Editorial March 25, 1961 Issue

The Simplicity of Jesus' Teachings

Helen Wood Bauman

In the present era of rapidly expanding materialism and complex knowledge, we should often pause to consider the simple teachings of Christ Jesus and note their effect upon the lives of his followers. Mary Baker Eddy says of the Master (Retrospection and Introspection, pp. 91, 92): "His holy humility, unworldliness, and self-abandonment wrought infinite results. The method of his religion was not too simple to be sublime, nor was his power so exalted as to be unavailable for the needs of suffering mortals, whose wounds he healed by Truth and Love."

There is nothing abstruse or complicated about the method of the Master's religion. The parables, the Sermon on the Mount, the Golden Rule, and the precepts calling for obedience to God's laws provide the most profound lessons of life with utter directness and simplicity. They present the essence of intelligence. They are unsurpassed in their ability to regenerate human character and to free men from material bondage. Jesus' works illustrated what he taught.

The simple instructions of the Master sought to bring out in individuals the spirituality with which God endows His sons. They were designed to rouse all men to recognize the kingdom of heaven within consciousness and to see the shadows of materialism disappear in the light of this recognition. The great Teacher showed us how to release ourselves and others from the grasp of disease, poverty, sin, sorrow, and even death—phases of materialism that Christ destroys.

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