It is evident that when Jesus said (Luke 2:49), "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" he meant that his prime necessity was to know and to do the will of his heavenly Father, divine Mind, and also that he did not refer to any material business or merely human occupation. This question of the Master's has, however, been used by some students of Christian Science as a basis for the claim that, whatever the nature of their business or occupation, it is, nevertheless, the "Father's business."
It should be plain that divine Mind, Spirit, does not participate in any material business, however important or useful that business may appear to those engaged in it, or to anyone else. There are many businesses, occupations, and professions which are performing helpful functions in society, but this does not warrant the assertion that they are, strictly speaking, the "Father's business." They become such just to the extent that the divine qualities of integrity, truthfulness, usefulness, activity, righteousness, justice, spirituality, and so forth, are reflected by those who are engaged in them.
The business of Mind, Soul, Principle, is to manifest or express itself as man and the spiritual universe. And it is the business of man, created in God's likeness, to be that expression, manifestation, or idea. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 470), "Man is the expression of God's being." As such it is obvious that the real and only business of man is to express the divine nature, to reflect those qualities that are Godlike, to embody the ideas that constitute Mind's creation, to be governed and sustained by God's law.
