materiality—"things"—as to exclude the light of Spirit. To all such there inevitably comes a day when they realize that, after all, the material objects of life are but transient and temporary, giving no permanent satisfaction and, consequently, failing to bring peace and rest. Then it is that thought reaches out for eternal Truth, for that which may be laid hold of and retained forever. It is just here that Christian Science is rendering its great service to mankind; for while through its ministrations the sick are healed and all discordant conditions lifted, yet in solving the problem of Life, and in leading men in the way of its abundance, its great beneficent service is rendered.
