The most compassionate man who ever trod the earth was Jesus of Nazareth. Running like broad golden bands through his life of marvelous purity and benignity, was the virtue of compassion. It might be necessary on occasion for Christ Jesus to expose the subtle, malicious ways of error,—even to scourge the money changers and those who sold doves in the temple, and to peremptorily order evil to get behind him; but always the spirit of compassion was there, endowing even his word of rebuke with healing power, because behind his every word and action there lay a profound understanding of the allness of divine Love. Evil might claim presence and power; the Master might have to condemn the belief with the righteous scorn of which he was capable; but because he knew so well, because he knew so scientifically, the unlimited nature of the Father's goodness and love, his heart was always compassionate.
Once, after the Master had done many wonderful works, such as healing one "sick of the palsy" and another of an issue of blood, had given sight to two blind men, restored "a dumb man possessed with a devil," and raised Jairus' daughter from the deep sleep of death, he "was moved with compassion" on the multitude, "because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." And so keen on this occasion was his compassion for the afflicted children of men that it drew from him the memorable words, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." How tender the Master ever was! How wonderfully combined in him were the correct appreciation of justice, the might of meekness, and the loving-kindness of compassion,—indeed, all of the fruits of the Spirit!
Now, Christian Science is urging mankind to follow whole-heartedly the Founder of Christianity; and not only so, but it teaches how this can be done, by giving the explanation of the Science of Life with which he was acquainted. The life of Jesus was based on deep and accurate knowledge of God, divine Principle. His life was the expression of this knowledge, made manifest in every healing act, every compassionate word and deed, every victory over the belief of evil, which characterized it as the greatest ever lived on earth. In her Message for 1902 (p. 18), Mrs. Eddy says of him: "Jesus was compassionate, true, faithful to rebuke, ready to forgive." And a line or two farther on she significantly adds, "No estrangement, no emulation, no deceit, enters into the heart that loves as Jesus loved." The Founder of Christianity has set a pattern which should ever be kept before those who have obtained, even in a small degree, that spiritual understanding which animated his words and determined every act of his life.
