INTERVIEWER: As children, most of us were captured by the wonder of Christmas, the story of the star and the shepherds, and the child Jesus born in a manger. But I wonder how many of us as we've grown older have questioned at times—maybe in the middle of Christmas shopping—why the birth of Jesus nearly two thousand years ago should matter so much to us today. I came across one expression of modern doubt about it in the book "What's Special About Jesus?" by Robert Bruce McLaren. The author begins the book with this comment put to him by a young person: "'There are a lot of good men in the world today, and there have been a lot of great men in other times. Many of them died for their beliefs too, like Socrates and Lincoln. Yet we don't build churches in their honor or worship them. What's so special about Christ?'" [Association Press, New York. Copyright, 1963, National Board of Young Men's Christian Associations.] We'd be interested in your answer to that question.

SPEAKER: What's special about Christ Jesus is who he was and what he taught and what he did. In Christian Science we understand that Jesus was the Messiah. In other words, our view agrees with that expressed by Peter, the disciple who said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). You see, it's clear from what Jesus taught and what he did that he understood God better than anyone else who has ever lived. He revealed the nature of God as Love, and he revealed man's sonship with God. By his works and his teachings he showed the way of salvation for all of us, the way of release from mortality.

The people saw Jesus as a man who was confronted with hunger, with weariness, temptation, with mockery, betrayal, and crucifixion. But what they didn't see is the fact that Christian Science makes so clear to us today, namely that Jesus was the embodiment of the Christ. He was the living expression of the divine Truth he taught. He was the very incarnation of the divine Christ-power, of the eternal Love that is always present to heal and to redeem us.

The Gospels bring out the dual nature of Jesus. For example, they record the outward appearances. They tell us that Jesus was "exceeding sorrowful" (Matt. 26:38), that on one occasion he wept, that he was weary, that he was "tempted of the devil" (Matt. 4:1), and then they tell us that on the cross he said (John 19:28), "I thirst." Those were the outward appearances. But the New Testament also records Jesus' own words speaking as the Christ. For example, he himself said: "I am the resurrection, and the life" (John 11:25); and, "I am the door" (10:9). And again he said, "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).

INTERVIEWER: How would you describe Jesus' role in terms of, well, the language of today?

SPEAKER: To summarize it, we might say that Jesus was the mediator between God and men.

INTERVIEWER: Somehow I hadn't realized that Christian Scientists believed this.

SPEAKER: Yes, they do. And this is thoroughly explained in our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. For example, she says (p. 30): "Born of a woman, Jesus' advent in the flesh partook partly of Mary's earthly condition, although he was endowed with the Christ, the divine Spirit, without measure. This accounts for his struggles in Gethsemane and on Calvary, and this enabled him to be the mediator, or way-shower, between God and men."

INTERVIEWER: But as a practical matter, what bearing does this understanding of Jesus have on life today?

SPEAKER: It has the deepest and the most important meaning for us today because Jesus showed us the way to solve every human problem by spiritual power, through reliance on God. Jesus stressed this himself in speaking of his own works. He said, for example, "I can of mine own self do nothing" (John 5:30). And then again, he said, "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (14:10).

INTERVIEWER: I'm interested in your comment that Jesus showed us the way to solve every human problem. The problems of the world today are quite different from those of Jesus' time.

SPEAKER: This is true, but the truth that Jesus taught is the same in every age. Jesus showed how the power of the Christ, Truth, the redeeming, healing, purifying power of the Christ, lifts the burden of mortality, how it replaces doubt, fear, sin, disease, with the joy, freedom, purity, soundness, which have their source in God. Take, for example, the need in the world today for a solution to strife and hate and antagonism. Jesus showed how Christlike love triumphs over hate. He gave mankind the solution to strife. He showed that we can reach this solution in the degree that we follow his example. In other words, Jesus showed that we experience the power of the truth he taught in the degree that we live the truth that he taught. Because Jesus did show the way of salvation for all of us, the Saviour's mission continues through all ages, bringing the saving power of God to all who are receptive to it.

INTERVIEWER: You say it brings the saving power of God to all who are receptive to it. Is this significant?

SPEAKER: Let me give you an example of what I had in mind. It's the experience of a woman I know who lives in England. Some years ago when she was just a young woman, she was suffering from a serious malignant growth. She was examined by a specialist, and he told her that only an operation might help. But he also said that she was too weak for an immediate operation. She was weak partly because she was suffering from pernicious anemia, which she'd had for a number of years. When she heard this verdict she was filled with fear, both for herself and for her two small sons. She'd been brought up in a devout home, and she worshiped God. But she believed that the healing power of prayer had been limited to the time of Jesus, that it was gone now and could no longer be experienced.

At this crisis in her experience a friend told her of Christian Science, and she borrowed a copy of Science and Health and began to read it. She saw that the Christ-power is always present, that it's always in operation forever because it is the power of divine Truth, which is always present. She also saw that if what she was reading was true—that God is divine Spirit, that He is all good and doesn't send evil—then it must be true that God had not given her that growth, and she did not have to be afraid of it.

All the fear disappeared, and at the same time the pain disappeared. And as she continued reading, she was no longer conscious of the condition. She remembers calling to her husband after a while to tell him that she was completely healed. And later on the anemia also was healed. Now this is an illustration of the power of the Christ, Truth, in our present-day times to bring healing just as it did in Jesus' time.