Christ Jesus threw wide the door to the realization of immortality when from the cross he prayed God to forgive all who had taken part in his crucifixion. Indeed his physical resurrection may be looked upon as merely the outward appearance of the mental resurrection that was expressed in his forgiveness. In this act of supreme exemplification of divine Love, which was the culmination of his career, he showed forth God's holy purpose.
Then may we not consider that His holy purpose for each one of us "is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel"?II Tim. 1:10; Is not our resurrection from the belief of life and intelligence in matter—with its concomitant hatred, sensuality, and general inhumanity to our fellowmen—the door through which our own immortality must come to light?
Within the teaching of Christian Science we find that immortality is not a perpetuation of so-called life in matter, for there is, in reality, no such life. Life is Spirit, God, which in its essence must be eternal, and each individual reflects divine Life. Jesus both defined life to his disciples and assured mankind of its realization. He said, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."John 17:3; As we define life as an understanding of God and His Son, we will find that eternal life is the perpetual unfoldment in consciousness of an understanding of God, good, and of nothing else. Then we can see the necessity for the redemptive action of forgiveness that purges human thought of its criticism and condemnation in order that we may be conscious of good alone.
Human will resists this reformative action as it did in the time of Jesus. Mere academic learning of the Scripture is not sufficient to break through the wall of stubborn human resistance to resurrection; one requires the inspiration of spiritual understanding. Even the inspired teaching of the Master was not sufficient to awaken his followers fully until they had witnessed the manifestation of his resurrection. Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health: "His resurrection was also their resurrection. It helped them to raise themselves and others from spiritual dulness and blind belief in God into the perception of infinite possibilities." Science and Health, p. 34;
His own followers could not believe the report of his resurrection as given to them by the faithful Mary, whose persistence at the tomb had revealed to her the first piercing rays of a dawning Eastertide. Their "spiritual dulness" had denied them an immediate part in the resurrection of their Master until Jesus appeared to some of them on the road to Emmaus. They later commented, "Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" Luke 24:32;
In the resurrection, the supremacy of Spirit, the might and intelligence of Mind, and the serenity of Soul unfold as the law of God, divine Principle. Through this realization of Truth and with the compassion of Love, we all must demonstrate the true idea of immortal Life and substance.
In calling Lazarus from the tomb, Jesus proved the might and intelligence of Mind to dispel an illusion of material sense. But this resurrection through Christ Jesus' understanding left for Lazarus the work of advancing in his own understanding of God to the ultimate demonstration of immortality. He still required the "resurrection," which our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, defines in our textbook, Science and Health, as, "Spiritualization of thought; a new and higher idea of immortality, or spiritual existence; material belief yielding to spiritual understanding."Science and Health, p. 593;
The same work left for Lazarus to do remains for us. Salvation is individual. The Master's example and method are ours to follow. Through the regenerative action of the Christ active in our thought we must awaken from the dream of life in matter to the realization of the kingdom of God within our own consciousness. This realization will be to us a "new and higher idea of immortality."
Our resurrection comes as thought is spiritually uplifted to know only that which is found in the divine consciousness. This uplifted thought is accomplished as we begin to acknowledge that God is All—infinite, omnipresent good—and base our concept of man, His image, upon this source. Purity, truthfulness, humility, love, holiness, integrity, constitute the nature of the image of God. Resurrection from the false concept of man as a sinning mortal embound in matter to the consciousness of man's true spiritual identity as the son of God will unfold to us a demonstrable understanding of God.
Whether the false concept seems to be a mortal depressed with sickness or deprived by lack and frustration or surrounded by danger or retarded by inadequacy, the work to be done is much the same. Man's true health is holiness, spiritual consciousness; his supply is an influx of active ideas; he is environed in the kingdom of heaven: and he is inspired, motivated, and activated by divine impulsion—the desire to reflect good. The integrity of man's consciousness as a spiritual idea reveals concrete being, and this is eternal. Neither hate, fear, nor sensual desire can pull down the ascending thought that knows this.
These are the qualities we must claim for ourselves and for our concept of others. Only the ascending thought that redeems character and spiritualizes consciousness will experience the resurrection. Such thought alone persists in righteous endeavor and, unmoved by inhumanity's violence, transcends it in constant love for and expectancy of the appearance of the Christ.
This resurrection comes to us as the destruction of sin in human consciousness, and this is an individual experience. The Christian Scientist accepts this duty and asserts with confidence in the words of the textbook, "We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal." p. 497. "God's forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin" must be expressed by our forgiving if it is to quicken our resurrection from the claims of mortal mind.
When our forgiveness resolves hatred into affection, condemnation into appreciation, domination into humility, and criticism into praise, we have evidence of the Christ dissolving the obduracy of mortal mind and revealing man in the likeness of God.
A sincere and unselfish study and practice of the Science underlying Jesus' life-work reveals that hatred redeemed by Love, false concepts redeemed by Truth, and corporeality redeemed by Life are the outward manifestations of true resurrection. This is that resurrection of the Christ-idea in human consciousness that ultimates in the realization of immortal man.
When Jesus forgave all, he included Judas, who had betrayed him. But this forgiveness did not do Judas' work for him, as witness the mode of his death. In like manner, our forgiveness of those who perpetrate lies, slander, and defamation today may not do their work for them. Possibly it may not even be visible to them until their own reformation embraces restitution and redemption. But it will be a vast step in assuring our own resurrection.
A student of Christian Science was once assailed by an attack of criminal lies made with the avowed purpose of utterly destroying him. At first the apparent insanity of the attack kept him from being angry, but when friends began to accept the lies and turn against him, he became bitterly angry. He did much sincere work to clear up the situation but without completely forgiving those who seemed to be causing the trouble. After many months of prayer he became associated in succession with several people who manifested a strongly tyrannical and domineering attitude. Then he realized that he was dominated not by people but by hatred itself, and that the experience was only the objectification of his thought.
His prayer became less selfish as he asked himself if he was willing to have his spirituality judged by his obedience to the Mind that was his Father-Mother God—obedience that included obeying the command to love our enemies. He saw that the spiritual truth of man's perfection existed instead of the contrary illusions, and that he must love in anticipation of the Christ appearing. His thought cleared and his experience became one of peace as he saw that he need not respond to evil. And as he met with compassion what presented itself, he remained at peace. Forgiveness resurrected his thought from that of an erring mortal to an expression in some measure of the ever-present Christ. So as mankind resurrect the Christ-idea in consciousness, peace will be universal and Easter will be continuous.
Praise, anticipation, and gratitude must enlighten our way. Then as we walk our road to Emmaus, realizing the imperishable substance of Life, our hearts will burn with the light of Truth and our countenances will glow with the warmth of Love. When we see that resurrection, not death, is the door to immortality, we will find that forgiveness is the golden key to that door.
