The word "shadow" has a diversity of meaning, but perhaps most often it is associated with darkness or obscuration. In the Biblical account of the works of the disciples after Jesus left them, this word is used with quite a different meaning. For example, in Acts we read of sick people being brought into the streets, with the hope that "at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them," and thus they would be healed. This attitude towards Peter and the faith he inspired in his healing ability brings such a different thought regarding shadow that we are reminded of Isaiah's heartening prophecy, "And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."
Picturing Peter as he moved among the people, yearning to help and heal even as his loved Master had done, we can but think of him as portraying the spirit of the Christ, which constantly animated Jesus and enabled him to prove the ever-presence of God Himself as dwelling consciously within him. Not only did he say to the people, "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works," but he assured them that the same realization and achievements were possible to all who believed and admitted oneness with God. So even as Jesus demonstrated the Christ, and declared that power to be the heritage of every individual, there should be an awakening in the hearts of all who heed his message to claim this indwelling spirit, and thus acquire faith in their individual God-given ability to do the works "with signs following." "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth," said Jesus. How unfailingly Mrs. Eddy understood the actuality of man's oneness with God! In her poem "Blest Christmas Morn," she thus refers to the Christ (Poems, p. 29):
"Thou God-idea, Life-encrowned,
The Bethlehem babe—
Beloved, replete, by flesh embound—
Was but thy shade!"
