Spiritual Certainty

W. RALPH ROCKHOLD

One of Jesus' simplest and most direct statements carries a profound message and reveals the basis of his power to heal the sick and the sinning. When the centurion implored him to minister unto his "grievously tormented" servant, his immediate response was, "I will come and heal him." In this clear assertion there was expressed no doubt as to the instant availability of the spiritual understanding which accomplishes the healing work.

The Master was constantly aware that man, created in the image of God, Spirit, could never manifest anything unlike the nature of his Maker. The unerring recognition of this truth about man left no room in Christ Jesus' consciousness for belief in the reality of imperfect mortal so-called existence. Mary Baker Eddy with spiritual insight says of the Master's method in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 476, 477): "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick."

Knowing that man's true existence is wholly spiritual, Jesus could not view one mortal belief as more difficult to correct than another. Thus, when he raised Lazarus from the dead, his knowledge of the true status of man was so clear and positive that before the evidence of healing appeared he said: "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always."

The same meek and unswerving recognition of God's allness and omnipresence characterized Jesus' entire earthly career. On many occasions his ready acceptance of the spiritual reality must have startled his disciples. But he rebuked their lack of perception of the facts of spiritual being. When his followers were troubled at the storm, he asked, "Why are ye so fearful?" When they failed to perceive that the understanding of true substance had fed the multitude, he chided them for their unbelief and lack of faith. Of those gathered to mourn at the side of Jairus' daughter, Jesus asked, "Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth." Had the Saviour questioned Spirit's omnipotence and the consequent impotence of material so-called law, he could hardly have adopted such an approach to all human problems, an approach so sure and uncompromising that the incredulity of others incurred his rebuke.

To speak of the Mind "which was also in Christ Jesus" is to refer, not to a higher, more consecrated human thought, but to the one infinite Mind, whose power is constant and harmonious, exterminating apparent discord effortlessly and instantaneously. Since we are enjoined to let this same Mind be in us, we should expect to witness the manifestation of its power as Jesus did. Indeed, he made it abundantly clear that the Principle which enabled him to overcome human frailties and inharmonious conditions was not a supernatural power which he alone possessed, or which could be invoked by only a select few, but was universally available. Since God is eternal, ever present, and unchanging, there is no more reason to doubt the healing efficacy of Spirit today than there was when Jesus thus voiced his calm reliance on his Father. On page 496 of Science and Health we read, "Hold perpetually this thought,—that it is the spiritual idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing, based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, overlying, and encompassing all true being."

It is easier to be certain of a demonstrable fact than to accept something which seems to be only a future possibility. This illustrates the difference between faith and understanding, between doubting supplication and true prayer. Jesus never questioned the divine power, either as to its capability or as to its availability; he saw perfection at hand, and not as a future condition to be attained. When we, in the same way, see as real nought but the spiritual nature of being and the all-embracing harmony of God's creation, there is no occasion for doubt, no illusive goal to be reached at some future time, no present state of physical discord or mental confusion. The earnest seeker who, through consecration and study, lifts his thought above the false sense of time and type in solving human problems is proving the statement which Mrs. Eddy made in her Message to The Mother Church for 1901 (p. 2), "Absolute certainty in the practice of divine metaphysics constitutes its utility, since it has a divine and demonstrable Principle and rule—if some fall short of Truth, others will attain it, and these are they who will adhere to it." And in the next paragraph she says, "Only a firm foundation in Truth can give a fearless wing and a sure reward."

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