Responsive Reading: Psalm 30 : 1-3 • Psalm 91 : 2, 9-12

1.     I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.

2.     O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.

3.     O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

2.     I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

9.     Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

10.     There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

11.     For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

12.     They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

1. Psalm 103 : 2-6, 10-13

2     Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

3     Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

4     Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

5     Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6     The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.

10     He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

11     For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

12     As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

13     Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

2. Mark 1 : 1, 4, 9-11

1     The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

4     John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

9     And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

10     And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:

11     And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

3. Matthew 9 : 1-8

1     And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.

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.

4. Matthew 8 : 14-16

14     And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.

15     And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

16     When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

5. Matthew 27 : 1, 11-14, 24, 25, 33, 35 (they crucified) (to 1st ,)

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

11     And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.

12     And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.

13     Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?

14     And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.

24     When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.

25     Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

33     And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,

35     …they crucified him.

6. Mark 16 : 1, 4-6, 9, 14, 15, 17-20

1     And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.

4     And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

5     And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.

6     And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

9     Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

14     Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

15     And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

17     And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18     They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

19     So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

20     And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

1. 136 : 1-8, 29-7

Jesus established his church and maintained his mission on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught his followers that his religion had a divine Principle, which would cast out error and heal both the sick and the sinning. He claimed no intelligence, action, nor life separate from God. Despite the persecution this brought upon him, he used his divine power to save men both bodily and spiritually.

The disciples apprehended their Master better than did others; but they did not comprehend all that he said and did, or they would not have questioned him so often. Jesus patiently persisted in teaching and demonstrating the truth of being. His students saw this power of Truth heal the sick, cast out evil, raise the dead; but the ultimate of this wonderful work was not spiritually discerned, even by them, until after the crucifixion, when their immaculate Teacher stood before them, the victor over sickness, sin, disease, death, and the grave.

2. 289 : 14-20

The fact that the Christ, or Truth, overcame and still overcomes death proves the "king of terrors" to be but a mortal belief, or error, which Truth destroys with the spiritual evidences of Life; and this shows that what appears to the senses to be death is but a mortal illusion, for to the real man and the real universe there is no death-process.

3. 473 : 18-25

In an age of ecclesiastical despotism, Jesus introduced the teaching and practice of Christianity, affording the proof of Christianity's truth and love; but to reach his example and to test its unerring Science according to his rule, healing sickness, sin, and death, a better understanding of God as divine Principle, Love, rather than personality or the man Jesus, is required.

4. 475 : 7-13, 28 (Man)-1

The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God. Matter is not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be so unlike Spirit. Man is spiritual and perfect; and because he is spiritual and perfect, he must be so understood in Christian Science.

Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death. The real man cannot depart from holiness, nor can God, by whom man is evolved, engender the capacity or freedom to sin. A mortal sinner is not God's man.

5. 476 : 4-5, 9-11, 32-5

In divine Science, God and the real man are inseparable as divine Principle and idea.

God is the Principle of man, and man is the idea of God. Hence man is not mortal nor material.

Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy.

6. 472 : 24 (All)-6

All reality is in God and His creation, harmonious and eternal. That which He creates is good, and He makes all that is made. Therefore the only reality of sin, sickness, or death is the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erring belief, until God strips off their disguise. They are not true, because they are not of God. We learn in Christian Science that all inharmony of mortal mind or body is illusion, possessing neither reality nor identity though seeming to be real and identical.

The Science of Mind disposes of all evil. Truth, God, is not the father of error. Sin, sickness, and death are to be classified as effects of error.

7. 493 : 17-24

Mind must be found superior to all the beliefs of the five corporeal senses, and able to destroy all ills. Sickness is a belief, which must be annihilated by the divine Mind. Disease is an experience of so-called mortal mind. It is fear made manifest on the body. Christian Science takes away this physical sense of discord, just as it removes any other sense of moral or mental inharmony.

8. 120 : 15-24

Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; nor can the material senses bear reliable testimony on the subject of health. The Science of Mind-healing shows it to be impossible for aught but Mind to testify truly or to exhibit the real status of man. Therefore the divine Principle of Science, reversing the testimony of the physical senses, reveals man as harmoniously existent in Truth, which is the only basis of health; and thus Science denies all disease, heals the sick, overthrows false evidence, and refutes materialistic logic.

9. 494 : 5-14

Is it not a species of infidelity to believe that so great a work as the Messiah's was done for himself or for God, who needed no help from Jesus' example to preserve the eternal harmony? But mortals did need this help, and Jesus pointed the way for them. Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.

10. 367 : 17-23

A Christian Scientist occupies the place at this period of which Jesus spoke to his disciples, when he said: "Ye are the salt of the earth." "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." Let us watch, work, and pray that this salt lose not its saltness, and that this light be not hid, but radiate and glow into noontide glory.

11. 368 : 14-19

When we come to have more faith in the truth of being than we have in error, more faith in Spirit than in matter, more faith in living than in dying, more faith in God than in man, then no material suppositions can prevent us from healing the sick and destroying error.

12. 253 : 9-17

I hope, dear reader, I am leading you into the understanding of your divine rights, your heaven-bestowed harmony, — that, as you read, you see there is no cause (outside of erring, mortal, material sense which is not power) able to make you sick or sinful; and I hope that you are conquering this false sense. Knowing the falsity of so-called material sense, you can assert your prerogative to overcome the belief in sin, disease, or death.