Working more earnestly in the Master's vineyard

In Matthew 13:24-30 we read: “Another parable put he (Jesus) forth unto them (the disciples), saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”

Christ Jesus illustrates the vineyard, or human consciousness, as a field of tares and wheat. Human consciousness, is the battle field between the good and the evil, Spirit, God, and matter. It’s where you and I fight our mental battles, inconsistencies, ups and our downs, schisms of the soul, our whether we should or whether we shouldn’t decisions. It’s where we face off with mortal thinking and confront it with spiritual right thought. And we do this through prayer. This is what it means to burn the tares (destory mortal thinking) and harvest the wheat (develop spiritual thinking).

In this vineyard, or field of harvest, the fruits of our works are made manifest as we put off the old man and put on the new. We do this through scientific right thought based on the laws of God, divine Mind. Through deepening our trust on God's laws thought rises to the realization of the powerlessness of error. When the allness of God is within thought, within consciousness, what else could coincide with that allness? Nothing. And that’s exactly what we find, -- the allness of God and the nothingness of evil. There are many ways to lift thought up to the allness of God and the nothingness of error. How we do this is individual. But, we may seek out what inspires us. It could be sermons or stones or songs or poems. It could be lectures or lessons or lyrics or praises. Any old way we find is good, as long as it lifts thought to the allness of God and is based on His laws. Scientific prayer, based on God's law then follows because when inspired prayer ensues and solidifies the truthful inspiration. Whatever lifts thought and gets it to the spiritual ground of God’s allness is what we’re looking for – it is never formulaic, though. It is not something we write out. It is not notes we catalog. It is not found in our past prayers, but in our present prayers. It is not assignments. It is not the accumulation of articles. It is today's prayer acknowledging God’s power today. It strengthens our understanding, uplifting and healing us. It recognizes the presence of God and only the presence of God – while simultaneously destroying any sense of the presence of evil. It begins with God, looks fearlessly at the evil, and ends with God. It spurs thought on to yield to the true. This is Spirit, God, acting on human consciousness and revealing only the real and permanent in spiritual consciousness.

The human and divine coincidence, the overcoming of disease with truth, evil with good, is the practical coming of the Christ to consciousness. More, -- it is the coming of Christ to experience! What does Spirit affect? It affects thought – or the misconception in human consciousness.

Mrs. Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, teaches: “John saw the human and divine coincidence, shown in the man Jesus, as divinity embracing humanity in Life and its demonstration, — reducing to human perception and understanding the Life which is God. In divine revelation, material and corporeal self-hood disappear, and the spiritual idea is understood” (S&H 561). We see here the coincidence is the divine embracing the human. It is God acting on human experience through His laws. It is Christ, God's power, in action. It is “The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error” (S&H 583).

How?

Our spiritual sense perceives God and His power and this perception alters thought for the better and the human is changed. Mrs. Eddy says: ‘the divine embraces the human.’ Where does the divine embrace the human? In consciousness. So, there is not a separation between the divine and the human – the divine embraces the human. There is not a puzzle we’re trying to put together to get the divine to do something to the human – the divine embraces the human. The divine is holding the human close – until what? Until the human is no longer seen as the human – until there is no more mental conflict, -- until the human yields to the divine and the divine is seen to be all.

When the conflict is destroyed what is left? The divine. When all the weeds are plucked from consciousness what is left? Only the wheat – the divine. When the conflict of health versus disease is destroyed and we fully realize there in no disease then we are understanding ourselves to be purely spiritual. The divine has destroyed the conflict in the human consciousness. The weeds have been pulled, and the wheat or the perfection of God and man is seen. Was the perfection there all along? Yes. Did we create a new creature? No. We simply destroyed, or put off, the old.

Now, here are some interesting words that can help us in this understanding of the human and divine coincidence. Our Leader writes: “He (Jesus) expressed the highest type of divinity, which a fleshly form could express in that age” (332). Jesus expressed a type of divinity – the highest type -- which a fleshly form could express. That seems contradictory doesn’t it? Yet, that’s what she writes. This could only mean one thing: the fleshly form that you and I appear to be carrying about is the manifestation of our thought. This means we have the choice between what we are going to express. We can express the highest type of divinity or we can express the lowest type of mortality. Jesus chose to express the highest type of divinity which he could express in a fleshly form, hence, he was acknowledged as the very Son of God. We, too, can express our highest type of divinity which a fleshly form can express in this age. And expressing this highest type of divinity we find the human and divine coincidence immediate. This means we already are the image and likeness of God, we already have divinity embracing the humanity. We don’t have to wait for anything. It already is.

Coincidence is a happening at the same time. The coincidence of the human with the divine is the human under divine control, the surrender of the human will to the will of God. Man, God's idea, though, is not human and divine at the same time. In fact, man is not human at all. But, the human appears to be a mingling of the human and the divine. But it is only in appearance because the real man is purely spiritual.

Now, the question often comes “If God does not know the human how can He know me? How can He hear me? How can He understand me?” The answer is simple: God does not need to know the human to know His creation. If we feel He needs to know of all the bumps, bruises, and bum thoughts we have then we are not rising above the claim of life in matter – rather we are swimming around in it wondering how we’re going to get to God. We do not have to get to God and He does not have to get to us. We are already at-one with God.

In this vineyard, where God is present in our consciousness, comes the demand to pray more earnestly while remembering that all that we do we do through reflection. So, today, let's work more earnestly in our Master's vineyard by rising above the clamor of the material senses and standing with God, His power, His presence, and His allness.