During his three years' ministry, Christ Jesus often taught by means of stories or parables. We are told in various places in the Gospel narratives that he was able spiritually to discern the thoughts of his listeners. When he knew that these thoughts were evil, or the questions asked him sinister in motive, he sometimes forbore to speak the whole truth. Wisdom bade him withhold explanation of his statements from those who were spiritually unprepared. Thus he protected himself and his earthly mission.
A remarkable example of such an instance is related in the tenth chapter of Luke's Gospel, when "a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" In turn Jesus asked, "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" To this the lawyer replied, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." Jesus accepted the answer, saying, "This do, and thou shalt live." The lawyer, however, pursued the subject further with the question, "And who is my neighbour?" Jesus then set forth the story of the good Samaritan, and asked the lawyer which of the characters in the story of the Samaritan exhibited the qualities of true neighborliness. When the lawyer answered rightly, Jesus said, "Go, and do thou likewise."
The story of the unfortunate man who fell among thieves and the kindly Samaritan who ministered unto him has since become the model for neighborly conduct and philanthropy. This spiritual concept of true neighborliness lay hidden within the pages of the Holy Scriptures until, in the middle of the nineteenth century, one arose whose insight was pure enough to discern the practical nature of this parable for all who would follow the life of Christ Jesus in deed. This one was Mary Baker Eddy, and, in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 88), she writes, "To love one's neighbor as one's self is a divine idea; but this idea can never be seen, felt, nor understood through the physical senses." It is apparent then that the material concept of humanitarianism is insufficient to fulfill the demands of Christ Jesus and of Christian Science. To do this, the true idea of both ourselves and our neighbor must be discerned, and as the Christian Scientist studies and practices the truths about God and man contained in the pages of the textbook, his concepts of his neighbor and of himself are proportionately spiritualized.
