Christ Jesus' mission on earth was to heal, to save, and to redeem all mankind. Universal salvation was his text. He acknowledged God as the Father of all and taught that the kingdom of heaven will reign upon earth when each individual recognizes himself as truly God's beloved son. Throughout the ages many holy-minded men and women have caught glimpses of this great truth, glimpses which enabled their own and following generations to bear witness to Love's triumph over the problems that human experience presents. When mankind are redeemed by the overcoming of evil through understanding and obeying the demands of Truth, God is glorified.
An inspiring example of redemption is that of Paul. Before his conversion to Christianity, he was a persecutor of those whose love and devotion to God and to their Master were incomprehensible to him. However, his very sincerity in doing what he believed to be morally right made him receptive to a change of heart. The light of Truth with its divine revelation dawning upon his darkened consciousness seemed to blind him momentarily, but his humility and love of Truth led him forward to become one of the greatest Christian leaders of all time.
Paul gained the true sense of right; and the qualities of sincerity and steadfastness which he had been expressing from the outset of his career were now used in new ways, and they helped to sustain him. Thus he grew in grace, widening his horizons to recognize the limitlessness of divine Love's blessing for all mankind.
When the great truth of Christian Science was revealed to our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, she saw that the ceaseless striving for a higher understanding of God and of man's inseparability from Him results in universal blessings. With loving compassion for those who seem to be victims of evil, she writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 327), "Evil is sometimes a man's highest conception of right, until his grasp on good grows stronger." Mrs. Eddy recognized the need to understand what good is, in order truly to desire it. She was the revelator to this age of the healing and regenerating truths of Christian Science.
This Science exposes the nothingness, therefore the powerlessness, of evil by giving the true concept of God, good, who includes all in His care. Divine Love, being universal, cannot be excluded; hence all mankind is cherished in Love's infinite embrace, and humanity is blessed as this fact is acknowledged.
In our Leader's autobiography, "Retrospection and Introspection" (pp. 13, 14), we read that the realization of this great truth of universal Love stirred her thought to such an extent when she was a young girl of twelve that she could not reconcile the God who is Love with the doctrine of predestination. A fever which resulted from her disturbed thought was healed when she turned to God and His love, as her mother bade her do. This young girl, Mary Baker, destined to be a great spiritual Leader, must have caught a glimpse then of the Christ, Truth. Later the revelation of Christian Science enabled her to lead many thousands forth from the wilderness of human doubts, fears, and material beliefs and into the understanding of God as divine Principle, governing all, impartially and universally.
Mrs. Eddy saw that human beings, who seem to be victims of sin, can be awakened to see their true selfhood as God's reflection; that as they understand and demonstrate the truths of being in daily life, thus forsaking sin, they are freed from sin's penalties. Our Leader states in the third tenet of Christian Science, as given on page 497 of Science and Health: "We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts."
The individual who claims a selfhood apart from God is guilty of sin. However, the suffering which results will force him to look higher for the satisfaction he had vainly sought in matter. This satisfaction leads to the recognition of true, spiritual individuality, forever safe with God. Freedom from the spurious claims of material personality affords such inspiration that one is enabled to look with healing compassion upon those still laboring under the delusion that they can think, speak, or act independently of omnipresent power. By one's demonstration of true selfhood, spiritual blessings are shared wherever thought is receptive to them.
Let us remind ourselves of the selflessness of Stephen, expressed in this cry as he was being stoned: "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge" (Acts 7:60). What an example of that loving compassion which does not leave the so-called sinner helplessly and hopelessly bound to evil. Our loving forgiveness and vision of man's true selfhood help to redeem the sinner by leading him gently to a higher concept of goodness and immortality. Is not the conversion of Paul, who had consented to Stephen's death, evidence of the transforming power of the truth?
The consecrated life of our Leader provides many examples of selfless labor. She not only forgave, but in the true Christ-sprit she led lovingly to a clearer concept of real selfhood some of those who at first denied her revelation of Christian Science and denounced her personally.
As followers of our beloved Leader, we need to realize and demonstrate that the brotherhood of man includes all of God's sons. The kingdom of heaven will become a reality upon earth only when those with a personal sense of good admit that "there is none good but one, that is, God" (Matt. 19:17) and those who are indulging in evil acknowledge that there is but one God, who is good; hence there is no devil to be served, nor a devil to hold one in bondage.
These truths banish the belief of personal sense claiming the right to sin, even when one is willing to pay the penalty attached. Mortals invariably find the price of sin higher than expected. The denial of evil's claims, obvious or subtle, binds men together in mutual acknowledgment of God and man as inseparable.
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." These loved verses from I John (3:2, 3) point the way to eternal redemption for all. It is now our privilege and our joy to cherish this hope and to awaken it in others.
