As Christians we have had prescribed for us by the great Master, Christ Jesus, a nontransferable responsibility. It is clearly stated in a command of Jesus to his disciples. When he sent them forth armed with spiritual power to heal, he said to them, "As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand."Matt. 10:7; And then he added, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give." This was a clarion call to his disciples to be humanitarians— to become conscious of the need for better health and well-being among their brother men and to meet that need through the healing gospel of the Christ, which he had so generously imparted to them for this purpose.
We have no lesser responsibility to spread the healing gospel of the Christ because we live today instead of in Jesus' time. He made this point unmistakable when he declared, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also."John 14:12; Is it not obvious that few as yet have taken his word seriously enough to obey him?
Christian Scientists find today, just as Jesus' disciples did, that his call for action against sin, disease, and death cannot be transferred to someone else. Now as then, and of necessity, to the degree that they are obedient to the Master's teachings and fulfill their healing responsibility to their brother men, are they able to affirm "I understand" or "I follow faithfully."
