The Easter season brings a renewed emphasis on the cross of our Master and the crown of his glorious victory. The cross was not the zenith of Jesus' lifework. His resurrection from the grave and his ascension were the true climax, for by them he proved life to be eternal.
Let us give due consideration to Jesus on the cross, but let us also realize and acknowledge his crown of victory over death and the grave, his sublime success in destroying all inharmony and in nullifying material laws, so called. He proved the Christ to be eternal, indestructible, ever victorious. Jesus' bearing of the cross enabled him to fulfill his mission of demonstrating the perfection and completeness of the Christ and of proving the power of Life over death.
In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes of the crucifixion experience (p. 50): "The burden of that hour was terrible beyond human conception. The distrust of mortal minds, disbelieving the purpose of his mission, was a million times sharper than the thorns which pierced his flesh. The real cross, which Jesus bore up the hill of grief, was the world's hatred of Truth and Love." And on the next page she explains, "It was the possible loss of something more important than human life which moved him,—the possible misapprehension of the sublimest influence of his career."
