One of the Biblical misconceptions that have persisted through the years deals with the character of the man Jesus. It has sometimes been implied or assumed, perhaps because of the great love and tenderness which he expressed and demonstrated, that he may have been of an unduly mild and gentle demeanor. The impression is sometimes given that he lacked virility and strength. But there are many incidents related in the Bible which show that this was not the case. On the contrary, we have Scriptural evidence that Christ Jesus was a man divinely endowed with great spiritual power and the ability to make that power effective. Indeed, he was by virtue of his mission constantly faced with the necessity of demonstrating courage and complete fearlessness.

When he taught in the synagogue, he spoke with the conviction and assurance of one who knew definitely that he possessed divine understanding and the power to demonstrate it. Confronted even as he spoke by a man possessed with an unclean spirit, Jesus rebuked the error, or evil obsession, and cast it out; and the Bible declares (Mark 1:27), "They were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him."

Referring to Christ Jesus' ability to forcefully and authoritatively face and destroy evil, Mary Baker Eddy writes in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 6, 7): "It is believed by many that a certain magistrate, who lived in the time of Jesus, left this record: 'His rebuke is fearful.' The strong language of our Master confirms this description." And she continues: "The only civil sentence which he had for error was, 'Get thee behind me, Satan.' Still stronger evidence that Jesus' reproof was pointed and pungent is found in his own words, —showing the necessity for such forcible utterance, when he cast out devils and healed the sick and sinning."

The entire life of Jesus, revealed in his healings, exemplified a divine dominion over evil and every belief of the material senses, a dominion which Christ Jesus showed belongs to every man as he demonstrates his spiritual sonship. Jesus presented a full illustration of spiritual dominion. He spoke with authority. He walked the earth in the consciousness of his divinely derived power; but it was not a personal dominion or a personally assumed authority. Knowing that God alone was the source of his understanding and of his ability to heal, he said (John 5:17), "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." It was the dominion and authority of God which he reflected.

Jesus' spiritual awareness that all authority and power resides in God showed that he fully understood the impersonal nature of the healing Christ. He took no credit to himself. He knew that divine Mind is the healer, but by reflection he assumed all the rights and prerogatives of Deity. He said (John 5:30), "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." He also said (verses 24, 26): "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.... For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself."

Standing at the tomb of Lazarus, Christ Jesus spoke with divine authority. He demanded the human evidence that man's real being is indestructible and eternal. He knew the incorporeal and substantial nature of man's spiritual identity. He also knew the present and forever perfection of man as the son, or idea, of God and the inseparability of Life from its idea, or manifestation. He positively demonstrated the continuity and immortality of man. His followers called him the Master, and this he truly was, for his works proclaimed unmistakably the mastery over sin, the mastery over disease, the mastery over death. In her book Unity of Good" Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 42): "With Christ, Life was not merely a sense of existence, but a sense of might and ability to subdue material conditions. No wonder 'people were astonished at his doctrine; for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.'"

The authority of Christ presents no expression of mere human faith in a supreme governing power. Underlying every healing of the Master's was a scientific understanding of God's allness and omnipotence. The dominion of the Christ was based in a fearless perception of Love's universal, omnipresent, and all-active law. Behind the words and acts of Jesus lay the authority and law of God, divine Mind's ability to enforce its own edict.

It is the privilege of every spiritually scientific thinker today to claim and exercise the same authority and dominion over evil. On page 395 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes: "Like the great Exemplar, the healer should speak to disease as one having authority over it, leaving Soul to master the false evidences of the corporeal senses and to assert its claims over mortality and disease. The same Principle cures both sin and sickness. When divine Science overcomes faith in a carnal mind, and faith in God destroys all faith in sin and in material methods of healing, then sin, disease, and death will disappear."

Faced with the false testimony of the material senses, the Christian Scientist is enabled to meet every erroneous mental picture with a sense of spiritual strength and courage that banishes fear. Reflecting the same Mind that was in Christ Jesus, he may, through his knowledge of Christian Science, show forth the same poise, the same calm and authority, which stilled the tempest on Galilee and will still the tempests of mortal mind today.

Richard J. Davis