In the midst of an age of materialism, of darkness and superstition, our blessed Master, Christ Jesus, through his teachings and example, gave to his own and succeeding generations the glorious light of a diviner sense of God. His deeds in fulfillment of his words, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," awakened human consciousness to perceive and in some measure to understand the spiritual nature of man as immortal or undying. His example was indeed the morning's dawn upon an erstwhile night of darkness and chaos among the citizens of earth.
From the outset of his career the lesson of eternal life was unfolded in ever-mounting degree until the climax was reached in his resurrection and ascension. When he appeared to his disciples three days after the crucifixion with the same fleshly form as before, "he proved," in the words of Mary Baker Eddy on page 44 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "Life to be deathless and Love to be the master of hate." His mission was both individual and universal, and the lesson is sufficient for all time.
Christ Jesus was our Way-shower, and that which he did is of vital import to us. When the Master ascended above the earthy vision of those around him, there must have been made manifest to him his incorporeal selfhood, invisible to the physical senses. Because of what he did it is possible for others also to emulate his example by overcoming death or the death process. The resurrection and ascension above all that is earthly and material is the goal our Master has set before us, and Christian Science reveals plainly what is meant by these footsteps of spiritual progress and ascent.
