Editorial July 15, 1916 Issue

A Sacred Ministry

Archibald McLellan

In the thirteenth chapter of St. Luke, the fourteenth verse, there is more than a hint of the mistake which was made by a Hebrew religionist in regard to Jesus' ministry. It is well worth while for Christian Scientists to ponder this verse, so that they may not fall into the same mistake, not only in regard to the Master's work but also as to their own. This is the chapter in which is related the healing of the woman "which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself." After this daughter of Abraham had been healed and had given voice to her gratitude, it is related that "the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day."

From this statement it is easy to see that this man utterly failed to grasp the significance and the source of Jesus' healing ministry, and likewise the spiritual power and import of his teachings, which were the basis of this ministry. To the finite sense of this master in Israel the healing of this woman, although it transcended all material possibilities, was nothing more than the day's work of an itinerant stroller who was earning his living by such exhibitions of healing power. That the healing was through the grace of God, and that it resulted from the understanding of God which Jesus possessed and preached, seems not to have entered his thought. Had he realized the divine character of the healing which had been done before his very eyes, he would have seen that it was not only as appropriate to the Sabbath day as it was to the other days of the week, but also that it was inevitable whenever and wherever God was understood. No doubt he believed, as did other of his coreligionists, that our Master healed through Beelzebub, the prince of devils, and that in some way his motive was personal aggrandizement; hence that his was not a divine or religious ministry, but a trade or profession at which he worked for personal gain.

The lesson which Christian Scientists will do well to take from this incident is that mortal mind has changed but little in the succeeding nineteen hundred years, and that a large part of the world now regards them and their ministry as Jesus and his ministry were regarded by this ruler of the synagogue. The divine nature of their work is denied, their sincerity and good faith are impugned, and they are looked upon as persons who have no higher aim than to obtain what the world considers a good living without manual labor. That this is a misconception of the ministry of Christian Scientists need not be said to any one who has really felt "the power of the Word" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 398), but every Christian Scientist who knows anything at all of the alleged power of mortal mind knows that it is necessary for him at all times to keep himself "clad in the panoply of Love" (Science and Health, p. 571), so that he may withstand the temptations which would impel him to accept mortal mind's estimate of Christian Science as his guide to practice.

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