WHEN Jesus of Nazareth overturned the money changers' tables in the courts of the temple, it is believed by many that his act held far deeper implication than that of sharp rebuke to irreverence and cupidity. Considered in the light of his entire ministry, may not his deed be taken to symbolize the overturning of the material concept of existence to make way for the true? His authoritative measures on that occasion 'appear to be a step in illustration of this spiritual purpose, as were also his parables and the proofs of divine Principle given in his works. Jesus' healing ministry was a type of religious expression so radically different from the formalism of the prevailing order that his works were called miracles, and were misunderstood or bitterly resented by members of the Sanhedrin and other religious groups versed merely in the letter of the Mosaic law, and still untouched by the gospel of the Nazarene, the gospel of Love's fulfillment of the law.
Jesus overturned, but he did not destroy anything actual. This is conveyed in his own words, "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." He could not have destroyed one jot or tittle of reality, the creation of the Father, or divine Principle, whose business he had come to carry out, whose law he had come to fulfill. How he fulfilled the divine purpose may be said to be set forth by Mrs. Eddy in these words in the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p.20):"He taught mortals the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God." Could there have been a more constructive method by which to establish himself as the Way-shower of mankind?
Jesus came to teach the reality of Spirit and all things spiritual—the opposite of mortality, or God's nature, the eternal perfection of Spirit. Searching the Scriptures in this light, one sees the scientific method of the Way-shower, sees that by bringing out the manifestation of divine Mind he destroyed only carnal beliefs.
