QUESTION:
In Science and Health Mary Baker Eddy wrote, "Every day makes its demands upon us for higher proofs rather than professions of Christian power. These proofs consist solely in the destruction of sin, sickness, and death by the power of Spirit, as Jesus destroyed them. This is an element of progress, and progress is the law of God, whose law demands of us only what we can certainly fulfil" (p. 233).
This passage seems to be saying that if we are presented with death, then God's law supplies us what we need to eliminate it. However, the Apostle Paul stated, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (I Cor. 15:26).
According to the Gospel of John, Jesus raised Lazarus at the end of his ministry on earth. Was Jesus presented with Lazarus' death only at the time of his career when he could "certainly fulfil" the demand to raise him from death? Must we, too, demonstrate a lot of healing works before being able to raise the dead?
A1 Your question awakens us to the spiritual fact that Christ Jesus' command to heal the sick, minister to the downtrodden, and raise the dead was not meant to apply only to an elite band of disciples in his lifetime. It is a divine initiative–a universal mandate to humanity. His directive calls every individual in every age to action.
Prior to his own resurrection and the raising of Lazarus, Jesus healed countless people, including raising from death both Jairus's daughter and the son of the widow of Nain. The Bible implies that there may have been many others whom Jesus raised from the dead. I feel that the significance of those works has less to do with when in his ministry any one of these healings occurred and more to do with how perfectly each of them evidenced how Jesus consistently exercised spiritual sense—the capacity to understand Spirit—in order to overcome evil with good and to prove that everyone in God's creation is spiritual, perfect, and eternal.
Referring to the source of all spiritual power as "Our Father which art in heaven" (Matt. 6:9), Jesus encouraged and promised all of his followers that they would be able to use their God-given spiritual sense, too. That we all have the capacity to understand God and reflect God's healing power. We may feel our progress is slow, but we need not be discouraged. Mary Baker Eddy counseled that we should "Emerge gently from matter into Spirit. Think not to thwart the spiritual ultimate of all things, but come naturally into Spirit through better health and morals and as the result of spiritual growth" (Science and Health, p. 485). This tells me our spiritual sense can become stronger.
Christian Science shows how to meet each day with a sense of humility, how to put God first as the foundation of all action—to love Spirit as the source of all good—and to strive to exercise spiritual sense, our consciousness of good, in all aspects of our lives. As we do this, we grow spiritually, one healing thought at a time. And whether we're confronted with something as non-life-threatening as a headache or the raising of someone who has passed on, we begin to prove in ever-increasing degree that "Our Father which art in heaven" is assuredly blessings us with His law of progress.
NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS, US
A2 The Gospel of John points out the fact that "There are ... many ... things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written" (21:25). In light of that statement, we have to realize that we don't actually know how many people Jesus healed or how many times he may have raised the dead—possibly even at the beginning of his amazing healing career.
We do know from reading the Scriptures that Jesus understood his spiritual, divine mission to teach and heal. He never took personal credit for his sublime demonstrations or for his advanced spiritual development. As he humbly said, "I can of mine own self do nothing" (John 5:30). The Bible tells us that he often prayed all night, maintaining a beautiful altitude of thought in order to be immediately receptive to God's will of healing the sick and sinning and raising the dead.
In my own experience in Christian Science, long before I become a practitioner, one of my sons was raised from a lifeless state to his normal, healthy condition (see Christian Science Sentinel, June 6, 1977, p. 1066). Through deep, ardent, and vehement prayer, I realized that this beloved boy, being the eternal image of his divine Father-Mother—of Life itself—could not be anything but alive and well. I glimpsed something of the true meaning of Life as God, and that glimpse was enough to restore my son to life.
At another time, a beautiful barbet (small bird) that flew with great speed into my large picture window and appeared to be dead, flew away effortlessly after my persistent prayer acknowledging its life, all life, as spiritual, whole, and eternal.
So my answer is No! we do not have to have already demonstrated a lot of healing works before we are able to raise the dead. By striving to keep our thoughts on a spiritual level as Jesus consistently did, we will be receptive to the healing ideas we need in any situation and at any given time on our spiritual journey.
KLOOF, KWAZULU/NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA
A3 We don't necessarily to wait for or work up to what you might be thinking of as the ultimate case—the raising up of someone whose physical body has died. To me, the term "the last enemy" describes death as the final claim of material life—final in degree, but not as if on a scale of one to ten, death is the last and most difficult condition to overcome.
I think that Christ Jesus' first experience in overcoming the last enemy or ultimate illusion of materiality occurred in his infancy when he escaped Herod's death sentence imposed on all Hebrew children. Vulnerability to the cursed decree dissolved through the spiritual insight that directed his parents to move to Egypt. To me, this proved that even the baby Jesus had exactly what he needed to overcome death.
Throughout Jesus' adult healing ministry, every case he healed successfully challenged the illusion of material life as law—not just his raising of Lazarus. Jesus' example and his expectation that we would follow his example assures us that we, too, will always have exactly what we need to progress at every stage of experience. Not necessarily by receiving progressively tougher cases to be healed, but by continuing to understand the power of Spirit to break any illusion of sin, sickness, or death as part of anyone's life.
Every time we pray and overcome fear or see the powerlessness of sin or disease or any aspect of death to limit and control life, we are overcoming that last enemy. Spiritually meeting the challenges that arise each day—from refusing to be dishonest on our income taxes to praying for the insight that raises one from a sickbed or deathbed—we exercise the power of Spirit to overcome the death of honesty, of peace, of harmony—the death of life itself.
The demand for "higher proofs" doesn't have to be difficult or terrifying. Rather, we should find it reassuring and promising that through our ongoing study and practice of Christian Science, we will have what we need to deal effectively and appropriately with whatever condition confronts us, whatever stage in our spiritual development and progress.
SAINT-GERMAN-EN-LAYE, FRANCE
