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ALTHOUGH WE all carry some form of ID, it's not a complete description of who we really are. This week's Christian Science Bible Lesson on "Mortals and Immortals" gives a full explanation of identity. It provides answers to questions about identity theft, distortion, loss. One might describe it as a Lesson about letting go of false or useless models, and claiming our true identity as children of God—responding to Jesus' revelation that we are not mortals, trapped in physical bodies and circumstances, but immortals—with our life and being derived from Spirit.

The Responsive Reading from a letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian church talks about light as a metaphor for what we know about God and ourselves. It stood out to me that the Christ—which later in the Lesson is described as "the divine image, idea ..." that "ever will be inseparable from the divine Principle, God"—is that light (Science and Health, p. 333, citation 26). And it is through this Christ light that we understand our true identity. All other models fall miserably short.

In this Lesson, there are three stories of people who come to Jesus seeking something regarding issues of identity. One of them is Nicodemus, who wants to understand who Jesus really is. He himself is identified as a leader of the Jews, but he's afraid what others might think of his associating with Jesus, so he comes to Jesus at night. The Gospel of John, which is full of metaphors, relates that Nicodemus is "in the dark," so to speak. Jesus explains that to understand the Christ's identity, Nicodemus will have to be "born again." This word again in Greek is anoethen, and it means both "from above" or "from God," and "anew." When someone is born, they receive an identity. So it appears that Jesus is telling Nicodemus to be newly born of God—to re-identify himself with God and within God's government.

The First Epistle of Peter also talks about being born anew in a letter written to the early Christian churches in northern Asia Minor. The author reminds the people that they are holy, echoing a similar injunction found in Leviticus 19:2. In First Peter, it reads: "Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1:16, cit. 8). Then comes the key sentence: "You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God" (verse 23, New Revised Standard Version). The word of God is the Christ, and through the Christ we see ourselves differently. We let go of fear and all those things that identify us in matter and as mortal.

Another story tells of a repentant woman who wants to be re-identified. Jesus saidher sins were "many," but the wom and early saw something in the Christ that she connected with. She comes to Jesus in tears and anoints his feet with costly ointment—a sign of graciousness and hospitality. The Pharisee, who identifies her as a sinner, criticizes Jesus for not recognizing who she is. Jesus, however, sees her anew. She is forgiven and identified as free from the burden of sin (see Luke 7:36-48, cit. 9). In Science and Health we read, "The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour in truth through flood-tides of Love" (p. 201, cit. 12). You might say this exchange of the woman's tears and Jesus' compassion are examples of "flood-tides" of Love.

The third story of re-identification is in Section V. This time the mortal identification is sickness and death. Jairus, a leader in a synagogue, comes to Jesus because his daughter is dying. Then Jairus is informed that his daughter is already dead. But Jesus refutes this sentence, and refuses to identify the girl through mortal evidence or fear, despite human opinion. Afterward, he restores the girl's life (see Luke 8:41-55, cit. 14).

According to the Gospel of John, this restorative Christ is always present. Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am," meaning the eternal Christ (John 8:58, cit. 18). "I am" is a frequent phrase in this Gospel, which identifies Jesus with God's presence. And as we saw earlier, Jesus worked to help others identify themselves as part of God's family. As Science and Health puts it, "The one Spirit includes all identities" (p. 333, cit. 26). The rebirth is not a literal birth, but a reclaiming of one's true identity, free from mortality, with its fear, sin, sickness, and death.

In Section VI, the Lesson returns to the theme of light through which we see ourselves as we really are, immortal, and under God's reign: "Divine Science rolls back the clouds of error with the light of Truth, and lifts the curtain on man as never born and as never dying, but as coexistent with his creator" (Science and Health, p. 557, cit. 27).

Now, that's an ID worth carrying! |css