Mediation

DISAGREEMENTS between nations, as well as in commu-nities and families, often seem too big for us to handle on our own. What we need is a mediator with the courage, the vision, and the skill to reconcile the chasmlike rifts appearing in our world today.

And there is such a mediator. In the Bible, First Timothy says directly: ``There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."

Isn't this spiritual reconciliation what the world needs? An incident recounted in the Gospel of John helps illustrate how Christ's mediation operates. It's the story of the woman accused of adultery. The mob was ready to kill her. Could their hard views be modified and softened? Yes! Jesus' calm, spiritual reasoning literally disarmed them.

But Jesus' effect on the situation went beyond simply protecting the woman from her accusers. His intervention also drew the woman closer to God. And his recognition of her genuine, God-created identity enabled her to do better at living up to that spiritual status. ``Go, and sin no more," Jesus told her. And the Biblical account certainly implies that her life was truly changed.

Although Jesus is no longer with us personally, the Godlike spirit of Christ that he brought to mankind is never absent. Can't we conclude from this that Christ is with us today to bring reconciliation and healing to individuals and nations?

Since God is our creator, He's not the one who needs reconciliation, of course. God is perfect, One. He is All-in-all; He is divine and infinite Spirit. So, in order to deepen our understanding of man's relationship to God, we are the ones who need the mediation Christ brings. That is, our recognition of who we are needs to be more fully reconciled to the spiritual fact that man--our true identity--is created and governed by God. As our perception of our own pure and perfect relationship to God grows, we

turn more readily to Him in prayer to resolve disputes when they do arise.

Christ is such a powerful mediator because God, Christ's divine authority, is ever-present and all-inclusive Being. Christ always comes forth from God's presence. And Christ is never separate from divine intelligence and power. Christ also speaks to us in ways that we can recognize, understand, and follow. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, says in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, ``Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking

to the human consciousness." Of course, we have to listen to the mediator! And this listening requires far more of us than our physical sense of hearing. We must be obedient to the Christly mandate.

Can't we conclude this is what happened with the woman Jesus saved? It wasn't self-righteousness that saved her. Nor was it pity or anger. Jesus didn't sit down with her accusers and discuss the situation or talk at length with her. He knew that man was whole and full of worth because of the way God creates man. The power of what Jesus knew about her spiritual identity surely touched the woman as nothing else ever had.

Such spiritual power can change forever the way we view ourselves. It can bring us face to face with our own sins and heal them. This is how Christ silences disputes. Healing begins always in you and me. But it inevitably spreads, touching and blessing every situation we're in.