Few scenes portrayed in the Bible are more vivid. Perhaps none are filled with more promise. The Saviour, Christ Jesus, had been resurrected, the great stone had been rolled away from his tomb, he had made his victory known to his disciples. And now, one early morning, he stood on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias.

Several of the disciples had been fishing all night with nothing to show for their efforts. Their boat was floating only about a hundred yards from shore when Jesus appeared and called to them. The Master instructed, "Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find." What they found was more fish than they could haul into the boat.

At that point, John realized that it was Jesus on the shore. Peter jumped into the water and waded to land while the other disciples brought in the boat. When they came together, they found that the Master already had a fire going. Fish was on the coals, and there was bread. "Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine.... Jesus then Cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise." ^{See John 21:1-13.}

We can only imagine the great joy and reverence the disciples must have felt at that moment. Their Saviour had triumphed over death; he had demonstrated the omnipotence of God, divine Spirit. And here he had come to the disciples and was feeding them. They must have been filled with something infinitely more substantial than the fish and bread they were offered to eat. They were witnessing the living evidence of immortal, unbounded Life in their Master's very presence. With the victory after the crucifixion, Jesus had proved that man's real being is spiritual, eternal, not corporeal and mortal.

In the profound chapter "Atonement and Eucharist" in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy states: "What a contrast between our Lord's last supper and his last spiritual breakfast with his disciples in the bright morning hours at the joyful meeting on the shore of the Galilean Sea! His gloom had passed into glory, and his disciples' grief into repentance,—hearts chastened and pride rebuked. Convinced of the fruitlessness of their toil in the dark and wakened by their Master's voice, they changed their methods, turned away from material things, and cast their net on the right side."

Further on, Mrs. Eddy writes: "This spiritual meeting with our Lord in the dawn of a new light is the morning meal which Christian Scientists commemorate. They bow before Christ, Truth, to receive more of his reappearing and silently to commune with the divine Principle, Love." ^{Science and Health, pp. 34-35.}

For the Christian Scientist, his commemoration of that "spiritual meeting with our Lord" goes deeper than material symbols, formal rites, or religious ceremonies. It goes to the very core of his being and is shown forth in the way he lives his life. Commemoration of what the Saviour did for us necessarily requires that we strive to do likewise for others. It means maintaining a readiness and willingness to pray for others, to practice Christian healing, to uplift those that are bowed low with life's troubles, to bring the warm tenderness of unselfed love to hardened hearts. It means actively expressing more grace, joy, peace, and purity. For the Christian Scientist, commemoration of the Saviour's work means nothing less than working out one's own salvation in the way Jesus showed. Science and Health emphatically states, "If all who seek his commemoration through material symbols will take up the cross, heal the sick, cast out evils, and preach Christ, or Truth, to the poor,—the receptive thought,—they will bring in the millennium." ^{Ibid., p. 34.}

When we think of Easter, and then beyond to those "bright morning hours" at the Sea of Tiberias, and beyond that to the ascension itself, what joy comes in knowing that we are fed by the Christ, Truth, and thereby strengthened to follow in the way of the Saviour. In living the ministry of pure Christian love, extending ourselves to share with others the truth that has so richly blessed our own experience, we find assurance in our lives of the promise in Isaiah: "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward." ^{Isa. 58:8.}

One of the wonderful things about commemorating the morning meal with our Saviour is that we see the light of Truth growing brighter each moment. This "morning" is to us the dawning of God's day in consciousness. It is the evidence that the light of Christ, Truth, never dims. And with this illumination of spiritual sense, the darkness of materiality and the illusion of life confined to matter no longer cause us despair. They no longer deceive us. Like the disciples, we turn "away from material things"; we find the overflowing abundance, the peace, and the satisfaction of life in Spirit, God.

WILLIAM E. MOODY