First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge, California
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- John 11:1, 3, 20, 32-47, 50 it, 53
1Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
... 3Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
... 20Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
... 32Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
33When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
34And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
35Jesus wept.
36Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
37And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?
38Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
40Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
41Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
43And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
45Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
46But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.
47¶ Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.
it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
... 53Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.
- John 19:15 Pilate, 16, 25
Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Cæsar.
16Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.
25¶ Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
- John 20:1-3, 11-18, 24-29
1The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
2Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
3Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.
11¶ But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,
12And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
13And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
14And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
15Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
16Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
17Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
18Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.
24¶ But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
26¶ And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
27Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
28And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
29Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy
- SH 593:9
- SH 24:32
- SH 317:24
To the materialistic Thomas, looking for the ideal Saviour in matter instead of in Spirit and to the testi-Material skepticismmony of the material senses and the body, 27more than to Soul, for an earnest of immor-tality, — to him Jesus furnished the proof that he was unchanged by the crucifixion. To this dull and doubt-30ing disciple Jesus remained a fleshly reality, so long as the Master remained an inhabitant of the earth. Noth-ing but a display of matter could make existence real 318 318:1to Thomas. For him to believe in matter was no task, but for him to conceive of the substantiality of Spirit — 3to know that nothing can efface Mind and immortality, in which Spirit reigns — was more difficult.
- SH 44:20-5
Could it be called supernatural for the God of nature 21to sustain Jesus in his proof of man’s truly derived power? The deific naturalismIt was a method of surgery beyond material art, but it was not a supernatural act. On 24the contrary, it was a divinely natural act, whereby divinity brought to humanity the understanding of the Christ-healing and revealed a method infinitely above that of 27human invention.
His disciples believed Jesus to be dead while he was hidden in the sepulchre, whereas he was alive, demon-30Obstacles overcomestrating within the narrow tomb the power of Spirit to overrule mortal, material sense. There were rock-ribbed walls in the way, and a great 45 45:1stone must be rolled from the cave’s mouth; but Jesus vanquished every material obstacle, overcame every law 3of matter, and stepped forth from his gloomy resting-place, crowned with the glory of a sublime success, an everlasting victory.
- SH 43:11-27
Jesus’ last proof was the highest, the most convincing, 12the most profitable to his students. The malignity of Convincing evidencebrutal persecutors, the treason and suicide of his betrayer, were overruled by divine Love to 15the glorification of the man and of the true idea of God, which Jesus’ persecutors had mocked and tried to slay. The final demonstration of the truth which Jesus taught, 18and for which he was crucified, opened a new era for the world. Those who slew him to stay his influence perpetu-ated and extended it.
21 Jesus rose higher in demonstration because of the cup of bitterness he drank. Human law had condemned Divine victoryhim, but he was demonstrating divine Science. 24Out of reach of the barbarity of his enemies, he was acting under spiritual law in defiance of mat-ter and mortality, and that spiritual law sustained him. 27The divine must overcome the human at every point.
- SH 42:15-28
The resurrection of the great demonstrator of God’s power was the proof of his final triumph over body Death outdoneand matter, and gave full evidence of divine 18Science, — evidence so important to mortals. The belief that man has existence or mind separate from God is a dying error. This error Jesus met with divine 21Science and proved its nothingness. Because of the won-drous glory which God bestowed on His anointed, temp-tation, sin, sickness, and death had no terror for Jesus. 24Let men think they had killed the body! Afterwards he would show it to them unchanged. This demonstrates that in Christian Science the true man is governed by 27God — by good, not evil — and is therefore not a mortal but an immortal.
- SH 45:22-4
They who earliest saw Jesus after the resurrection and beheld the final proof of all that he had taught, 24After the resurrectionmisconstrued that event. Even his disciples at first called him a spirit, ghost, or spectre, for they believed his body to be dead. His reply was: 27“Spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” The reappearing of Jesus was not the return of a spirit. He presented the same body that he had before his cru -30cifixion, and so glorified the supremacy of Mind over matter.
Jesus’ students, not sufficiently advanced fully to un-4646:1derstand their Master’s triumph, did not perform many wonderful works, until they saw him after his crucifixion 3and learned that he had not died. This convinced them of the truthfulness of all that he had taught.
- SH 473:18-31
In an age of ecclesiastical despotism, Jesus introduced the teaching and practice of Christianity, affording the Jesus not Godproof of Christianity’s truth and love; but to 21reach his example and to test its unerring Sci-ence according to his rule, healing sickness, sin, and death, a better understanding of God as divine Prin-24ciple, Love, rather than personality or the man Jesus, is required.
Jesus established what he said by demonstration, 27thus making his acts of higher importance than his Jesus not understoodwords. He proved what he taught. This is the Science of Christianity. Jesus proved 30 the Principle, which heals the sick and casts out error, to be divine.
- SH 314:10-12, 19
The Jews, who sought to kill this man of God, showed plainly that their material views were the parents of their 12The bodily resurrectionwicked deeds. ... This materialism lost sight of the true Jesus; but the faithful Mary saw him, and he 21presented to her, more than ever before, the true idea of Life and substance.
- SH 45:16
Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts! Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of hu -18The stone rolled awayman hope and faith, and through the reve-lation and demonstration of life in God, hath elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual 21idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.
Hymn 381: “What brightness dawned in resurrection”
Hymn 135: “I know no life divided”
Hymn 343: “Thou art the way”