Responsive Reading: Isaiah 7 : 14 • Isaiah 11 : 2, 5 • Isaiah 9 : 2, 6

14.     Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

2.     And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;

5.     And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

2.     The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

6.     For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

1. Luke 4 : 14 (to :), 16-18, 20, 21

14     And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee:

16     And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

17     And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

18     The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

20     And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

21     And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

2. Matthew 9 : 2-8

2     And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

3     And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.

4     And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

5     For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?

6     But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

7     And he arose, and departed to his house.

8     But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

3. Mark 5 : 22-24 (to ;), 35 (there), 36, 38-42

22     And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,

23     And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.

24     And Jesus went with him;

35     …there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?

36     As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.

38     And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.

39     And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

40     And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.

41     And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

42     And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.

4. John 10 : 27-29

27     My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

28     And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

29     My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

5. Mark 8 : 27 (to :), 29 (to 1st ,), 29 (whom)-31

27     And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Cæsarea Philippi:

29     And he saith unto them, … whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.

30     And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

31     And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

6. Matthew 27 : 1, 2 (to 2nd ,), 35 (to 1st ,), 51, 52, 53 (and appeared), 54

1     When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:

2     And when they had bound him, they led him away,

35     And they crucified him.

51     And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

52     And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

53     …and appeared unto many.

54     Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

7. Matthew 28 : 1-3, 5, 6 (to 1st .), 9

1     In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

2     And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

3     His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

5     And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

6     He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.

9     And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

8. Luke 24 : 46, 48, 50-53

46     And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

48     And ye are witnesses of these things.

50     And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

51     And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

52     And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:

53     And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

1. 583 : 10-11

Christ. The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error.

2. 315 : 3-10

That saying of our Master, "I and my Father are one," separated him from the scholastic theology of the rabbis. His better understanding of God was a rebuke to them. He knew of but one Mind and laid no claim to any other. He knew that the Ego was Mind instead of body and that matter, sin, and evil were not Mind; and his understanding of this divine Science brought upon him the anathemas of the age.

3. 145 : 32-12

Our Master's first article of faith propounded to his students was healing, and he proved his faith by his works. The ancient Christians were healers. Why has this element of Christianity been lost? Because our systems of religion are governed more or less by our systems of medicine. The first idolatry was faith in matter. The schools have rendered faith in drugs the fashion, rather than faith in Deity. By trusting matter to destroy its own discord, health and harmony have been sacrificed. Such systems are barren of the vitality of spiritual power, by which material sense is made the servant of Science and religion becomes Christlike.

4. 145 : 31-32

The theology of Christian Science includes healing the sick.

5. 315 : 11-24

The opposite and false views of the people hid from their sense Christ's sonship with God. They could not discern his spiritual existence. Their carnal minds were at enmity with it. Their thoughts were filled with mortal error, instead of with God's spiritual idea as presented by Christ Jesus. The likeness of God we lose sight of through sin, which beclouds the spiritual sense of Truth; and we realize this likeness only when we subdue sin and prove man's heritage, the liberty of the sons of God.

Jesus' spiritual origin and understanding enabled him to demonstrate the facts of being, — to prove irrefutably how spiritual Truth destroys material error, heals sickness, and overcomes death.

6. 398 : 10-13

To the synagogue ruler's daughter, whom they called dead but of whom he said, "she is not dead, but sleepeth," he simply said, "Damsel, I say unto thee, arise!"

7. 410 : 4-14

"This is life eternal," says Jesus, — is, not shall be; and then he defines everlasting life as a present knowledge of his Father and of himself, — the knowledge of Love, Truth, and Life. "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." The Scriptures say, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," showing that Truth is the actual life of man; but mankind objects to making this teaching practical.

Every trial of our faith in God makes us stronger.

8. 49 : 14-25

The meek demonstrator of good, the highest instructor and friend of man, met his earthly fate alone with God. No human eye was there to pity, no arm to save. Forsaken by all whom he had blessed, this faithful sentinel of God at the highest post of power, charged with the grandest trust of heaven, was ready to be transformed by the renewing of the infinite Spirit. He was to prove that the Christ is not subject to material conditions, but is above the reach of human wrath, and is able, through Truth, Life, and Love, to triumph over sin, sickness, death, and the grave.

9. 41 : 22-25

Jesus foresaw the reception Christian Science would have before it was understood, but this foreknowledge hindered him not. He fulfilled his God-mission, and then sat down at the right hand of the Father.

10. 44 : 7-10, 32-10

His three days' work in the sepulchre set the seal of eternity on time. He proved Life to be deathless and Love to be the master of hate.

There were rock-ribbed walls in the way, and a great stone must be rolled from the cave's mouth; but Jesus vanquished every material obstacle, overcame every law of matter, and stepped forth from his gloomy resting-place, crowned with the glory of a sublime success, an everlasting victory.

Our Master fully and finally demonstrated divine Science in his victory over death and the grave. Jesus' deed was for the enlightenment of men and for the salvation of the whole world from sin, sickness, and death.

11. 54 : 1-7

Through the magnitude of his human life, he demonstrated the divine Life. Out of the amplitude of his pure affection, he defined Love. With the affluence of Truth, he vanquished error. The world acknowledged not his righteousness, seeing it not; but earth received the harmony his glorified example introduced.

12. 315 : 29-7

Wearing in part a human form (that is, as it seemed to mortal view), being conceived by a human mother, Jesus was the mediator between Spirit and the flesh, between Truth and error. Explaining and demonstrating the way of divine Science, he became the way of salvation to all who accepted his word. From him mortals may learn how to escape from evil. The real man being linked by Science to his Maker, mortals need only turn from sin and lose sight of mortal selfhood to find Christ, the real man and his relation to God, and to recognize the divine sonship.

13. 325 : 10-19

In Colossians (iii. 4) Paul writes: "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear [be manifested], then shall ye also appear [be manifested] with him in glory." When spiritual being is understood in all its perfection, continuity, and might, then shall man be found in God's image. The absolute meaning of the apostolic words is this: Then shall man be found, in His likeness, perfect as the Father, indestructible in Life, "hid with Christ in God," — with Truth in divine Love, where human sense hath not seen man.

14. 264 : 28-31

When we learn the way in Christian Science and recognize man's spiritual being, we shall behold and understand God's creation, — all the glories of earth and heaven and man.