In some areas this time of the year many amateurs joyfully are rehearsing Handel's oratorio Messiah. That today people aren't content to let just the professionals sing this mighty work of praise to God may say something profound about the nature of messiah. Literally, "messiah" means anointed; when capitalized it refers to the Christ—and so to Jesus, the one who most expressed the Christ, delivering and saving the world. As understood in Christian Science, the task of saving the world isn't confined to one man, however unequaled his wonderful accomplishments, but is brought about by the Truth he embodied and demonstrated. As sometimes even audiences join in Messiah' s "Hallelujah Chorus," so each individual can recognize he is anointed to take a vital part in the Messianic mission of healing and saving the world through his allegiance to and practice of this same Truth.
The Christliness of true being impels us to correct error, solve problems; to heal and improve the lot of mankind. Because the Christ ideal constitutes the real man as God's reflection, a person in touch with his own actual being, and true thereto, is always working to improve the earth and those who dwell on it. Not only is he one on whom the light of the Christ shines, but he also represents that light for many who may at the moment find their lives darkened by disease and sin.
Such a healer constantly draws closer to the teachings of Jesus, which made him the Messiah, studies his works, and strives to emulate them. He accepts the Master's invitation "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me"Matt. 11:29; and finds himself linked with a grand purpose.
