Model of Discipleship
by Fr.Gus Carter
12/18/05

The great teachers of early Christianity are called the Church Fathers. They were sure that God had to prepare the human family for the coming of the Son of God among us. Without help how could we understand such a powerfully significant event. The preparation came about through the prayers and religious rites of the Hebrew people, their songs and stories, their political structure and the prophets responses to social issues. All these are gathered in what we call the Old Testament. All his life Jesus Christ was a practicing Jew who loved the scriptures of his people. In his preaching of the kingdom of God he used the Jewish scriptures to explain his message. The most ardent followers of Jesus throughout the centuries have loved the Old Testament as a way of understanding Jesus better. The Vatican II documents made every effort to help all of us return to following Jesus in his love for the Word of God.

St. Luke, whose writings most influence our celebration of Christmas, took great care to show how Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the Jewish hopes for an everlasting relationship with God. In the Gospel we have read today Luke sets out to prepare us so that we will be able to understand the significance of the story he is about to tell. Who is Jesus and why is he called the Son of the Most High God? The answer is that the Holy Spirit, the power of the Most High overshadowed Mary so that she would conceive and give birth to a son. This child of Mary is the Son of God as well as the son of Mary. The story Luke will tell explains the message of the kingdom of God come among us through Jesus Christ, true God and true human.

Jesus will be given the throne of David his ancestor. He will establish the everlasting kingdom promised to David and his offspring nine hundred years previously. The first reading today tells us of the promise from God given by Nathan the prophet to David. However, the Hebrew people never expected that the everlasting kingdom would come about through the death and resurrection of the Messiah.

How shall these promises by carried out. One of the main themes that runs through the Gospel of Luke is that of discipleship. Luke stresses many times that it will be the followers of Jesus who will carry on the kingdom through time into eternity. Discipleship depends on the human reaction to the proclamation of Christ. People encounter Jesus' message in the many ways individuals come to faith in Jesus. His followers call themselves the family of God. Jesus himself said, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it." Jesus spoke of those who would listen to his words "with noble and generous minds." These are the ones who "Produce fruit through persistence."

Luke portrays Mary, the mother of Jesus, as the first disciple of her son and the model of all discipleship. The Evangelist twice presents Mary to us reflecting on the events surrounding Jesus life: "Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." Luke could have been thinking of Mary when he presents the ideal disciple in the Gospel as "listening with noble and generous mind." This aspect of Mary's life makes her the patroness of all contemplative prayer.

One of the titles given to Luke's Gospel is "The Gospel of the Poor." In the Old Testament a group called "aniwim," "The Little Ones," were considered under God's special protection.

They were generally people who had no power. They were contrasted to the proud and arrogant who exercised power, often to oppress others. These felt that they did not need God; they took care of themselves. The "Little ones" depended on God. By calling herself "the handmaid of the Lord," Mary humbly put herself among God's little ones. Our understanding of Mary has come to include not only praying for favors from her, but that Mary is our model in following Jesus. She is not only Queen of Mercy; she is the greatest example of Christian discipleship.