Editorial June 27, 1953 Issue

THE DISCIPLINE OF LOVE

Richard J. Davis

The life and works of Christ Jesus demonstrated that the primal fact underlying all being is Love. He revealed Love's love for its own expression, man, and he exemplified the inseparable oneness, or unity, that exists between God and man, between Mind and its idea. But the love which Jesus manifested was by no means an expression of sentimentality. He perceived fully the nature of evil and sin, and he recognized that Love does not always consist in being easy or gentle. Under the interesting caption "Divine severity" Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 6): "Jesus uncovered and rebuked sin before he cast it out. Of a sick woman he said that Satan had bound her, and to Peter he said, 'Thou art an offence unto me.' He came teaching and showing men how to destroy sin, sickness, and death. He said of the fruitless tree, '[It] is hewn down.' It is believed by many that a certain magistrate, who lived in the time of Jesus, left this record: 'His rebuke is fearful.' The strong language of our Master confirms this description."

The man who took a whip to the money-changers in the temple and scathingly denounced the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees was no weakling. He understood clearly the kind of wicked thinking with which he was dealing and used the only method which that type of mentality could understand. If his rebuke had been gentle, his enemies would have laughed at him. But evil could not stand before a denunciation such as this, a chastening that uncovered error and cast it out. Jesus did the kindest thing he could have done under the circumstances. He sternly compelled sin to be self-seen. He exposed and rebuked the error, and that was love.

Adults, like children, are apt to feel that discipline is not particularly pleasant. They resist what the Bible calls "instruction in righteousness"; and yet, whether it be a father who corrects his child or the effort of one to discipline his own thinking, the purpose is the same—to bring about conformity and obedience to Principle.

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THE HEAVENLY GOOD
June 27, 1953
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