Article April 5, 1941 Issue

"Why callest thou me good?"

MILDRED L. LE BLOND

When a certain ruler asked him, "Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered, "Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God." That Jesus knew good and how to express it, there is no doubt, for to be and do good one must know good. In this statement to the ruler, Jesus was therefore not nullifying his goodness; he was rather clarifying it by showing the allness of God, good, and His idea or expression of goodness. In other words, God and His idea of goodness are one. Jesus said, "I and my Father are one." Jesus was correcting the belief that there could be two kinds of good, or that good could be divided. He said the only good is God. The good that anyone expresses is necessarily one with God. Jesus was conscious that the good which he expressed was of God, not humanly personal; hence his question, "Why callest thou me good?"

Mary Baker Eddy says (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. 465, 466): "Principle and its idea is one, and this one is God, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Being, and His reflection is man and the universe." The use of the singular verb "is" with a plural subject indicates our Leader's intention that God and His idea should be understood as one, not two. Principle does not objectify itself; that would be separation. Somewhat as the verb "be" does not take an object but a subjective complement, so the idea of Principle is not objective but subjective. Principle includes its idea, its manifestation or effect. Cause and effect are therefore not two, but one. This is verified by a statement in our textbook on page 114: "In Science, Mind is one, including noumenon and phenomena, God and His thoughts."

During the crucifixion, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." In saying this, he was not being merely kind and forgiving, but was demonstrating the Science of divine goodness. Certain it is that Jesus could not have experienced the resurrection had he believed himself good and at the same time attributed evil and malice to those who had seemingly crucified him. Therefore to demonstrate as Jesus did, one cannot call one's neighbor, either individually or nationally, an enemy, an arrogant, dictatorial, selfish, decrepit, sick, or poor man or nation. In demonstrating goodness for oneself, one's work is not completely done until he knows that his neighbor, as the idea of God instead of a human being, also expresses this goodness. For goodness is divine goodness, not separated, divided, or incomplete, but a whole garment without a seam.

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