In what has been appropriately designated as "the pearl of parables," Christ Jesus bequeathed to humanity a lesson of great spiritual import.
Briefly summarized, according to the account in Luke, a man had two sons. Pursuant to the request of the junior son, the property was divided between the two heirs. Soon thereafter, the younger gathered up his share and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his inheritance by unwise living. Everything dissipated, and a time of want being experienced in that land, he was obliged to hire himself out as a swineherd, and would fain have fed upon the carobs given to the swine. "On coming to his senses" (Weymouth), he realized the error of his ways, and, humbly penitent, exclaimed, "I will arise and go to my father." The conclusion of the parable, the warm welcome that awaited his return to his father, and the rejoicing that acclaimed his reformation and restoration, are too familiar to warrant recounting.
Students of Christian Science learn through the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of this Science of Christianity, how to glean from Jesus' parable lessons of practical application for the healing of sorrow, sickness, and sin. Early in the study of this Science, it is discerned that man, spiritually created, is the child of God, or as Paul phrased it in his letter to the Romans, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." The wanderer in the "far country" of material ways of thinking and living experiences depreciation of his realization of spiritual inheritance, but when the awaking thought becomes aware of the true identity of man as spiritual, not physical, and turns away from the false sense of existence, there ensues a constantly increasing freedom from the husks of materiality. God and His idea, man, are inseparable, and in the kingdom of heaven, harmony, there is always the unlimited joy and complete protection of the Father's universal bounty.
