To think of the mission of the Christ as having been completed within a certain period would be to lose sight of the spiritual message of the Scriptures; but to understand that the activity of the Christ is the perpetual manifestation of God, good, nullifying every form of evil, renders the Gospel narratives of practical value in daily life.
Because Christ Jesus was guided by spiritual sense and recognized his oneness with God more clearly than anyone else in human history, we find in his words and works the answer to all forms of evil suggestions that seem to rob mankind of happiness today. Consider, for example, the incident of the raising of the son of the widow of Nain. According to the narrative, Christ Jesus encountered a funeral procession and was moved with compassion at the sight of the widowed mother grieving because of the loss of her only son. The Master commanded the young man to arise and delivered him alive to his mother.
Material sense testified to death and sadness; but the Master's spiritual sense saw only life and joy, forever proceeding from Principle and eternally expressed. The human need was not ignored, but the aggressive mental suggestions were met with the clear perception of divine sonship as the perpetual, or timeless, manifestation of Life, Truth, and Love, leaving death and sorrow no identity. From the standpoint of divine Mind nothing had interfered with the continuous activity of Life and Love; but the human sense had to be awakened out of its belief that life is temporal and can be lost.
