For centuries many have believed that Christ Jesus had exclusive rights to the healing power of the Christ. Many have thought that the kinds of healings he accomplished were only possible to him; that they could not be accomplished by others. Christian Science, however, opens thought to the essential conclusion that Jesus didn't have exclusive right to the Christ-power—although he demonstrated the Christ, the true idea of God, to the fullest degree. Jesus let Christ, Truth, fully inspire his thoughts and actions. And look at the results! Wouldn't it, then, be logical for you and me to let the Christ influence us, by turning prayerfully away from materiality and looking deep into divine Truth and Love as Jesus did? By following Jesus' example of yielding to the Christ-power, we perceive the perfect man of God's creating—our genuine, spiritual selfhood. It's discerned right where sin and sickness claim to be and to have power, and so they're proved to be powerless. This is what Jesus proved. This is what we can prove.
Mary Baker Eddy gives this spiritual interpretation of Christ in Science and Health: "The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error." Science and Health, p. 583. Christ, the manifestation of God, is always doing something. It comes to fleshly thought to destroy sin and disease. It does the same thing today that it did in Jesus' time. It heals and saves. It is also preventive. Christ is not a passive agent of God. Christ is always active. Christ "comes to the flesh" to reveal man as manifesting the perfection and wholeness of God as God's reflection.
So, how does understanding this help us? It helps us by opening our thought to the Christ-power, which lifts consciousness above materiality to a perception of divine reality. It helps us because it bases our thought on Spirit, God, and His spiritual manifestation. Thought that's perceiving the oneness of God and man, that's actually conscious of this truth, promotes healing because it excludes any supposititious power or presence for matter or evil. Spiritually understanding God, and man's true selfhood as His expression, is what salvation rests upon. This understanding heals, saves, and preserves us from all the false claims of a so-called power unlike God.
Right in the midst of material belief and all its hubbub, Christ reveals the real man. As we accept this divine message, our real being—our spiritual perfection, wholeness, wellness—becomes evident in our lives in healing.
Jesus' healing ability sprang from his clear recognition of his identity as the Son of God. Perhaps one of the most profound and revealing statements Jesus made was in response to his question to his disciples "Whom say ye that I am?" See Matt. 16:13–17. The Bible indicates it was being rumored that Jesus wasn't the long-awaited Messiah but rather John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Yet Jesus was pointed in wanting to know who his disciples thought he was. And he didn't have to wait long for an answer. Simon Peter correctly responded, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus commended his answer by saying, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Jesus praised Peter for utilizing his spiritual ability to see the reality of Christ as expressed by Jesus.
Isn't this the same question facing you and me today? Who do we say or believe we are? Are we mortal man's supposed creation or God's creation, the ideal man as revealed by Christ, Truth? In the study of Christian Science, we find that the ability to reason spiritually, to look beyond what the physical senses tell us, to be receptive of the divine message of man's perfection, is indispensable to spiritual growth and healing. Science and Health instructs us, "Look away from the body into Truth and Love, the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality." Science and Health, p. 261 . It is important to realize that this counsel is not just to look away from the physical body and its concomitants, but to do it by looking to God, Truth and Love, to see what He is revealing of the true nature and condition of man. God shows man to be His image. Isn't this what we see when we look into Truth and Love—God's image, the offspring of Spirit? Isn't it our spiritual identity as the individualized reflection of God that we must recognize when we turn our gaze from matter to Truth and Love? Isn't this what Christ comes to make manifest in us right here and now? Indeed, the Bible speaks of "... Christ in you, the hope of glory." Col. 1:27.
So, how do we look beyond the report of the physical senses, beyond matter and its false testimony, to see the reality of man's true selfhood? This perhaps can be illustrated by an experience of a friend of mine. She and her husband were wakened one evening by their daughter, who was complaining of great pain in her side and stomach. As Christian Scientist, they naturally turned to prayer. They spoke to their daughter of God's great love for her—of her true selfhood, of the Christly consciousness she reflects as God's child. They called a Christian Science practitioner to pray as well. There were times of comfort and times of intense pain. Each time their daughter was in discomfort, they would reaffirm in prayer her perfection, her wholeness, her wellness as given to her by God, good, never to be taken away. The practitioner reminded the parents of the statement quoted above: "Look away from the body into Truth and Love, the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality." To the parents, this didn't mean to turn away from their daughter in time of great need, but instead, to turn to God, man's creator, to understand man's perfection spiritually—to see the real man revealed by Christ—right where there appeared to be a sick child. The parents were able to look away from the false testimony of the physical senses to see their daughter as God's perfect child. As they did this, the situation yielded. Before long their daughter was up and playing happily. The healing was complete.
Like my friends, we too can learn that there is actually no mortal selfhood; God and His spiritual manifestation are all. Spiritually understanding this, we find that the Christ-power is expressed in us, showing man to be whole. So, if you're asking yourself "Who do I say I am?" and if you are reasoning spiritually according to what the Father has revealed through Christ—and letting your thought be inspired by the Christ—the answer will be, "I am the son/daughter of 'the living God.'"
