Article August 10, 1940 Issue

True Labor

HERBERT BUCHER

In the Gospel according to Luke, it is recorded that Christ Jesus, instructing the seventy disciples whom he was sending forth on a mission of healing and preaching, said to them, "The labourer is worthy of his hire." This statement has been pondered by many, accepted, and found practical. While it may and should be taken literally in its application to human conduct, it is, nevertheless, the spiritual significance of this, as of all the Master's wondrous utterances, that is of vital importance to mankind.

It is admitted that in everyday affairs the carrying on of business and commerce revolves around the accepted standard of fair and equal exchange, and that this also applies to the adjustment and payment of wages for work accomplished. However, in order that the full significance of our Master's words may be realized in their spiritual beauty and fullness, it becomes necessary to understand for whom "the labourer" works, and of what his work consists.

Mary Baker Eddy says (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 320), "The one important interpretation of Scripture is the spiritual." Spiritual understanding, gained through the study of Christian Science, enables us to lift our thought above the human to the spiritual, and from this higher point of view to see "the labourer" as one who works for God, one who unfailingly endeavors to do God's will, working to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth, to bring to mankind the healing, regenerating Christ, Truth. This is the true labor, even that labor of love which carries with it no sense of weariness, hardness, or burden, but which truly rests in bringing refreshment to all.

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