Journal of Sacred Work

Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
– Luke 9:35

  To whom do we listen as make our life decisions? According to the above Scripture, the voice of God commanded that we listen to Jesus. Christ is the best expression of Love in this world. Do we have the strength to listen to his voice and to follow his teachings?
   The nature of the Journal is to help us explore, together, the meaning of Love in our lives and the ways in which caregivers can better perfect their expression of Love in their work.
   One of the most startling things I learned in Divinity School was the enormous influence of one man in determining which Gospels would be included in the Bible as divine teaching…

   By the later part of the 1st century and the early part of the 2nd, dozens of Gospels had been written. A 2nd century (C.E.) Bishop named Irenaeus chose the four anonymous writings he thought best represented the teachings and the story of Jesus. Mark (the oldest gospel) Matthew, Luke and John were, in his mind, the only authentic Gospels. "And," he wrote, "this is obviously true because there are four corners of the
universe and there are four principal winds, and therefore there can be
only four gospels that are authentic."
   In making this declaration, Irenaeus tossed aside the Gospels of Thomas, Peter, James and others including the recently discovered Gospel of Judas. Much of the wisdom and teaching of these Gospels has thus been, in practicality, kept from the view of millions across hundreds of years.
   To whom do we listen? Which voices will guide our thinking about the Christian narrative and our own role in it today?

   If we were to accept the Gospel of Judas, which we know was an early writing because it is referenced by Irenaeus, we would need to accept that Judas betrayed Jesus at Jesus’ request! It would mean that for two thousand years, most of us have been blaming an innocent man.
   This example illustrates the folly of our over-dependence on history written, of course, by human beings. To my mind, the important truths don’t lie in how many disciples Jesus had and who wrote what. The most important single truth is how Jesus expressed God’s Love in this world. As we read the four canonical Gospels, we come upon the Sermon on the Mount and all of the parables. These are the teachings we may choose to follow not because we have been ordered to but because we choose to accept them as true and right.
   I believe that the gospel that offers all caregivers ultimate guidance is the Gospel of Love. It is the one written in our hearts. And it is in this gospel where we find the good news and the hope upon which the fulfillment of our lives depends.