Wednesday Bible Readings
March 5th, 2025
From The Bible
¶ Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? ...
It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
(Luke 13:18, 21)
¶ When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. ...
Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
(John 6:5–12, 14)
Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
(John 6:26–33)
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: ...
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; ...
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. ...
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: ...
(John 6:35 (to :), 37 (to ;), 38, 40 (to :))
... Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
(I Corinthians 5:6–8 Know)
Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.
(Acts 3:1–10)
¶ And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. ¶ Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
(Acts 4:5–14)
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
(II Corinthians 5:17)
A little leaven leavens the whole lump. A little understanding of Christian Science proves the truth of all that I say of it. Because you cannot walk on the water and raise the dead, you have no right to question the great might of divine Science in these directions. Be thankful that Jesus, who was the true demonstrator of Science, did these things, and left his example for us. In Science we can use only what we understand. We must prove our faith by demonstration.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 329:5)
God is Spirit; therefore the language of Spirit must be, and is, spiritual. Christian Science attaches no physical nature and significance to the Supreme Being or His manifestation; mortals alone do this. ...
Ear hath not heard, nor hath lip spoken, the pure language of Spirit. Our Master taught spirituality by similitudes and parables. As a divine student he unfolded God to man, illustrating and demonstrating Life and Truth in himself and by his power over the sick and sinning. Human theories are inadequate to interpret the divine Principle involved in the miracles (marvels) wrought by Jesus and especially in his mighty, crowning, unparalleled, and triumphant exit from the flesh.
Evidence drawn from the five physical senses relates solely to human reason; and because of opacity to the true light, human reason dimly reflects and feebly transmits Jesus’ works and words. Truth is a revelation.
Jesus bade his disciples beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, which he defined as human doctrines. His parable of the “leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened,” impels the inference that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ and its spiritual interpretation, — an inference far above the merely ecclesiastical and formal applications of the illustration.
Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy, foretelling the second appearing in the flesh of the Christ, Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visible world?
Ages pass, but this leaven of Truth is ever at work. It must destroy the entire mass of error, and so be eternally glorified in man’s spiritual freedom.
In their spiritual significance, Science, Theology, and Medicine are means of divine thought, which include spiritual laws emanating from the invisible and infinite power and grace. The parable may import that these spiritual laws, perverted by a perverse material sense of law, are metaphysically presented as three measures of meal, — that is, three modes of mortal thought. In all mortal forms of thought, dust is dignified as the natural status of men and things, and modes of material motion are honored with the name of laws. This continues until the leaven of Spirit changes the whole of mortal thought, as yeast changes the chemical properties of meal.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 117:6–10, 14–25 (np))
How are veritable ideas to be distinguished from illusions? By learning the origin of each. Ideas are emanations from the divine Mind. Thoughts, proceeding from the brain or from matter, are offshoots of mortal mind; they are mortal material beliefs. Ideas are spiritual, harmonious, and eternal. Beliefs proceed from the so-called material senses, ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 88:9–15 (to ,))
The human mind has no power to kill or to cure, and it has no control over God’s man. The divine Mind that made man maintains His own image and likeness. ...
That mortal mind claims to govern every organ of the mortal body, we have overwhelming proof. But this so-called mind is a myth, and must by its own consent yield to Truth. It would wield the sceptre of a monarch, but it is powerless. The immortal divine Mind takes away all its supposed sovereignty, and saves mortal mind from itself. The author has endeavored to make this book the Æsculapius of mind as well as of body, that it may give hope to the sick and heal them, although they know not how the work is done. Truth has a healing effect, even when not fully understood.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 151:21–24, 31)
A little leaven causes the whole mass to ferment. A grain of Christian Science does wonders for mortals, so omnipotent is Truth, but more of Christian Science must be gained in order to continue in well doing.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 449:2)
The broadcast powers of evil so conspicuous to-day show themselves in the materialism and sensualism of the age, struggling against the advancing spiritual era. Beholding the world’s lack of Christianity and the powerlessness of vows to make home happy, the human mind will at length demand a higher affection.
There will ensue a fermentation over this as over many other reforms, until we get at last the clear straining of truth, and impurity and error are left among the lees.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 65:13–23)
Marvels, calamities, and sin will much more abound as truth urges upon mortals its resisted claims; but the awful daring of sin destroys sin, and foreshadows the triumph of truth. God will overturn, until “He come whose right it is.” Longevity is increasing and the power of sin diminishing, for the world feels the alterative effect of truth through every pore.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 223:28)
Christian Science brings to the body the sunlight of Truth, which invigorates and purifies. Christian Science acts as an alterative, neutralizing error with Truth. It changes the secretions, expels humors, dissolves tumors, relaxes rigid muscles, restores carious bones to soundness. The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 162:4)
Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites understanding to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 506:10)
The necessity for uplifting the race is father to the fact that Mind can do it; for Mind can impart purity instead of impurity, strength instead of weakness, and health instead of disease. Truth is an alterative in the entire system, and can make it “every whit whole.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 371:27)
Come, Thou all-transforming Spirit, / Bless the sower and the seed; / Let each heart Thy grace inherit; / Raise the weak, the hungry feed; / From the Gospel, from the Gospel / Now supply Thy people’s need.
O, may all enjoy the blessing / Which Thy holy word doth give; / Let us all, Thy love possessing, / Joyfully Thy truth receive; / And forever, and forever / To Thy praise and glory live.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 42:1, 2)
O Jesus, our dear Master, / Thy works, now understood, / Reveal their full effulgence / Through love and brotherhood. / Today Christ’s precious Science / Thy healing power makes plain: / With joy may all obey thee / And cast out sin and pain.
The Christ, eternal manhood, / As God’s own Son beloved, / A tender ever-presence / Within each heart is proved. / O God, our Father-Mother, / Thy name we see expressed / By man, who in Thy Science / Is perfect, holy, blessed.
O Science, God-sent message / To tired humanity, / Thou art Love’s revelation / Of Truth that makes us free. / Thy kingdom, God, within us / Shows forth Love’s sweet control. / God’s idea, man, rejoices; / He knows the reign of Soul.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 221:1–3)
O God, our help in ages past, / Our hope for time to come, / Our shelter from the stormy blast, / And our eternal home.
Before the hills in order stood, / Or earth received her frame, / From everlasting Thou art God, / To endless years the same.
A thousand ages in Thy sight / Are like an evening gone, / Short as the watch that ends the night / Before the rising sun.
O God, our help in ages past, / Our hope for time to come, / Thou art our guard while ages last, / And our eternal home.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 213:1–4)
