Going Deeper

St. Luke wants to join others who have written about, 'the events that have been fulfilled amongst us'. He wants 'Theophilus', that is, the one who has fallen in love with God, to know the Truth, to come to a deeper knowledge.

For St. Luke, Baptism is not best experienced on a pair of water skis, it requires the skill of diving deep, going beyond the surface. And he uses some wonderful images to get this across.

After His Baptism, Jesus is praying and, in this moment, knows Himself to be The Beloved Son of God, filled with Gods' Spirit. The Spirit drives Him into the wilderness where he is tempted by Satan (the Liar) to become a self-centred Son of God. Jesus powerful 'No!' allows the Spirit to fill Him even more, and it is filled with the Spirit that he returns to Galilee. Notice that the first thing Jesus does is to try and understand more of the experience He is having. He goes home, He goes to the Synagogue and consults the Sacred Texts. When He is handed the text, He bypasses the 'reading of the day' and searches for words that will make it clearer what it means to be The Beloved Son of God.

He discovers that it is to be on a mission of liberation. Whenever life is impoverished, it will be enriched. Wherever life is imprisoned, it will be made free. Wherever life is impaired, it will be enabled. Wherever life is hopeless, it will be raised from the grave. It is with these words that He begins His Ministry. In a nutshell, Jesus is called to a life of transfiguration.

Luke has made good on his promise. He gives 'Theophilus' the true understanding of the events that have been fulfilled. For Jesus they are no longer words of promise but words of now. The message is crystal clear. If we claim to have had a religious experience, or that we have been touched by the Sacred - for some this happens through nature, by the death of a loved one, the birth of a child, by falling in love, by questing for the truth, by acting with compassion, by speaking up for the rights of the poor etc. There is always an 'event' where Gods Boundless Love breaks into our awareness and changes us forever.

​The temptation to stay on the surface or to become selfish can be strong in these moments. We must go deeper to fill out the meaning and our understanding of what is happening. And the litmus test of its authenticity is seen in a prayerful transfiguration of the suffering of the world.  If that's not happening, maybe we have to look again.