The authority with which Christ Jesus represented himself as the Son of God enraged his opponents. Jesus, seeking to open their understanding, said, "If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God" (John 8:54). But they openly defied the idea of his sonship with God. Their dishonor of him was displayed to the fullest. He was accused, spat upon, ridiculed, slandered, and put to violent death. Jesus' knowledge, amid all this dishonor, that it was the Father that honored him must have been the supreme comfort that strengthened him and enabled him to go on and finish the work that the Father had given him to do.
The one and only would-be opponent, termed mortal mind in Christian Science, falsely claiming existence and activity apart from God, would still attempt to dishonor man's spiritual sonship with God. It would pervert, distort, and reverse the good that man represents, believing it can attack, accuse, condemn, and destroy the spiritual idea. The divine law, nevertheless, demands of us that we progressively demonstrate our sonship with God and receive the honor with which the Father honors us. If in this world we at any time have to drink of the cup of Jesus in having our good evilly spoken of, these very attacks of evil, when understood as delusive phases of mortal mind, powerless to harm us in our upward way, will serve to steady and strengthen us.
"It is my Father that honoureth me." What strength is found in this truth for the individual who in his demonstration of sonship may arouse the envy and hatred of mortal mind to its evil activity! Abiding in the consciousness of God's constantly sustaining love for us, and denying reality to mortal mind and its dishonor of our true, spiritual sonship with God, we are comforted and strengthened with the sense of divine provision and protection.
