The spiritual illumination shed by Christian Science upon the life of our Master shows us that in no thought, word, or act was he superficial. In each account of healing wrought by him, in addition to the proof and encouragement afforded thereby may be found inspiring lessons, discernible to all who, breaking away from the trammels of old theological and materialistic training, will look deeper through the clear lens of spiritual understanding.

The story of the healing of the ten lepers, of whom but one returned to give thanks, has always served to bestir appreciation and gratitude, but to the careful student yet other rich and helpful lessons are revealed. In nearly every case of healing wrought by Jesus it is to be noted that he bade the patient do something, and the healing which followed ready obedience to the command of wisdom must have been dependent thereupon. To the ten lepers he simply said, "Go shew yourselves unto the priests," and they obeyed without question, although the suggestion might easily have come to them to wait until they were healed before going to the priests; but no, we read that they obeyed the spiritual demand, and "as they went, they were cleansed."

It can be seen that these men might have delayed the realization of their healing by listening to the suggestions of doubt and fear, based on material sense testimony, which would have urged them to wait beside the road until the healing was made manifest before they went to the priests. Waiting beside the road had not brought them healing, and will never bring healing to anyone. We are told that when the children of Israel were facing the Red Sea the Lord said unto Moses, "Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." As the children of Israel were obedient to the divine voice speaking through Moses and bidding them go forward, they thus obtained their deliverance. Similarly, these ten were obedient to Christ Jesus, and "as they went, they were cleansed."

The Master believed in rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and thus he was obeying the rabbinical law of purification in sending these men to the Levitical priests. Similarly, Christian Scientists are under explicit instruction from our Leader to follow Jesus' example by obeying the laws relating to quarantine and in reporting to the proper authorities the diseases designated by them as contagious.

As we look still more deeply into these verses of Scripture we find that a casual reading will not serve to open for us the richer treasures of Truth deposited therein. Perhaps the greatest spiritual treasure to be gained and the most inspiring lesson to be learned from this account of healing is unlocked to us by the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with key to the Scriptures." On page 141 Mrs. Eddy says, "In healing the sick and sinning, Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect followed the understanding of the divine Principle and of the Christ-spirit which governed the corporeal Jesus." She adds, regarding Principle, "Its only priest is the spiritualized man."

This scientific idea of priesthood shows us that Jesus' command to the lepers, in its highest and spiritual sense, was not merely to direct them to person clad in clerical robes, but rather to turn them to the perception of their own true, spiritual selfhood, and so discover themselves to be as man has ever been, whole, pure, and free. It was this perception of man which enabled the Master to unsee, and thus heal, the leprous condition, even as Mrs. Eddy so clearly writes on page 476 of Science and Health: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick." We further read in Scripture how of the ten cleansed but one "turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God," doing this even before he showed himself to the priest. This one responded more quickly to Jesus' perception of Spirit and spiritual man, and it was this which the Master recognized in pronouncing him already whole.

Many people of to-day are enslaved by such leprous conditions of thought as fear, selfishness, envy, passion, hatred, or other blighting beliefs, which perhaps have been externalized on the body as disease. Their hope of deliverance, which may have become indeed forlorn, is rekindled when it is learned that the healing and saving Christ, perceived by Abraham, Moses, and the prophets, and so perfectly manifested by Christ Jesus, is again finding expression through Christian Science. Turning away from mortal man to God, from matter to Spirit, they are bidden, as were the ten lepers, to arise from their false consciousness and show themselves to the spiritual idea of man, or, as Mrs. Eddy puts it (Science and Health, p.476), "earnestly seek the spiritual status of man, which is outside of all material selfhood."

Obeying this divine behest, men are finding to-day as of yore that as they go on their way of right, spiritual thinking they are healed. Well it is for those who early learn that their need and desire is not physical ease, but spiritual understanding; and such will not be found among the nine, but among those who turn back to throw themselves at the feet of Christ in true humility and gratitude, and glorify God.