Because Christ Jesus was mankind's Way-shower, his path must be followed by his disciples—including those of today's world. But one cannot emulate Jesus' mission until he understands at least in some degree the purpose of the Master's work.
Jesus' mission was universal. It was to reveal the kingdom of heaven, to redeem sinners, to show the way of salvation. He came to change the world's concept of substance. "His earthly mission was to translate substance into its original meaning, Mind," Miscellaneous Writings, p. 74. writes Mrs. Eddy. When he rose from the tomb, releasing himself from the binding graveclothes and rolling the stone away from the entrance, his triumph over the belief that matter could be the substance of life was almost complete. Forty days later his ascension proved with finality that Spirit is Life's substance. He left no material body to be buried.
Mankind is still entombed in the belief that matter is the condition of life. And each one needs to overcome this false concept of substance and roll away the stone that would imprison him in it. This stone is the hard and fast belief that life is in matter. Each one must roll it away and free himself from the mental entombment that stems from material thinking. As one gives up the concept of life as being in matter for spiritual understanding, he will begin to be freed from a material sense of substance and to grasp the meaning of Life as Mind, God.
