This Gospel serves as Part I to the sequel we call Acts. Both are quite obviously written by the same hand. The author is well educated, has an analytical mind, and gives a great deal of emphasis to what can be known legitimately of the subject matter on a human level. However, the obvious intent is to point the reader to a much higher plane. The writings are dedicated to some sponsor named Theophilus. We can easily envision a commission from a wealthy new believer who seeks to know more details of this whole story of Jesus and His Apostles, and the message they all taught. Whoever wrote this Gospel obviously visited Palestine and spoke at length with eye witnesses.
Luke does not name himself in his writings. We identify him based primarily on tradition, but historical and contextual evidence serves to dismiss most doubts. He appears in Acts about the same time he begins using personal pronouns in the narrative. A Gentile physician would have the appropriate education, and the stories include far too many details of the human condition as a doctor might see it. He takes much from Mark's account, and would have been a close associate of his, both working with Paul. It also reflects an awareness of Matthew's Gospel. Perhaps Theophilus had read them both and wanted more. Because his purpose and outlook are different, he adds a great deal more material. All of this serves as a very high intellectual approach to understanding who Jesus was, and why He matters. It's hard to make sense of all this work unless we see Doctor Luke as the writer.
As a devoted attendant of Paul, we can easily find Luke spending several years in Palestine during Paul's imprisonment in Caesarea, beginning around AD 58. The grim possibilities of that time would certainly help explain why Luke might begin his research, and then set about composing an account from it. It would be best to have a working document in hand should Paul, his primary source up to then, be executed soon. The book was quite obviously published before the destruction of Jerusalem, for that event is conspicuous by its absence. Luke serves as the best path for Western minds to approach what is essentially an Eastern Mystical Semitic religion. He offers a strong emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit, appealing to the Western mind to look for something not obvious to the senses. This grasp explains how Luke was able to remain with Paul as the last of his long time friends when the end came. It explains to the unknown Theophilus and other Western Christians the unique and absolute claims of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We cannot help but expect many pious and exaggerated stories were floating about in Luke's time, as reflected by some spurious "Gospels" which appeared later. The story of Jesus was easy prey for those given to wild tales, and we struggle with that even today. Luke portrays Jesus as a real man, rather ordinary among His own people, but altogether extraordinary in what He taught. He wasn't some divine apparition simply holding human shape, but a regular Jewish man who happened to really know the Creator of all things. He displayed this knowledge by His power over the created world. Yet His power was always tied strictly to the higher purpose, pointing to how it was available to anyone else in this world who was seized by a commitment to truth. This truth often bore little resemblance to what all the great minds had struggled to formulate. Rather, it was a truth on a spiritual plane, incomprehensible in one sense, yet with obvious implications on this plane of our existence. Even while He was the very living God of Creation, Jesus Himself demonstrated the only significant difference between Him and any other man was this spiritual focus, not some inherent perfection which could be found in the flesh, and which all the Gentile intelligentsia sought to define. Jesus' divinity did not manifest in His daily life, but in His death and resurrection. Thus, the unique spiritual focus He taught and demonstrated in His daily life on earth was made available to anyone.
Return to Life of Christ Index
Chapter 1:1-38 -- Luke establishes his narrative pattern by showing how utterly ordinary are the people God uses.
Chapter 1:39-80 -- We are give three different expressions of God's Word driven by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 2 -- An extraordinary birth, yet such mundane circumstances.
Chapter 3 -- Luke points out the end of the Old, and the birth of the New in spiritual affairs.
Chapter 4 -- Jesus opens His ministry showing little interest in earthly concerns, but is driven by the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 5 -- Jesus offered a fresh message from the ancient but living God of Creation, a message which by its essence was different from the old Jewish Laws.
Chapter 6 -- What you know about Law and laws makes no difference if you stand before God with a heart blackened by sin.
Chapter 7 -- Luke relates four incidents to point out the nature of Kingdom authority.
Chapter 8 -- Jesus showed the difference between the viewpoint of faith against the viewpoint of the rest of the world.
Chapter 9 -- There is a powerful contrast between the way men use power and the way God uses power.
Chapter 10 -- Luke shows us the Kingdom of Heaven is not found in the things mere men considered important.
Chapter 11 -- The revelation of God was the power to change. A life without compassion is a life without God.
Chapter 12 -- Jesus explained the utter necessity of seeing this life and all the world's resources as expendable in service of the Kingdom.
Chapter 13 -- Because the leaders of Israel had no understanding of the nature of sin and forgiveness, they were doomed.
Chapter 14 -- Luke highlights Jesus' teaching about self-sacrifice.
Chapter 15 -- Jesus points out how the Pharisees were too busy counting beans to grasp the spiritual nature of repentance and forgiveness.
Chapter 16 -- There is a vast difference between the ways of the worldly and the mindset of the spiritual folks.
Chapter 17 -- Grateful living was the power to overcome our natural reluctance to forgive. Such a grateful life was lacking in the Jews, and would be part of the reason the Nation of Israel was doomed.
Chapter 18 -- In the Kingdom, men make choices based on the power of inner conviction, not by any human measure of what makes sense.
Chapter 19 -- While everyone around Him expected any moment to see the Messianic Kingdom on earth, Jesus prepared to die and take His spiritual throne in Heaven.
Chapter 20 -- In facing down the Jewish leadership in public debate, Jesus warned their time was short.
Chapter 21 -- Luke presents the Olivet Discourse with a slightly different emphasis.
Chapter 22:1-38 -- The timeline of events is laid out in the Last Supper.
Chapter 22:39-71 -- The spiritual climax of the story came and went in the Garden, while the human drama continued to unfold.
Chapter 23 -- Luke offers a spare outline of events surrounding the Crucifixion.
Chapter 24 -- The tomb empty, Jesus appears in His resurrected body and reviews His teaching, which was a complete reordering of the Jews' teaching for the past two centuries. Then He returns to His Father in Heaven.
By Ed Hurst
22 November 2008
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