“For She Loved Much”

WHO can read the story of her who has been called Mary Magdalene, as recorded by Luke, without being helped by her unselfish devotion, loyalty, and faithfulness to Christ Jesus, who cast out of her seven devils, or errors. So complete was her healing from sin that in her regeneration she presents an outstanding example of true Christian discipleship. Humbled and penitent she entered the house of Simon to sit at the feet of Jesus, anoint his feet with precious ointment, and wash them with her tears.

Courageous she must have been to enter the house of the haughty and unloving Pharisee, there to seek from Jesus purification of sin. But neither false pride nor fear of criticism kept her from the presence of the pure and compassionate Christ Jesus. The host’s critical attitude deterred her not; instead, there was elicited from the Master that divinely inspired declaration to Simon, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.” Here it is plainly stated that she loved much before her sins were forgiven: her sins were forgiven because of the fact that she loved much.

This is the lesson of Christian Science; for through its teaching, the Christ, Truth, continually is calling on us to love much; and only as we do this can our sins be forgiven and obliterated. When we love God and see the real man as the idea of Love, we cannot envy, be impatient or unkind. Hence, through much loving we are healed of the sins of destructive criticism, envy, impatience, and unloving thoughts of others. In accordance with this same law, when we discern the fact that our own spiritual selfhood is the image of Love, the sins of self-condemnation, self-will, self-love, fear, discouragement, or any other belief coordinate with a false material sense of self cease to be cherished. Mrs. Eddy tells us in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” (p. 426), “Sin brought death, and death will disappear with the disappearance of sin.” How grateful we should be for the revelation which makes it clear to us that the perfect Love for the understanding of which we daily pray, not only blots out sin and fear, but also erases the belief in sickness and death.

As is indicated in the Scriptural allusions to her at the time of the crucifixion, Mary Magdalene loved much before, but far more after, her sins were forgiven. During this dark hour we find this loving follower standing by the cross and “sitting over against the sepulchre,” unwavering in her devotion. And early on that momentous Sabbath day, which by all Christendom is celebrated as Easter, we again see her bent on a mission of love. She had anointed the Master’s feet with precious ointment, had ministered to him of her substance, had been faithful to the end, and yet her desire to serve remained unsatisfied. She eagerly sought still further to express her love, her reverence, and her gratitude to God, who had been revealed to her through Christ Jesus. She herself had not yet risen, as had the Master, to see that the body, as matter, has nothing to do with the real man, deathless and eternal; and so she came prepared with sweet spices to anoint it, as she had done in the home of Simon.

Those who have suffered loss through their material concept of man can fathom her grief as she looked into the sepulcher and saw not the body of her Lord. And those redeemed from grief through the understanding that man in reality lives in Spirit, can comprehend her release from sorrow when the angel healed her broken heart with the comforting message, “He is not here, but is risen,” and her unspeakable joy as she turned from the evidence of the senses to behold the risen Christ.

Rich recompense, indeed, for unselfed love — that she should be the first to say she had seen the Lord. Great the reward for purity — that she should behold the deathless reality of Life, supreme over death! And yet, divine Love is blessing us today just as surely as it blessed Mary Magdalene, and is healing our grief just as certainly as it healed hers, when we but turn faithfully away from material beliefs, lift our thought Godward, and with the first dawning of spiritual light thank Him for the great truth of immortal being. When the divine discovery is made that “neither death, nor life, . . . shall be able to separate us from the love of God,” or from one another, grief melts into praise. The purer our love, the clearer this fact becomes, and the greater our joy in its unfoldment.

Christ Jesus beheld in the true selfhood of Mary Magdalene the stainless image of Love, even when to mortal sense her sins were many. His spiritual vision, together with her loving receptivity, wrought for her a healing so complete and beautiful that our Leader comments freely upon it in the opening paragraphs of the chapter entitled “Christian Science Practice” in Science and Health. Under the marginal heading “Speedy healing” (p. 365) Mrs. Eddy says, “If the Scientist has enough Christly affection to win his own pardon, and such commendation as the Magdalen gained from Jesus, then he is Christian enough to practise scientifically and deal with his patients compassionately; and the result will correspond with the spiritual intent.” If we aspire to bring instantaneous healing to ourselves or others, let us look within and see whether we are loving enough to win our own pardon from sin. If we are, we may look expectantly for right results, for divine Love lifts consciousness to behold the son of God, untouched by error. Love bestows the trust, courage, patience, and persistence to declare the truth about spiritual man until harmony is demonstrated.

Herein are revealed the grandeur and the simplicity of Christian Science. It withholds its riches only from the unloving; it is obscure and intricate alone to the worldly thought, the Pharisee, proud in his own conceit. But to him who has the heart of a child and the love which characterized the Magdalen, it is an open secret which all who love may discern. It is true that we need to study much to acquire the letter of Christian Science; but more still do we need to strive and pray for love, to demonstrate our understanding of divine Love, which alone brings to light health, harmony, and immortality—all that is complete, beautiful, and satisfying—the kingdom of heaven on earth. God does not require of us any difficult and impossible thing—only to love, a thing which every child, man, and woman can do; and yet so mighty that if everyone in the world were engaged in reflecting divine Love, the whole miasma of hate, fear, sin, sickness, and death would be eradicated.

When our eyes are opened to see how great is the harvest and how few are the laborers, we have placed upon us a responsibility to which we must ever be faithful. This responsibility Christ Jesus fulfilled. The disciples also assumed it; and throughout a long life of labor and love Mrs. Eddy stressed it as has no other in this age. How great was our Leader’s love for all the world! Through her clear exposition of Jesus’ teaching, multitudes have been enabled to understand the great truth of infinite Love, losing thereby the false sense of hate, fear, sorrow, sickness, and sin, and becoming living testimonials to the fact that they too have learned to love much.