THE Nazarene's advent into the presence of humanity was heralded by angelic announcement of "good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people," heavenly voices singing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." And it is wondrously beautiful to note how these words were echoed by the multitudes as they strewed palms before him on his entry into Jerusalem toward the close of his ministry. "Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord," rang their hosannas; "peace in heaven, and glory in the highest." It is recorded that they rejoiced and praised God for all the mighty works that they had seen. And between the angelic announcement of his mission and the glad human acknowledgment of its achievement stretched the narrow path of his matchless career, in which he had experienced a joy so complete that he longed to share it and establish it with his beloved disciples, that their joy might be full. The writer to the Hebrews afterward referred to it as such joy that the master Christian was willing to endure the cross for it.
It would seem that the world is just beginning to realize all that went into the ring of those hosannas. They praised God "for all the mighty works that they had seen." This was the crown of his Messiahship: they had seen his works and gave God the glory. What a beatific moment must have been the Master's when the eyes of one who had never seen were opened and he beheld the great healer who reflected the light of divine Love! What incomparable bliss must Jesus have known in that little home in Bethany where his friend Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead, moved about again among his accustomed tasks!
Christian Science is constantly revealing the joy of which the Master spoke as the joy of proof; for as Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, has said in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 34), "Demonstration is Immanuel, or God with us." Could there be greater joy than the consciousness of "God with us"?
