Reading consecutively through the Bible's four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—always affects me deeply. This is because getting a comprehensive look at Jesus' attitude and approach to life is so encouraging and inspiring. I think I can see why people dropped whatever they were doing and followed Jesus.

Can you imagine what it must have been like for the woman who'd had what the Bible describes as an issue of blood for twelve years, to suddenly find herself free and healthy? What was it like to then look into Jesus' eyes for the first time? Jesus said to her, "Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace" (Luke 8:48).

No doubt, to be the object of Jesus' prayer would have been a great privilege and honor. Actually, it still is. While you and I didn't live in Judea 2,000 years back, we still are the beneficiaries of Jesus' prayers for us. The Bible records one such prayer: "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever" (John 14:16).

"The Comforter" Jesus referred to is the divine idea of God whose active law of good effectively heals sickness and annihilates sin. With Mary Baker Eddy's discovery of Christian Science, Jesus' promise of "another Comforter" has been fulfilled. Just as healing sickness and sin authenticated Jesus' mission as the promised Savior, this same kind of healing, made possible through Christian Science, is evidence of its role as the Comforter today.

It's encouraging for me to recognize that, without even a single exception, every one of Jesus' prayers was answered. Jesus prayed that the Comforter "would abide with you for ever." Forever means just that. Not 200 years. Not 500 years. Not 10,000 years. Forever. It is so wonderful to recognize the fact that if Jesus prayed that this Comforter would abide with us forever, then it will.

Something as important as upholding the Comforter and its continuity couldn't ever become the responsibility of persons. Omnipotence, God, is our Shepherd. The Shepherd doesn't ever transfer His responsibilities to His sheep. The obligation to maintain the spiritual goodness in this world—the Comforter—is always God's.

As Jesus traveled around Galilee, healing and transforming lives, multitudes followed him. Just think about how many people were aligned with his message on the day he fed a crowd of several thousand with just a few loaves and fishes.

A few days before his crucifixion, he entered Jerusalem, hearing the cheers of countless supporters. On the following Friday, however, there were loud cries to "Crucify him, crucify him!" The hatred and mockery of Jesus came from several sources; political, cultural, and religious authorities mocked him to such a degree that even one of his disciples, in an act of self-protection, was soon to deny that he even knew him.

It is interesting to note what Jesus did when an enraged crowd brought him before Pilate to be judged and sentenced. He'd actually been in a similar situation a few years before, when an angry mob had seized him and tried to throw him headlong over a cliff. "But he passing through the midst of them went his way" (see Luke 4:16–30).

So Jesus already knew how to get out of that kind of situation. And he didn't try to come up with some new campaign to sway public opinion back to his side. No, he humbly and quietly yielded to God's, the Shepherd's, disposal of events. And that made all the difference. As a result of his crucifixion, resurrection, and final ascension, people all over the known world eventually began to hear about and benefit from his message.

As we move forward into the 21st century, we can learn much from the experiences of Jesus' disciples. Daily, they were witnesses to the healing and counsel of the master Christian. They must have been so impressed by the way that thousands were healed. Yet, a few days after his crucifixion in Jerusalem, two of Jesus' followers left town and were walking sadly to a nearby village called Emmaus (see Luke 24:13–32). The Master, by that time free from his tomb, joined them. These disciples did not recognize Jesus and even though told of his resurrection by the women at the tomb, had not fully accepted it. After the three of them arrived at the village, Jesus stayed with them for a meal. When they finally realized it was Jesus, he had disappeared from their sight. They asked one another, "Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" Previously, the disciples' love for Christianity was based on the emotional ups and downs associated with following the man Jesus. When Jesus was mocked and crucified, they were distressed because they thought everything was lost.

That all changed when they saw Jesus after his resurrection. Their faith and understanding weren't based anymore on what happened to Jesus, the person. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy states: "Through all the disciples experienced, they became more spiritual and understood better what the Master had taught. His resurrection was also their resurrection. It helped them to raise themselves and others from spiritual dulness and blind belief in God into the perception of infinite possibilities" (p. 34). No wonder their hearts burned with spiritual inspiration and joy. Now, regardless of events or opinions, popularity or unpopularity, they no doubt were clear about the continuity of good for the future because they discerned that it was based on the Christ, the eternal truth of God.

It is interesting to note that in the years after Jesus' ascension, the oppression of Christianity intensified to the degree that followers of Jesus were being hunted down and killed. Saul, the Pharisee, was especially cruel to Christians. He even played a part in the stoning of Stephen. Yet, dramatically, Saul's whole outlook about Jesus' message and mission was transformed one day as a result of the overwhelming power of the Christ. The transformation in Saul from cruelty to love, from oppression to humility, from self-righteousness to tenderness, was so complete that Saul took the new name of Paul. I believe that this all occurred as a result of Jesus' prayers in regard to the continuity of the Comforter.

Today, Christians may again feel the bite of oppression, even cruelty. Yet watch for the results of Jesus' centuries-old, but effectual prayers for us. There is no point in fearing that Christianity is under siege. The Comforter cannot be denied; it moves on through the years, continuing to bless. In different ways and at different times, Jesus communicated this idea to large numbers of his followers, including people like his disciples Peter, Thomas, and Nathaniel—that the divine goodness of God is eternally intact. Mary Baker Eddy commented on what happened as a result: "It was now evident to Peter that divine Life, Truth, and Love, and not a human personality, was the healer of the sick and a rock, a firm foundation in the realm of harmony" (Science and Health, p. 138).

This Bible verse describing God's promise has always been helpful to me: "My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever" (Isa. 59:21). The Christ-spirit has been forever present to comfort. It's encouraging to see that this loving comfort always appears to us relative to our experience—in just the form that's needed. All of humanity needed the coming of Jesus, the Messiah. Jesus was aware of how, as history would be moving forward century by century, we would continue to need and benefit greatly from his example of original Christianity.

Mary Baker Eddy recorded and outlined for eternity the Science of Christianity. With gratitude deeper than any words could possibly convey, we owe her thanks for Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. It is through this second coming of the Comforter, Christian Science, that we gain practical, provable access to the teachings of the Messiah.

If, like those two disciples walking to Emmaus, we ever find ourselves saddened by the world's disregard or even disdain for primitive Christianity, we can take heart. The spirit of the Lord—the Comforter—is always upon us. This healing law of Love is a heavenly gift, independent of the world and its events. We sense it by feeling it spiritually. This can happen when we're reflective and still, and in that stillness begin to sense intuitively the wholeness and goodness that our divine source, God, is expressing in us moment by moment.

Jesus' prayer has been answered; the Comforter, appreciable to human thought, is now abiding with us forever. We can rejoice—sometimes along with friends, and sometimes alone with God—and be renewed in our love for Christianity and all the pure and present divine goodness it includes.

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