Article September 23, 1916 Issue

Scientific Selection

BLISS KNAPP

THERE is much to be gained in a study of the four gospels in the light of Christian Science, by thinking of Jesus as a student who was learning from his human experience; for it is written of him in the epistle to the Hebrews, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." When he recognized that "he did not many mighty works" in his home country, and that it was "because of their unbelief," he departed thence and ministered to others who were more worthy to receive. Doubtless he learned the merits of a discriminating examination to determine the fitness of an applicant for healing, all of which he tersely expressed as a warning to others when he said not to cast "pearls before swine." On page 234 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy says that we should "avoid casting pearls before those who trample them under foot, thereby robbing both themselves and others."

An ancient custom prevailed with the Jews which made it unlawful to have dealings with one of another nation. Contrary to that custom, a certain Greek woman, a Syrophenician, besought Jesus to heal her daughter. He promptly voiced the traditional caution of his race by saying to her, "Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs." It is recorded that he regarded the truth he taught as "the bread of life," and to cast that living bread to the unworthy or unprepared was impossible. His answer seems to imply that this woman was excluded from his benevolence because the law of tradition held her in a state of unpreparedness. She promptly challenged that position by those intuitive words, "Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs."

In this brief sentence the woman disclosed a wonderful concept of the imperishable nature of the bread of life, for would not the crumbs be consumed by God's lesser ideas? With that gleam of spiritual acumen portrayed so intelligently, Jesus was convinced of her worthiness, and he said to her, "For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter." This simple examination had proved the worthiness of the supplicant by a standard that admits of no mistaken sympathy or tradition. Personal sense and personal direction were swept aside, and divine guidance alone decided the issue in the final selection of the patient.

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