Article February 23, 1924 Issue

"She turned herself"

GRACE M. PUTNAM

We read in the Bible that after the crucifixion, Mary came to the sepulcher, stooped down and gazed into it, searching for Jesus. Human pity for the suffering of a dear friend made her forget for the time his teaching; and so she looked into the sepulcher, and wept. Then the loved voice called, "Mary"; and "she turned herself." Her reward was great, in that she was privileged to see the Master after his crowing demonstration over death, and glimpse the great fact of eternal life.

It sometimes seems incredible to us, in the light that Christian Science has thrown upon the Scriptures, that those so closely associated with Jesus as the disciples should have been so slow to grasp his meaning; but let us not condemn hastily. Most of us have seen wonderful demonstrations of healing through the understanding of Christian Science, and we talk knowingly of the inseparability of God and His idea; yet how often do we weep over some dear one who has passed from sight! We talk of the eternal now; and yet, do we not rehearse lost opportunities and mistakes as though they were realities? We testify to God's protection and care; and then depend, perhaps, more on money for support than on divine Mind. What is all this but looking down into the sepulcher instead of up to the living Christ? Just so long as we lean upon a material god for supply, and just so long as human sympathy tempts us to gaze at suffering—the result of false beliefs, our own or another's—as real, just so long are we delaying the demonstration, which will be made in proportion as we turn ourselves from materiality and look up to the living Christ. Mrs. Eddy says in her book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 468): "Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual." We shall never prove the truth of this joyful statement by stooping down and looking into the sepulcher. The sepulcher meant to Jesus a place wherein to work out the great fact of being alone with God; and as Mary saw this, she beheld the Master, the stone was rolled away from her heart, and then she went, radiantly happy, to carry the Master's message to the others.

Mrs. Eddy writes (Poems, p. 76):—

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