Topic 14: Luke‘s Landscape: Road of Riches and Question of Maturing in Service
I. Landscape: walking the road of riches (service)
A) How do we develop an original life that continues to grow and offers itself to the greater good? Service has no destination or end point. It is a road without end and is deeply involved with conversion.
B) In the Gospel, Jesus largely teaches the disciples as they are walking on the road between villages. This is the way we mature in the process of our lives – between experiences and places.
C) The road of riches is a metaphor for never-ending practices or way of the Christ. Its richness is inner contentment and the joy of relationships and communities that seek to be ones of greater love and justice.
II. Qualities of how we mature in service and The Fourth Spiritual Path
A) Keep focus on today
1) Service is never ending, and ultimately cannot be concerned with results.
2) Staying focused on today helps to keep strength for the on-going work.
B) Trial and error
1) There is no perfect or complete manual; we are always confronting new questions, coming up against the future. We know what worked well yesterday but life moves on and new question emerge
C) Holy curiosity: If something is of God, be at peace; it will happen in God‘s time.
1) How would you live a dilemma if you knew it turned out well?
2) Think of watching a flowering plant grow. Who orders its development?
D) From the Third to Fourth Path –
1. The problem is that no fundamental change actually occurred in the third path. We had a wonderful revelatory moment, but it has thus far served only one purpose. It has made us more conscious. We have become aware that it is possible for our feelings, thoughts, and attitudes-even our daily lives—to change.
2. However, our egos are still in an immature state. Our old ego still controls many of our core emotions. Our still small ego-self has only tasted a new way; it hasn’t yet transformed itself into maturity, or even had a chance to practice being mature. Real transformations take place at a very basic inner level. We find ways in which we can build a place for all parts of our inner self – the unruly child in us has a place to play, and the quiet child, a place to dream. We need to develop positive system of belief – when we hold a belief that "things" are improving, on a core level, our behavior will be more expansive and relaxed We will tend to engage in activities that invest in a future that we feel is growing and beneficent.
3. "Go slowly" is the very first counsel we receive from Luke. We are asked to shelter our revelation, newly birthed, so that Spirit can nestle deeply. We need time for discernment to develop an integrated response to life’s events
4. The time does come, however, when Luke firmly instructs us to step out of shelter and grow active in the building of our new lives. This is how we find the answer to the fourth path’s core question: How do we mature in service? As we move outward, our journey becomes a tumultuous and passionate adventure in discovering how to recognize and seize our strengths and navigate our relationships. We become comfortable with the unceasing process of growth
5. We have setbacks, and our increased awareness causes these to be more painful than before; but at the same time, we are happily sensitized to surpassing bliss, thanks to our third-path epiphanies. Therefore, no matter what difficulties we encounter, we find many more times of joy than we have ever known.
6. With the help of Matthew and Mark we kicked away the sharp rocks of our past. Now Luke suggests that we recover some of those "flaws"—reexamine them understand and accept them as valuable pieces of our history. What do we need to preserve, and what do we need to leave behind in order to move forward—and what is the proper timing?
7. Self-acceptance of our own originality and our comfort with it moves us outward
The outside world becomes a kaleidoscope of flashing possibilities that open to us in ways we could not previously have imagined—in friendships, jobs, and varieties of networking at all levels. Nonetheless, filled with new energy and excitement about our fresh insights, we confidently stride out of the safety of the third path’s garden and into what we are certain will be our renewed and joyous life. How can we bring grace received to our everyday, life relationships and family?
8. Maturing in service is the continuous work of moving toward integration or heart. Luke employs the word "heart" throughout as an integrated image of mind/body/spirit – people with both feeling and emotion and with logic and reason. We learn that we can act from our hearts in this expanded sense and, when we do, it frees us in a radical way. We experience the power that comes with speaking and acting from the divine in us joined to our inner truth. Not only do we discover that others receive us differently, but our fears diminish. In the same way, the aspects of ourselves that we think of as our "highest" must seek out those we think of as our "lowest"’ or "ugliest," so that the two may come together in the fertile beginnings of what psychologists call "integration
III. Outline of the Gospel
Luke is a series of teachings specifically designed to expand on the basic truths of the other gospels and to establish a discipline that moves them into everyday life. It is also a much fuller story of Jesus’ life, from his conception through his death and resurrection. Unlike any of the other gospels, it tells of Jesus’ childhood, describing how he "grew in grace and truth." It is, in itself, an account of spiritual maturation.
A). Opening stories (including the angel Gabriel’s appearance to Zechariah and Mary), the nativity
B). Middle section, containing "the lessons"
C). Passion and the Resurrection accounts
IV. Opening of Luke’s Gospel (Lk 1)
In Matthew’s gospel, the focus was on Joseph. In Luke’s gospel, it is on Mary.
A) Gabriel, the Jewish angel of strength and perseverance, visits both Zechariah and Mary.
The name of the angel Gabriel is extremely significant in Luke’s gospel. Nowhere else in the four gospels is an angel identified by name. Gabriel means "God is my strength" in Hebrew, and derives from the tradition Jewish belief that there are four angels who always surround us. Therefore, when Luke invokes the name Gabriel in these deeply cautionary accounts, he emphasizes to the Christian community that the power of the Jewish faith has not abandoned them, even if the Jewish community seemingly has. They can rest assured that they carry God’s strength with them into their new lives, and thus they will be protected.
B) Luke tells the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, descended from priestly and royal lineage, and thus "elevated" in Jewish society. Despite this status, however, their community assumed them to be sinners because they were childless—a clear indication of God’s disfavor.
C) Zechariah‘s response to Gabriel: Trying to figure it all out beforehand is one way to manage anxiety.
Luke is telling his readers to temper their zeal. "Stop and think," he counsels. "No matter what joy is in your heart, be silent for a time. Gather wisdom before you speak." The wise course requires patience
D) Mary‘s response to Gabriel: Resting in God. If what is about to happen is of God, nothing can stop it.
Though she questioned Gabriel, she was not frightened, and unlike Zechariah, she did not challenge the prophecy. Her response appears to have been more an expression of curiosity; she was completely accepting of the prediction
E) God asks us to give our heart and holy curiosity to God‘s intent and will.
F) The dearth of community support suffered by Zechariah and Elizabeth mirrored the predicament of the Christian communities. They, too, had been faithful followers of a holy journey and had received the announcement of a great birth—a grace to be made visible in their lives. But Judaism, their historical family, had been unable to understand or appreciate that experience. Instead, their faith family had responded with curses and shunning.