Article December 27, 1952 Issue

"BECAUSE I GO UNTO MY FATHER"

ISRAEL PICKENS

Nowhere in the recorded sayings of the Master, Christ Jesus, is there a more important or significant statement than one that is given in the fourteenth chapter of John's Gospel. It is this (verse 12): "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." The promise is conditioned upon the disciples' believing. And here the word believing implies understanding, the necessity of knowing God and His Christ. "He that believeth on me" may therefore be scientifically rendered, "He that understandeth Christ, God's immortal idea."

Significant to the understanding of this verse is the last clause, "because I go unto my Father." Our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has elucidated this passage in her book "Miscellaneous Writings." There she says (p. 194), "'Because' in following him, you understand God and how to turn from matter to Spirit for healing; how to leave self, the sense material, for the sense spiritual; how to accept God's power and guidance, and become imbued with divine Love that casts out all fear."

It is observed that the Master was fully aware that man is ever with the Father. He constantly identified himself as the Son of God and could say with assurance (John 10:30), "I and my Father are one." His consciousness of this oneness, or unity, with God was accompanied by the power of God, which healed the sick and raised the dead. These works which the Master promised that we should do are based upon our spiritual understanding.

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