When we are asked to teach in a Christian Science Sunday School might we not do well to consider not only what Jesus taught, but those qualities which Jesus exemplified in his role of Teacher?

One of the outstanding characteristics of Jesus as Teacher was the authority with which he spoke. On page 26 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Divine Truth, Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness, and death." This authority astonished those who heard him when he taught on the Mount of Olives, for there was nothing equivocal in his statements. They were not empty words, such as the people were used to hearing from the scribes.

And why could Jesus teach with authority? Those who speak with authority on any subject speak convincingly because they know their subject; they know from experience something about the law, or laws, governing the phenomena of which they speak. Jesus' subject was always man in relation to God, in relation to his fellow man—man, the image, the idea, of God. He was always definitely aware of his own relation to God. He knew himself to be the Son of God, always at one with infinite Life, Spirit; he knew that each individual man, in his real status, is likewise always at one with the divine Mind and in harmonious relationship with his fellow man, because subject to God's law of absolute good.

Jesus was also continuously conscious of the fact that God's law is ceaselessly operating to bless, to instruct and enlighten. It was his knowledge of the infallibility of God's law which enabled him to teach with authority, to discourse at length upon many phases of human experience, to teach men how to bring their human lives into accord with the divine law in order that the belief of a human selfhood, comprising good and evil, might yield to the true spiritual self in the image of God, Spirit, in whom there is no evil. Frequently following his teachings, people came to him to be healed—sometimes in great numbers—and they received their healing.

Another significant characteristic of Jesus' teaching was the compassion and tenderness with which he spoke. Always he took into consideration the state of thought of those with whom he dealt. If the people about him were simple people, he adjusted his remarks to their understanding. To the disciples whose thoughts were prepared for the deeper implications of his word, he "expounded all things," making clear the true significance of the parables in which he taught.

We who teach in Sunday schools have to protect ourselves from the pressure of human affairs which would involve us sometimes in the guise of necessary duties that usurp the time rightly called for by spiritual demands. Unless we are alert, our families, our civic duties, our businesses would close in upon us diverting us from giving expression to the truth which heals. We, like Jesus, can "thrust out a little from the land"—can know ourselves as separate from the belief of minds many. Having "thrust out" from the belief of mind in matter, from the suggestions of confusion and pressure, and taken refuge in the haven of true consciousness, which is always God-protected, we can set ourselves, as Jesus did, to teach in security and confidence.

In this particular instance, when Jesus had finished his teaching from the ship, he bade Simon to "launch out into the deep," that they might let down their nets "for a draught." In spite of Simon's discouraging reply, "Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing," at Jesus' command they "let down the net" and caught a "great multitude of fishes." Thus did Jesus teach that supply is ever present.

We likewise need to launch out into the deep of reality and find in our study of the Bible and of Mrs. Eddy's writings the never-failing, abundant supply of spiritual ideas which heal the sick and meet all human needs. Then we shall be enabled to go out, as did Simon, James, and John, believing the Master's command, "From henceforth thou shalt catch men." This is our real work: so to live the truths of the Christ Science that all men are drawn to an awareness of their true selfhood, and taught to recognize their dominion over the limiting claims of the finite senses.

Jesus was careful also in his teaching to call the attention of the people to the fact that God's law had come down to them through many generations, and was to be found in the Scriptures; that God's law is eternal and always in operation.

Christ Jesus taught and demonstrated the fact of eternal life. He said. "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself." And in the resurrection he substantiated his words, for he had triumphed over every belief of life in matter, including the belief of death itself.

Jesus taught with the authority of one who knew that the law of God was dependable, demonstrable, eternal. He taught with compassion, wisdom, and power, for he had a practical understanding of the eternality of Life, of the omnipresence and omnipotence of Mind. Mrs. Eddy reminds us in Science and Health (p. 85) that "the great Teacher knew both cause and effect, knew that truth communicates itself but never imparts error."