Christ Jesus is our individual Saviour from the world's evils. He is our personal Way-shower, whose example we must follow if we are to emerge from the discordant atmosphere of mortality into the heaven of spirituality. Do we, then, have to suffer as he did, even to the point of literally or figuratively going through the agony of crucifixion?

The Master is unique. Nobody can follow in the precise human footsteps of this man who so perfectly proved himself to be the Son of God, nor should anyone expect to have to endure identical suffering and indignity. Eventually all human beings must overcome the same general claims of the flesh and popular misconceptions of the carnal mind as he did; to some extent they must drink of the cup of bitterness that, according to worldly belief, accompanies this rejection of error. But among the great gifts that Jesus gave humanity is the promise that if we learn the lessons he taught, and follow his example faithfully, we can get free from the claims and vindictiveness of the carnal mind. And be able to follow his footsteps cheerfully right up to the point of ascension.

Shortly before his crucifixion the Master said to his disciples, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." ^{John 16:33;} His own experience of tribulation and overcoming began before the start of his ministry. The vision of his sonship with God, divine Spirit, had come to him vividly at the time of his baptism. The heavens opened and a voice was heard saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." ^{Matt. 3:17;}

This understanding of divine sonship enabled Jesus to discern the difference and choose correctly between good and evil, true and false values, that which is actual, immortal Life and that which is unreal, mortal belief of existence. During the proving period in the wilderness that followed this inspiration, the Master was unerringly faithful to the spiritual vision of man's true, immortal identity, which is always in heaven—even in the face of tempting offers of worldly power, riches, and popularity if only he would lower his standards to the level of mortal thought.

Jesus charted the route through all the problems and false beliefs with which the world is tempted. He felt the heavy pressures of materialism, the specious arguments of personal sense, and the carnal mind's vindictive hatred of spiritual Truth. He rejected them on the basis of the supremacy of God, Spirit, and man's total dependence on Him. In doing so, he showed us how we also may find our way through these phases of belief in evil as they appear in our individual lives, and rise eventually, as he did, to heights of spiritual consciousness where God, divine Principle, and His idea, immortal man and the spiritual universe, are recognized to be All-in-all.

The Christ, Truth, that Jesus expressed leads us mentally upward —out of the worldly state of mortal belief that depends on and values matter—to the heavenly consciousness of Spirit's supremacy. It calls upon us to give up thinking of life as existent in and dependent on matter; of physical hygiene, exercise, fresh air, and special foods as necessary to health and well-being; of success as equated to worldly position, power, and riches; of satisfaction and a feeling of completeness as essentially connected with people and human circumstances; of happiness as attainable through human means.

Christ Jesus taught that all good qualities and attributes—all that constitutes joy and satisfaction—are spiritual, and we already have them. The scientific fact is they belong to God, immortal Mind, and are invariably reflected in man, God's manifestation, or son. According to the Science of Christ, there is not one individual man, woman, or child who cannot know that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and who cannot prove this here and now.

This proving is the task that mortals must fulfill under the guidance of the Christ as revealed by the Master. They can do it cheerfully, knowing that as Jesus overcame the false beliefs of the world, so can they.

Christian Science shows that the same infinitely loving Father who gave Jesus the wisdom, strength, and opportunity to overcome error with Truth, hate with Love, and death with Life, is equally with us today. He is the divine Mind, or Principle, who creates man in His image and demands obedience to His law of love. Such need for obedience in thought and deed inevitably involves mortals in a struggle. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Christian Science commands man to master the propensities,—to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness, to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with charity, and to overcome deceit with honesty." ^{Science and Health, p. 405;} This is not always easy.

If this struggle to follow the Way-shower in Christianizing one's thought at times seems hard, we can take courage in remembering that Mrs. Eddy also says, "Be of good cheer; the warfare with one's self is grand; it gives one plenty of employment, and the divine Principle worketh with you,—and obedience crowns persistent effort with everlasting victory." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 118.}

Naomi Price