Looking at the headlines, one has to ask: Can entrenched beliefs, self-interest, fear, yield through peaceful means to the claims of divine justice and divine Love? Can systems that institutionalize racial prejudice and discrimination be changed without a resort to violence? Is it wrong to hope against hope in today's world?
No, it's not wrong. It's essential. It's not too late. It will never be too late. The history of mankind shows that the darkest hour can be the birthing hour of humanity's greatest hope, of our deliverance from evil. Doesn't the resurrection of our Master, Christ Jesus, have this significance for us?
Jesus of Nazareth, the long-promised Messiah, the Son of God, had been crucified; hatred had pierced the side of the representative of divine Love; human law had been perverted to destroy the mouthpiece of divine law; disciples had despaired and deserted; the sky had literally turned black. But the demonstration of divine Love went ahead unimpeded and without faltering. Enemies were forgiven. Love rolled back the gravestone and gave to humanity a transfiguring hope and proof of the power of divine Love. The light of this transcendent proof of the unquenchable love of God shines on our world even now. It cannot be darkened or obliterated. No one who glories in the resurrection of our Lord can believe that any human situation is beyond hope.
The Christian knows there is a way to feel and prove this power of divine Love. But don't we need to walk in the way? Our lives must be the spiritual transparency through which the Christ light of Truth and Love shines. Animated by divine Love, our lives will shine with true brotherhood, moral courage, unselfishness, affection, and spiritual strength. Spiritual baptism cleanses us from the carnal-mindedness that would shade God's window. The Christian rejects Cain's self-centered cry "Am I my brother's keeper?"
Gen. 4:9. and strives to heed our Master's instruction "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
Matt. 19:19.
The great Christians Peter and Paul had their lives and views radically changed by the action of Christ, Truth. Peter found his prejudice against Gentiles, engendered by centuries of tradition, rebuked by God. His fidelity to God proved to be stronger than his fidelity to tradition and personal sense. His meeting with Cornelius gave him proof that God was not a national, racial, or tribal deity; neither was one people favored above another.
Acts 10:1-48
Saul of Tarsus, not yet the Christian Paul — fighting to preserve the purity of his religious beliefs, thoroughly schooled in tradition and the special history of his people, zealous against change, persecuting the Christian Church—was stopped in his tracks by the revelation of Christ Jesus, and he was forever changed.
Acts 9:1-20 Did he see, too, that one universal God and one Christ would inevitably lead to unity among men and nations? He writes eloquently about the demand for loving all—and then going on to abound even more in that love.
Mrs. Eddy speaks to this point frequently in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health: "It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man will be established. Having no other gods, turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, having that Mind which was also in Christ."
Science and Health, p. 467 .
We need to acknowledge that it is possible for us to have that Mind which was in Christ Jesus.
See Phil. 2:5.This acknowledgment is more important than we think. Reading one of Dostoevski's novels a couple of years ago, I came across this passage in a discussion about Christlike love. One of the characters says, "To my thinking, Christ-like love for men is a miracle impossible on earth. He was God. But we are not gods."
Fyodor Dostoevski,The Brothers Karamazov (New York: The Modern Library, 1950), p. 281.
Don't these sentences expose an unspoken belief ignorantly or knowingly held by much of mankind—the belief that Christlike love is beyond our ability? Yet turning to the Gospels and the entire New Testament, we do not find Christ Jesus teaching, I am God, and the commandments I give you are impossible to fulfill. Rather he taught and emphasized man's God-given ability to be Christlike; to live the Christlike love that heals sickness and disease and, more important, saves all from sin. As Paul was to write, "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
Phil. 2:13.
Christlike love comes from an understanding of the true nature of God and of man as His creation. The Bible teaches that God is good, divine Love, infinite Spirit. It teaches that God is One and All and that there is no other creative force or presence. In the first chapter of the Bible we read that God declares, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."
Gen. 1:26.
We can no more have two kinds of man than we can have two kinds of God. Christ Jesus brought to light the significance of the spiritual fact that man is the image and likeness of God. What greater love could be expressed than that which relieves people from the curse of believing that they are descendants of the sinning race of Adam—or any of its geographical divisions—and reveals instead that they are the beloved of God. There is no fallen or second-class man in the creation of God. And there is no hierarchy of human beings based on race, nationality, or point of origin. God's man means generically all of us in our true being; and all are His idea, the image of divine Love.
Neither self-interest, religious and political power, fear, nor intolerance can withstand the action of Christlike love. This love is not mere emotion. It expresses the authority, majesty, and power of the Most High. It dissolves every element of hate, lust, fear, greed, and all the etceteras of the carnal mind. Love neutralizes fear. Love is seen in leadership, courage, justice, inspiration, and wisdom. Love reveals the natural unity of mankind and reveals the possibility of attaining good. It empowers endeavor. Because Love is the only creator, Love creates the original and inspired ideas that lead to solutions right where the limited human mind despairs of finding any. This divine thought-force generates the action of Love and embraces all mankind.
Neither the Sanhedrin nor the armies of Rome could halt the resurrection of Christ Jesus; neither can any contemporary religious or political opposition hinder the ultimate demonstration of divine Love. But such love must be lived. It needs to be the fiber and substance of our own thinking and living. The animus for change need not be violence and suffering; Christlike love can impel change through divine Science. There are encouraging signs of the Christian awakening of mankind and of a desire for deeper spirituality among Christians. These stirrings deserve support. They must be greatly augmented through the power of prayer and Christian demonstration. It can be done through Christlike love. It is the need of our day.
The advent of Christ Jesus and the advent of Christian Science have changed the world unalterably. We have the spiritual example of our Master and the teaching of the Comforter that enable us to demonstrate the reign of Christ, Truth. Are we awake to the potent resources of Truth at hand?
Do we see that true Christianity places us in the realm of God and His Christ, under the reign of Truth, Life, and Love? To recognize that we are under the authority and government of God frees us from feeling that the demonstration of Christlike love can be curtailed or hindered by human policy, governments, political factions, expediency. The Christian can reply to such suggestions as Jesus did to Pilate, "Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above."
John 19:11.
The Christian bears witness to a new order. He bears witness to the power and authority of God. And to the degree that Christians do bear witness to this truth, the world is changed. The power of Christlike love was underestimated by the people in Jesus' day. But the memory of his resurrection encourages us all to acknowledge and to bear witness to its message again today.
