An illustration of the spiritual healing method, as taught and practiced in Christian Science today, is included in Luke's description of Jesus' betrayal and capture in the garden of Gethsemane. We are told that one of the disciples "smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear" (22:50, 51). Jesus immediately admonished the assailant, "Suffer ye thus far." And then we read that "he touched his ear, and healed him."

What was this healing touch? It was not a material gesture which cured the ear, neither was it any esoteric power or physical contact which accomplished the wonder. It was the Christ, Truth, which did the work. The virtue of God, divine Love, was humanly manifested in this healing act.

The servant of the high priest, Malchus by name, was assisting in the capture of the Master so that he might be crucified. While others under apprehension by their enemies would doubtless have been angered or frightened, Jesus was calm and fearless as they took him into custody. He did not mentally characterize his captors as enemies. Where a mortal seemed to be, Jesus saw only spiritual individuality, the perfect reflection of God. Had Jesus beheld man as a wicked or injured mortal, or even as a physically whole one, he could not have cured Malchus.

The Way-shower was conscious of the ever-presence of the perfect, spiritual Model, or the Christ. He recognized that man, who is the individual, incorporeal image and likeness of God, conforms eternally to that divine Model.

Jesus lovingly reached out his hand to the injured servant. Those around him reported that he touched his ear, but, be that as it may, something other than physical contact was required to accomplish the healing result. The real touch was the awareness of the presence of God's goodness, completeness, and perfection. It was the spiritual touch of God's hand, the Christ-power, which Jesus used on this occasion.

Touch does not mean physical contact only. One may be touched, or affected, by some word or event. Malchus was touched, or impressed by Jesus' consciousness of man's spiritual perfection. He responded to the truth that God is Love, as expressed in Jesus' gentle, loving thought and act, and to the fact that God is Spirit, the only enduring substance. The healing of the injured ear evidenced a method completely at variance with material law. Malchus was receptive. His understanding was enlivened by the consciousness of the presence of God's goodness and power.

What was the ear which the Master touched? Obviously physical contact with a material organ was not the divine curative method used by Christ Jesus. Mary Baker Eddy thus defines "ears" in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 585): "Not organs of the so-called corporeal senses, but spiritual understanding."

Jesus reached the man's consciousness with the healing truth. The servant felt the impact of the Word of God. Jesus loved the real man, albeit represented as a mortal to human view. This manifestation of divine Love eliminated any sense of animosity, hatred, anger, dismay, and the belief that man has a destructible body, and the healing effect naturally followed.

Mrs. Eddy declares in Science and Health (p. 450): "Some people yield slowly to the touch of Truth. Few yield without a struggle, and many are reluctant to acknowledge that they have yielded; but unless this admission is made, evil will boast itself above good." The servant responded immediately; hence his undelayed recovery.

The Christly touch is an ever-present healing, saving power, and Christian Science proves that it is immediately available to all who turn thought Spiritward and thus establish the fact of man's oneness with God. Declares one of the hymns in the Christian Science Hymnal (No. 134),

In the Gospels are several instances in which Jesus is said to have touched the ailing one when he healed him. These statements cannot be confined to a literal interpretation and still maintain the spiritual significance of his healing method. It is related, for example, that he touched the eyes of the blind men, and their sight was restored (Matt. 9:29); he touched the leper, and he was cleansed (Matt. 8:3); he touched the hand of Peter's wife's mother, and the fever left her (Matt. 8:15). The real touch is the spiritual realization of man's perfection and goodness as the eternal likeness of his Maker. Those who understand and accept this immortal truth of being recover from their ailments.

Mrs. Eddy points out in the Preface of Science and Health (p x): "The unbiased Christian thought is soonest touched by Truth, and convinced of it. Only those quarrel with her method who do not understand her meaning, or discerning the truth, come not to the light lest their works be reproved."

The touch of Spirit, of divine Love, is presently available for all who believe themselves in need of healing. One is made aware of the presence of the Christ, Truth, by the hope, the health, the love, the purity, which abound in consciousness. As one yields to the divine touch, the offending error can do nought but depart, and health, holiness, and harmony are humanly manifested.

Jesus' work was not for his time only. His healing method, the comforting Christ, Truth, is an ageless, endless influence, a divine touch existent in the hearts of universal humanity.

John J. Selover