First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge, California
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- Luke 14:27 whosoever
whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
- Matt. 16:24-26
24¶ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
- Mark 10:32-34
32¶ And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him,
33Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles:
34And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again.
- Mark 15:1-34, 37
1And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.
2And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it.
3And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing.
4And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee.
5But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled.
6Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired.
7And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection.
8And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them.
9But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
10For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.
11But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.
12And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?
13And they cried out again, Crucify him.
14Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.
15¶ And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
16And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Prætorium; and they call together the whole band.
17And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,
18And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
19And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.
20And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.
21And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.
22And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.
23And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.
24And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.
25And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
26And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
27And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.
28And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.
29And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,
30Save thyself, and come down from the cross.
31Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.
32Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
33And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
37And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
- Phil. 2:5-9
5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy
- SH 224:16-17
- SH 20:14
Jesus bore our infirmities; he knew the error of mortal 15belief, and “with his stripes [the rejection of error] we are Perfect examplehealed.” “Despised and rejected of men,” returning blessing for cursing, he taught mor-18tals the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God; and when error felt the power of Truth, the scourge and the cross awaited the great Teacher. Yet he swerved not, 21well knowing that to obey the divine order and trust God, saves retracing and traversing anew the path from sin to holiness.
- SH 597:3
The Judaic religion consisted mostly of rites and cere-monies. The motives and affections of a man were of little value, if only he appeared unto men to fast. The 6great Nazarene, as meek as he was mighty, rebuked the hypocrisy, which offered long petitions for blessings upon material methods, but cloaked the crime, latent in thought, 9which was ready to spring into action and crucify God’s anointed. The martyrdom of Jesus was the culminating sin of Pharisaism. It rent the veil of the temple. It re-12vealed the false foundations and superstructures of super-ficial religion, tore from bigotry and superstition their coverings, and opened the sepulchre with divine Science, 15 — immortality and Love.
- SH 49:26-2
The priests and rabbis, before whom he had meekly 27walked, and those to whom he had given the highest Cruel contumelyproofs of divine power, mocked him on the cross, saying derisively, “He saved others; 30himself he cannot save.” These scoffers, who turned “aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,” esteemed Jesus as “stricken, smitten of God.” 50 50:1“He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”
- SH 50:5-8, 12-14, 26-15
The last supreme moment of mockery, desertion, tor-6ture, added to an overwhelming sense of the magnitude A cry of despairof his work, wrung from Jesus’ lips the awful cry, “My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” ... The appeal of Jesus was made both to his divine Principle, the God who is Love, and to himself, Love’s pure idea.
The burden of that hour was terrible beyond human 27conception. The distrust of mortal minds, disbelieving The real pillorythe purpose of his mission, was a million times sharper than the thorns which pierced 30his flesh. The real cross, which Jesus bore up the hill of grief, was the world’s hatred of Truth and Love. Not the spear nor the material cross wrung from his faithful 51 51:1lips the plaintive cry, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” It was the possible loss of something more important than 3human life which moved him, — the possible misappre-hension of the sublimest influence of his career. This dread added the drop of gall to his cup.
6 Jesus could have withdrawn himself from his enemies. He had power to lay down a human sense of life for his Life-power indestructiblespiritual identity in the likeness of the divine; 9but he allowed men to attempt the destruc-tion of the mortal body in order that he might furnish the proof of immortal life. Nothing could kill this Life 12 of man. Jesus could give his temporal life into his enemies’ hands; but when his earth-mission was accom-plished, his spiritual life, indestructible and eternal, 15was found forever the same.
- SH 52:19-23
- SH 134:1-13
To-day the cry of bygone ages is re-peated, “Crucify him!” At every advancing step, truth 3is still opposed with sword and spear.
The word martyr, from the Greek, means witness; but those who testified for Truth were so often persecuted 6Testimony of martyrsunto death, that at length the word martyr was narrowed in its significance and so has come always to mean one who suffers for his convictions. 9The new faith in the Christ, Truth, so roused the hatred of the opponents of Christianity, that the followers of Christ were burned, crucified, and otherwise persecuted; 12and so it came about that human rights were hallowed by the gallows and the cross.
- SH 238:31
- SH 9:14
- SH 178:32
- SH 254:27-31
- SH 15:18-20
- SH 54:3-8
Hymn 104: “Help us, Lord, to bear the cross”
Hymn 550: “O'er waiting harpstrings of the mind”
Hymn 325: “Take up thy cross”