Many people today think of Jesus as the best man that ever walked the earth. That’s easy to understand. He is so easy to admire, overflowing with qualities most think of as noble, even divine. The Bible reports that he was gentle, calm, meek, thoughtful—in a word, holy. His healings happened as effortlessly as his smile. Multitudes pressed to be near him. Wouldn’t most of us do the same if he strolled through our neighborhoods? I sure would. At least, I hope I would.

Some say Jesus was Christ. Christian Science expands and deepens this wonderful idea of the Messiah, or Savior, with the understanding that the Christ was not only embodied in the man Jesus, but is the eternal truth and love that God forever feels for every detail of His infinite universe. It’s what He cherishes about His creation—that everything is in reality an idea of His, perfect, holy, lovely.

Jesus loved the Christ. In fact, he so totally embraced and expressed it that some folks then and now call him Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus. One of his disciples, the fiery Peter, even said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16).

Jesus loved his patients as God’s expressions of the Christ, whether they were individuals or multitudes. If they resisted when he detected a grain of receptivity, like the demanding Syrophoenician mother (Matt. 15:21–28) or the unbalanced critic in a temple (Mark 1:23–28), it could be said that he gently, quietly loved them as God’s own offspring until they yielded enough to let themselves be healed.

Of course, not everyone admired Jesus in those days. Maybe you’ve noticed in the Bible that practically every one of his healings was preceded and/or followed by some hateful, mean opposition. Open envy and unspoken malice sometimes seemed to fill the air like pollen. He might try to minimize it by asking patients to keep their healings quiet, but that didn’t work too well, given their joy over their healings!

The envy and malice of petty thinkers couldn’t tolerate someone who was so much holier than they were. It tempted them to bicker and argue with him and to use every open and subtle means they could to undermine his success. Sometimes they whispered among themselves, and other times they silently cherished hateful and destructive motives. No doubt the Master was able to read body language, but even more, he was able to detect unspoken thoughts and attitudes. The Bible says, “He knew their thoughts” (Luke 6:8).

And Jesus knew just what to do about these attacks. He met every hatred with love. Yes, love. You’d think he would at least have wanted a dagger. Some of his disciples carried swords (John 18:10, 11; Luke 22:38). But that wasn’t his style. He met hatred with a profound, unique love. It’s possible to think of him as living so close to God that error was not able to devise any attack that could wedge itself between him and the Christ that gave him total dominion.

Sometimes love is thought of as weak, soft, like marshmallows. And at times that’s true. But Jesus’ love was an expression of the powerful, healing, transforming affection in which God embraces His creation. It was a manifestation of the Christ. The Bible teaches that Jesus sometimes prayed night and day to defend his conviction of the allness of divine Love, or God. He needed the protection of knowing the precious truth that right where hatred appeared to be, in that very spot and at every moment, there was only a manifestation of God’s most tender affection, because God, good, is actually All.

It’s also true that through God’s Christ, we are all able to see harmony and peace in the place where unpleasant things appear to be going on. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures teaches, “God is everywhere, and nothing apart from Him is present or has power” (Mary Baker Eddy, p. 473).

Like Jesus, our Way-shower, the closer our thought is to the Christ, the greater dominion we have. In fact, Jesus’ immortal words and sublime example are still with us. He promised, “I am with you alway” (Matt. 28:20). What could be more tender or reassuring? Today that tender, healing love enfolds us all.