Chapter Five

Chapter Five
Chapter Eight: Called to Take Risks

1. What is the one key idea of this chapter? Pay attention to the title of the chapter!

This chapter and Luke's Gospel teach us to open our hearts, souls, strength and mind to God so that we may pass over any boundaries that separate us. The Gospel of Luke emphasizes the fact that loving God means that you also have to love your neighbor. In order to love God and your neighbor you are automatically making a decision that involves risks. Jesus stood up for the anawim, or the materially or spiritually poor who are seeking God, despite the fact that they were the outcasts of society. In this chapter and the Gospel of Luke we are being called to stand up for the outcasts of society or any of our neighbors and in doing this we need to be ready to take risks.

2. Write about two major ideas you want to remember. Write a short paragraph on each clearly stating the idea and then telling why you want to remember it.

One major idea I want to take from this chapter is that the only meal present in all four Gospels, "The Feeding of the Five Thousand," shows how Jesus put away the rules of society so that he could feed everyone. I never really saw the significance of the meal as Jesus breaking the mold of society and reaching out to all of his neighbors, rather I saw it as just another miracle. Now that I understand this passage though, I find it a great example of how Jesus took risks by serving the food himself and eating with everyone from the poor to the sick and this really shows me how someone should love their neighbor. This passage inspires me to do as Jesus did and try to do the simplest of things such as eating with someone just to show that I love them.

The second major idea I want to take from this chapter is the view that Mary is a model of someone who took risks to follow God. She was still a teenager when God called on her to be the mother of Jesus yet she and Joseph were willing to open themselves to God. As good disciples of God they teach us to open ourselves to God when we are in doubt. Mary put her life and hopes in God's hands and was taking many risks by doing so yet Mary trusted in God and believed that God would change the injustice of their lives. Mary was focused on doing God's will and today we try to follow her example in doing so.

3. One image that captures the chapter for you.

4. One significant question you have from this chapter. It can be intellectual or personal.

What can I do today that would be as loving as Jesus' breaking of the bread with everyone, to show that I love my neighbors?