Article November 14, 1931 Issue

Becoming a Student

LUCY HAYS REYNOLDS

Christ Jesus and his little band of disciples stand out as examples of the highest type of spiritual teacher and teachable students. With what eagerness did the disciples hang upon his every word; and with what illumination, out of the grand tones of his divine wisdom, did he open their understanding to the great truths of being, until these truths sank deep into their lives and were proved practical and powerful through demonstration! The Master's selection of students was based on his discernment of their spiritual qualities, which enabled them, despite their human weaknesses, to respond to his exalted instruction. This receptivity made possible the spontaneous unfolding to them of the glory of divine being, and caused the revealed truth to become dynamic in transforming their lives.

Jesus declared that though heaven and earth should pass away his words would never pass away. He promised, also, to send the Holy Ghost, "the Spirit of truth," to teach humanity the things of God and bring to its remembrance all that he had said. Hence, the immortal teachings of the Master are living truths, continuously radiating spiritual light upon human consciousness, to be recognized and understood through Christian Science by the lowly and meek in heart, and the untutored, as well as the deep and learned thinker. Just as the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy are the preachers in Christian Science churches, so are these textbooks the teachers in the Christian Science classroom. Thus, instruction in divine Science provides for the impartation of the pure teachings of Christ Jesus, as given to the centuries through the Bible and interpreted scientifically by Christian Science.

Now, what were the qualifications for discipleship which the Master required of his students? Certainly, they were not those of humanly circumscribed intellectual capacities. The modes and codes of human knowledge could never have taught the Science of being to the disciples. Has the profoundest of human learning ever recognized or understood the Christ? No; because the intelligence of godliness is very different from the finite so-called human intellect. The great Teacher likened Spirit to the wind, which "bloweth where it listeth," and men cannot tell "whence it cometh, and whither it goeth."

Send a comment to the editors