Editorial January 15, 1916 Issue

The Master's Program

Annie M. Knott

In the fourth chapter of Luke's gospel we read of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, his complete victory over the world, the flesh, and evil, then his entry upon his earthly ministry. We are told that he taught in the synagogues in Galilee and was "glorified of all" because of the spiritual power which he manifested. Then we read that he came to Nazareth, where his boyhood and youth had been spent, and on the Sabbath day entered the synagogue and stood up to read. The book of Isaiah was handed him, and these inspiring words of the prophet were chosen by him: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." This passage as found in Luke is not the complete text as given in the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, but it is substantially the same, and what really concerns us is to grasp so far as we can the Master's own sense of its meaning.

As we read the account of that scene in the synagogue at Nazareth, it is easy to see how all the spiritually-minded must have been thrilled by the new and vital meaning given to familiar words, but when Christ Jesus went on to insist upon the application of the truth contained in Isaiah's words, those present "were filled with wrath." He reminded them that none save a lone widow was ready to accept spiritual help from Elijah in the great famine, the woman whose son was awakened from the dream of death. He also reminded them that although there were many lepers in their own land in the days of Elisha, only Naaman the Syrian was healed by the prophet. So enraged were Jesus' hearers at this that they sought to kill him, and they did drive him out of their city, but this only sent him to other places to demonstrate what a modern writer has called "the full content of Christianity," which beyond all question includes the healing of sickness as well as of sin, and "the manifestation of the sons of God."

Now no professed Christian would deny that God could heal the sick if He chose, and that Jesus did heal all manner of sickness, and even raised the dead, but they halt before his demand that his followers shall do the same. Christian Scientists, however, have proved the truth of their Leader's words on page 495 of Science and Health: "God will heal the sick through man, whenever man is governed by God. Truth casts out error now as surely as it did nineteen centuries ago." No Christian would deny that sin can be overcome by divine power and that it is man's duty and privilege to be a coworker with God in this respect, but the Master's complete program has been virtually denied a place in present-day Christianity.

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