Article March 17, 1973 Issue

The Healing Touch Is Spiritual

JACK A. KRIEGER

In the light of the teachings of Christian Science, when reference is made in the Scriptures to Christ Jesus or his disciples laying hands on someone in the healing work, the act has the significance of putting forth spiritual power. For example, when Jesus spoke of the signs that were to follow those who believed in his gospel, he added, "They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."^{Mark 16:18;} Mrs. Eddy explains that "here the word hands is used metaphorically, as in the text, 'The right hand of the Lord is exalted.' It expresses spiritual power; otherwise the healing could not have been done spiritually."^{Science and Health, p. 38;}

The healing touch of Christ Jesus and his disciples was the effect of their understanding of the presence and power of God, Spirit, and of man's perfection and wholeness in His image and likeness, rather than any physical contact they may have had with the sick. True healing activity is divine, not human. It is metaphysical—above the physical. It is not a laying on of the physical hands. Its power is spiritual. Jesus and his disciples brought the significance of this spiritual power to bear in their healing work by touching the consciousness of the sick with the truth of spiritual being. And thus, through spiritual means alone, they restored the sick to normal life and freedom.

It is this wholesome kind of healing—this spiritual concept of the ethics and decorum in helping oneself or another in time of need—which Mary Baker Eddy desired to establish in the public practice of Christian Science. She says of the Christian Science healer, "He never lays hands on the patient, nor manipulates the parts of the body supposed to be ailing."^{Rudimental Divine Science, p. 12;}

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