welcome to video lecture Number Four The Gospel of Luke an overview we're going to be looking at the Gospel of Luke some of its uniquenesses some of its themes but we're going to begin by looking at the author the audience and the movement that takes place within the book The Gospel of Luke is the longest of the four gospels comprising of about 14% of the entire New Testament when you add what Luke wrote In The Gospel of Luke and in the book of Acts that makes up more than 25% of the entire New Testament and
if you think about it it's one long story from the birth Narrative of Jesus until Paul goes to Rome the Gospel of Luke is obviously one of the four gospels that we see in the New Testament written by Luke an apostle and a companion of the Apostle Paul who was a gentile doctor or a physician now what a physician meant at that time is not exactly the same as what we have today but it was someone who was in charge of the health of other people meaning he was more educated as a result the level
of Greek in the Gospel of Luke is the highest of all the gospels it's written in a very articulate manner the Gospel of Luke is one that reaches out to the marginalized to those who are at the lowest ends of the social end of the spectrum people like widows and women and the Gentiles uh orphans children sick strangers they all playing an important role in The Gospel of Luke we think that the gospel of L Luke was written somewhere around the early 60s maybe around 62 ad and as I said a moment ago he was
a gentile Doctor Who was a companion of the Apostle Paul he got a lot of his Source material from Paul and the companions that went around him Luke himself says that he gets much of his information from eyewitness accounts and from the material that was written down and handed to him he says this in Luke 1:2 now who would these eyewitnesses be well obviously when you look at the material itself it gives us some indication there are things in the Gospel of Luke written about Mary and about Phillip that only the two of them would
know about for example uh we have the beautiful story from Mary about the angel speaking to her about her having baby Jesus and the things that she thought about it says in the scriptures that she pondered these things in her heart after it was revealed to her um obviously that has to be material that comes directly from Mary herself and we know that Luke when he traveled with Paul stayed at different locations and possibly stayed near where Philippi was and cesaria and then also later on stayed where Mary was and so was able to write
down the things that they observed and they witnessed in the life of Jesus and so we have those eyewitness accounts we also have probably the gospel of Mark as one of the materials that Luke says he carefully investigated in the first part of the Gospel when you look at Luke 1: 1-4 he's writing to someone called Theophilus and he says he's carefully researching these things and he says in verse two that he researched some of the things that were handed down to him that were written down we think the gospel of Mark might have been
one of those items and there may be another material that sometimes is referred to as a q Source uh some extra material that about the sayings of Jesus that we don't have any longer but it seems to be present in Matthew and in Luke and so we have that uh in Luke we know that the Gospel of Luke was written to this person named theophilis which literally means lover of God uh whether that was a patron that paid Luke and that was common in the day that someone would pay someone else to write things down
for their time and so they could be saved this might have been a Christian that loved God and wanted future generations to know the story of Jesus and so he paid Luke to write it down that pay for the materials and also for Luke's time that word could also refer to anyone who loves God though so it could be that Luke was just writing to everyone who loves God and not necessary to a specific person I tend to think he was writing to a specific person even though uh Theophilus may not have been his name
it might have just been someone who supported the missionary journeys of of Luke and Paul and others and also helped pay for this manuscript to be written down we do think that the audience was specifically more Greek or more Gentile than Matthew audience would have been uh he traces as Jesus's lineage all the way back to Adam not just to Abraham which indicates the universality of humankind he fixes the dates of Jesus's Ministry to tiberias and Augustus which would have interested Gentiles more than Jewish people he also quotes the Old Testament less frequently than Mark
or Matthew indicating that his audience may not have been as familiar with the Old Testament uh so it's probably a gentile audience that he's writing his book to for the most most part however he does not dismiss the Jewish audience either he gives vivid descriptions of the temple and of different practices Jewish practices and of the unchanging nature of the faith of God faith in God that we see coming out of the Old Testament his gospel I believe was meant to be Universal for all people Gentile and Jews let's look at the purpose of the
writing of the Gospel of Luke it's likely tied up in either evangelism sharing the gospel with those who've not yet heard or as an apologetic a defense of the gospel for those who are being persecuted for the faith and they kind of go hand in hand don't they the Apostle Paul was on trial so you would want to defense for the gospel but he's on trial for sharing the gospel and starting churches and so evangelism is the ultimate purpose he States this purpose in Luke 1:4 so that you may know the certainty of the things
about which you have been instructed he wanted his audience to know that the message about Jesus Christ is reliable he claims to have engaged in his research to Pro to prove that these claims concerning Christ were true Luke also offers theological insights to his historical accounts as well Luke is answering for a gentile audience the questions of why a gentile Christian Christian might want to worship a Jewish god a Jewish Messiah that was rejected by that Jewish audience in the first place he instructs them about the things that they needed to grow in their faith
he helped them to understand things about the faith that Christianity comes out of Judaism and as a result he helps to bring to the audience an understanding of the gospel and a fresh sense the gospel uh let's look at from a literature perspective he follows a geographical pattern similar to Matthew and Mark so Luke follows the story of Jesus from his birth narrative to Nazareth and then down into to Jerusalem and so he's following the pattern of Jesus's life in a geographical sense Luke gives the perspectives of Mary and Elizabeth they're going to be unique
to Luke we're going to see in a few moments that there are some things unique to Luke that are not in Matthew Mark or John he moves the genealogy of Jesus all the way back to um the ministry of Jesus not at the beginning of the book so when uh Matthew starts the genealogy of Jesus at the beginning of Matthew Luke moves it later on uh to where Jesus's Ministry starts and there's maybe reasons why he did that I think it's be because he wants to emphasize Jesus's miraculous birth because he's talking to Mary specifically
and understanding the events surrounding that he wants to prove to a gentile audience that Jesus is the Messiah and what that means in the context before he tells them about his lineage uh Luke replaces Matthew's Sermon on the Mount with a discourse in Nazareth so uh it's very likely that Jesus would teach the same sort of sermon more than once and Luke picks up a discourse in Nazareth that's similar to but not the same as The Sermon on the Mount instead of a new Moses like we saw with Matthew he links Jesus to the servant
of the Lord he connects him to what we see as the servant of of God the servant of Yahweh in Isaiah particularly Isaiah 52 and 53 who is endowed with the spirit of God to preach the good news to the poor this calls attention to the fact that Jesus's gospel is for the disenfranchised that word means those who've been Cast Away who do not have a normal place at the table a space to come and be part of normal society he follows this travel narrative to help show how Jesus reaches out breaking barriers along the
way let's look at that travel narrative a little bit he mentions Jesus's Ascension only a third of the way into the book so he's already talking about the Ascension of Jesus in Luke 9:51 when the days were coming to a close for him to be taken up he says he determined to journey to Jerusalem so there in verse chapter 9: 51 he's already talking about when Jesus is going to ascend not Jesus's death burial and Resurrection but his Ascension into heaven in a sense he skips over the rest of the Gospel of Luke including the
passion connecting Luke with Acts chapter 1: 99-1 what's going on here in the middle of Luke or a third of the way through Luke in Luke 9:51 he's already alluding to the great Ascension of Jesus into heaven because he's preparing his audience for the work that Jesus is going to accomplish and then he goes back and explains what that work is this serves as a beginning of what we call the travel narrative where Jesus travels and does Miracles and teaches throughout Palestine of the material that Luke teaches is unique to Luke he includes many parables
in this Travel section uh this chapter 9:51 through chapter 19: 27 he includes zecharias uh and excuse me he includes zakus towards the end before the passion week begins in chapter 19 to reinforce the idea that Jesus came to save the lost that's the reason Jesus came in the first place was to save the Lost after the passion uh the sign signicance of what Christ has accomplished is explained on a road again again Luke finish continues with this theme of the road this time it's the road to EMAs when he tells and explains who he
is to these disciples even though they don't quite understand until the end of his narrative and so Luke has this image of traveling this journey well that makes sense because the whole book of Acts is another journey and uh and and we will see how the journey is to Jerusalem throughout the Book of Luke and then from Jerusalem in the book of Acts Let's Talk About the Passion narratives that begin in chapter 19 similar to Mark and Matthew uh Luke adds the appearance of the two disciples traveling on the road to emus and so other
than that what he writes is very similar to what Matthew Mark but he's got this idea of traveling even in the passion narrative so let's look at the structure of the Gospel of Luke chapter 1 verse 1-4 is what we might call the preference it's a salutation it's where he's indicating to whom he's writing this letter then in chapter 1:5 all the way through chapter 4: 13 there's an introduction to Jesus and his mission here on Earth that's where we see the birth narrative we see the child boy D Jesus we see him preparing for
his ministry beginning in chapter 4:14 through chapter 9: 50 we have Jesus's Galilean Ministry then starting in chapter 9: 50 through chapter 19 we have the travel narrative uh we can extend it all the way through the passion era that ends at the end of chapter 24 and so passion takes place from 19 to 24 uh where we have a journey to Jerusalem the passion and then finally the Ascension there's a few theological themes of the Gospel of Luke including salvation and salvation history Jesus is the culmination of Salvation history in the go Gospel of
Luke he's the whole reason that God has intervened in history in the first place God is the architect of human history history and Jesus is at the center of it the Lucan view of Salvation history is three steps God used Israel to prepare his people he then brought Jesus's Ministry to interpret what Israel was supposed to represent and then he created the church that was under pressure in a crucible to live out what Jesus is taught and what Jesus transform and so there's this three-step his Narrative of Israel Jesus's Ministries the church the prophecies at
the beginning promised Jesus as the Fulfillment of Salvation and the precursor or the preparation of the Holy Spirit to come one of the major themes of the Theology of the Gospel of Luke is that Jesus is the Fulfillment of Prophecy therefore Luke regularly recognizes Jesus as the Fulfillment of Prophecy we see in Luke 1 verse one that it says he fulfilled Among Us says the words right there he fulfilled filled among us and then at the end of The Gospel in Luke 24: 44-49 it says everything written must be fulfilled Jesus goes on and explains
to the disciples on the road to EMAs that he was all of the stuff in the Old Testament that the everything happening in the Old Testament was actually referring to him he was the Fulfillment of everything that was written and all throughout the Gospel of Luke there are recitations of the Fulfillment of Prophecy another major thing of Theology of the Book of Luke is that Jesus has a concern for the lowly for the outcast for the marginalized among the gospels Luke is the most concerned about the lowly or rejected of society Luke is the most
concerned about the role of Gentiles Luke is the most concerned about the poor he's concerned about tax collectors and sinners those who no one else cares about or hates Luke shows compassion for them Luke refers to the role of women uh more than any other book Luke addresses the sick and the disabled and treats them with Humanity he also addresses children in his book like other gospels do not the role of Gentiles in the Book of Luke is very important uh Christ's salvation in Luke is inclusive of all people and there's hints of that all
throughout Luke and certainly by the time we get to the gospel of the book to the book of Acts even the prophecy of Simeon recognized Jesus as a light to the Gentiles in Luke 2:32 Jesus commended the Widow of zerath and nonon of Syria in Luke 4:25 and 20- 27 he considers them righteous and and the wi even more righteous than those who are in Israel which is a startling thing for a Jew to hear at that time he praised the faith of the Roman Centurion in Luke 7:9 he made the Samaritan the hero in
the story of the Good Samaritan in chapters 10 uh chapter 10: 10-37 um he commended the Samaritan leper that came back to thank him when he was healed in Luke 17 and at the end of Luke in ch 24: 46-48 he sends his disciples to the ends of the Earth in the same way that he does in the book of Acts Luke is very concerned with the role of the Gentiles and salvation is brought to the Gentiles in a very clear way in the Gospel of Luke and maybe it's because he himself is a gentile
Luke also addresses the concerns of the poor starting with the very first uh song in The Gospel of Luke Mary's song when she learns she's going to have the Messiah as her child includes an exaltation of the poor in Luke 1:48 and 49 Jesus when he's asked about his role on Earth says he came to preach the good news to the poor at the beginning of his ministry in chap 4:18 and then he repeats that again in chapter 7:22 in the sermon on the plane He suggests there are woes against those who are rich and
there are blessings for those who are poor Jesus also suggests that true discipleship and possessions of wealth are incompatible they're difficult to fit together he does this through the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12 beginning in verse 13 in the parable of the rich man vers is Lazarus in ch Luke chapter 16 in his instruction to store Treasures where they will remain in heaven and not on Earth in barns in Luke 12:33 uh he talks about those who had plenty on Earth are shut out of the kingdom of God in Luke 13 28-30
and then finally he links discipleship to the renunciation of possessions in Luke 14:33 Luke seems to indicate that poverty is not a bad thing but is an indication of someone who's genuinely pursuing after a relationship with God Luke also has a great role for the holy spirit in his gospel the Holy Spirit has given more prominent role in Luke than in the other gospels the Holy Spirit was active in the infancy narratives and then again at the beginning of the Nar of Jesus's Ministry narratives the spirit was promised to all who ask him for it
in Luke 11: vers 13 and Jesus warns against the blasphemy of the holy spirit in Luke 1210 another theological importance in the book Gospel of Luke is the role of prayer that shows up all throughout the entire gospel Luke records Jesus praying a lot more than the other gospels and he has Jesus teaching on prayer and the power of prayer on numerous occasions there is some material that's unique to Luke though that you do not find in Matthew or Mark let's look at that for a moment uh in the infancy narrative and early life of
Jesus we see there's the anunciation of Mary which is where the uh Angel Gabriel announces to Mary about the birth of Jesus we have Mary's visit to Elizabeth uh there's a meeting between Mary and Elizabeth both of them were uh pregnant after miraculous circumstances Mary being a virgin Elizabeth being very old uh we don't have these accounts in Matthew or Mark but we do find them in Luke uh Mary's magnificant which is the song of Praise after hearing about Elizabeth recorded in Luke Chapter 1: 46-55 uh the birth of John the Baptist is recorded in
Luke um but not recorded in the others the detailed account of John the Baptist birth and zechariah's prophecy about it are recorded in Luke and then Luke alone records the word the story of the Shepherds at the birth of Jesus in Luke chap 2: 8-20 the Angelic announcement to the Shepherds about the birth of Jesus is found in Luke not the others and again it's wise men in the gospel of Matthew it's shepherds in the story of Jesus in The Gospel of Luke which may indicate that Luke is more interested in the poor and the
outcast and the marginalized whereas Matthew is going for the Old Testament fulfillment uh Jesus as a boy at 12 years old going to visit the temple is found in Luke not found in the other gospels we see that at the end of chapter 2 in the Gospel of Luke so there's a lot of material unique to Luke that you don't find in uh the other gospels relating to the infancy narratives of Jesus there are Parables that are unique to Luke Luke is known for including several Parables not found in Matthew or Mark such as the
Good Samaritan probably the most popular of all the parables in the entire gospel stories is the story of the Good Samaritan and that is a Lucan Parable not found in Matthew or Mark it's a story about mercy and it's inclusive of all people including Samaritans who are some of the most hated people the story of the rich fool which is a warning about the dangers of hoarding wealth is found in Luke alone as is the story of the Lost coin in Luke chapter 15 um the story of the prodal son another famous story about the
son that takes his father's wealth and goes off to a foreign land and Spins all and comes back but is still accepted by his father as his son is found in the Gospel of Luke the story of the rich man and Lazarus is the parable about wealth and poverty at the reversal of Fortunes found in Luke not in the others and then the persistent Widow where the woman that wants help just kept knocking on the door is a story illustrating the importance of persistence in prayer found in Luke the Miracles unique to Luke include the
raising of the Widow's son at Naim in Luke 7: 11-1 17 Jesus raises a Widow's son from the death from dead uh showing his compassion For The Grieving healing of the 10 lepers is also something that you only find in the Gospel of Luke um and only one of those 10 lepers who happens to be a Samaritan comes back and thanks Jesus uh which indicates that this Foreigner seems to behave in a way better than the Jewish lepers might have there are some teachings and sayings that are unique to Luke that we don't find in
the other gospels such as Jesus's rejection in Nazareth found in Luke 4 this detailed account of Jesus's teaching from The Scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue of Nazareth is where he is rejected by his own Town's people a prophet not accepted in his hometown something unique to the Gospel of Luke Jesus weeping over Jerusalem in Luke 1941-44 um is unique uh Jesus record is weeping over the city lamenting the failure of the city to recognize him as the Messiah the Pharisee and the tax collector is a parable of contrasting two people that are praying one
of them is self-righteous one of them is depending on God for Mercy um again is unique to the Gospel of Luke the role of women is unique to Luke Luke often emphasizes that women in a way that is unique among the gospels there were women supporting Jesus's Ministry such as in Luke 8 veres 1-3 uh Luke uniquely records that women including Mary Magdalene Joanna Suzanna provided for Jesus and for the disciples out of their own resources the other gospels do not record that the story of Mary and Martha is prominent in the Gospel of Luke
Luke tells of Jesus visiting their home and that they're tending to him one is preparing a meal one's taking care of him personally emphasizing the importance of choosing to listen to Jesus rather than go about your daily routine a prominent story raised by the awareness of these important women the penitent Thief is another aspect that's unique to the gospel of Luke Jesus and the repentant thief on the cross with him in Luke's account of the passion week of the story of Jesus being crucified he even records those who are being crucified with Jesus and and
captures their words and Jesus tells this one who begged him for forgiveness today you will be with me in Paradise showcasing that Jesus had mercy even in his final moments for those who were the least worthy of it a criminal on a cross uh of course I already mentioned it but in the Gospel of Luke the road to EMAs is a unique appearance in the Gospel of Luke that you do not find in Matthew or mark on that particular Road found in Luke 24: 13-35 which is a long segment and you have to think how
important it must be uh after his resurrection Jesus appears to these two disciples on the road explaining how the scriptures pointed to him this post-resurrection story is only found in Luke and it helps to identify who Jesus is as a person from the Old Testament narrative and theology let's finally look at a few of the major themes of the Book of Luke starting with the universal salvation of God one of the key themes of the Book of Luke is the universality of Salvation the gospel is not just for Jews it's for all who will believe
Luke emphasizes that Jesus came not just for the Jews but all people including Gentiles Samaritans and others who considered themselves Outsiders from Jewish Society from the very beginning Luke frames the birth n Narrative of Jesus as good news for everyone for instance the Angelic announcement to the Shepherds declares I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people Luke 2:10 throughout the gospel Luke includes stories and Parables that bring in the marginalized he talks about how Jesus Jesus reveals a mission to reach the outcast and The Sinner the parable of the Good
Samaritan is an example of that where a Samaritan is the good guy not the expected priests uh in the genealogy of Jesus Luke has traces of Liney back to Adam not just Abraham as I said a moment ago he points out women in the line lineage of Jesus who weren't even of Jewish descent emphasizing yet again that God's got the relationship uh relationship with God is more important than your lineage and in the story of zakus a tax collector who is regarded as a traitor by his own people Jesus recognized him as a sinner that
was in need of forgiveness and his the attention of Jesus was to come seek and save the lost that's the words that Jesus himself says regardless of their background Jesus declares that the son of man came to seek and to save the lost so it's not just the words of Jesus in this narrative but it's also the actions of Jesus and the motion that Jesus goes through the people he interacts with is communicating this truth that there's a uh there's also a concern for so the gospel is for everybody it's a universal gospel and it
has a specific concern the second theme is for the marginalized Luke repeatedly portrays Jesus's compassion for those what we would call marginalized those who are on the outside those who are not accepted by most of society poor the women the children Tax Collectors Sinners people that are rejected by Society Jesus Embraces and makes them accepted and this is important for people who are in need of repentance and the theme this theme is established early in the gospel with Mary's Magnificat where Mary Praises God for lifting up the humble for filling the Hungry with good things
in Jesus's inaugural sermon he further reinforces this by saying he's come to proclaim the good news to the poor freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind this serves as a Manifesto of Jesus's Ministry he's come to heal and to help those who have no other hope Luke's gospel also provides unique accounts of Jesus's interactions with women presenting them as active participants in the ministry and in the story of salvation for example there's the healing of the woman with the issue of blood in Luke 8 the raising of the Widow son at
naen I said a moment ago in Luke chap 7 these are exclusive in the Luke Narrative of the Gospel you don't find them in the other gospels the role of women supporting Jesus's Ministry is something I've already pointed out let's look back at the role of the Holy Spirit Luke's gospel plays a strong emphasis on the role of the holy spirit it's not just a human endeavor but the holy spirit is at work in the life of Jesus and in the lives of his followers the holy spirit is active throughout the Luke narrative from the
conception of Jesus to his baptism his ministry and his resurrection at the beginning of the Gospel the holy spirit is the central theme to The conception of Jesus Through Mary both Zachariah and Elizabeth are filled with the spirit and their Prophet prophetic utterances about Jesus during Jesus's baptism the Holy Spirit descends on him like a dove marking the beginning of his public Ministry Jesus is described as being full of the Holy Spirit when he goes into the Wilderness in Luke 4:1 and the spirit empowers him to perform Miracles that include Healing The Sick and preaching
the Good News the spirit's role is not limited to just Jesus in The Gospel of Luke however Luke portrays the Holy Spirit as the driving force behind the growth of the early church a theme he continues in the book of Acts also written by L Luke for example Simeon a devout man who encounters the Jesus is described as being moved by the spirit to go to the temple in on in Luke 2: 27 and through these accounts Luke demonstrates that the holy spirit is actively guiding and empowering God's people one of the other themes of
the Gospel of Luke is the reversal of social order now I talked about how Jesus ministers to the marginalized to the poor to the women to Children Etc but Luke actually seems to indicate a reversal of a an expected social order that recurring theme in the Luke is this reversal where the lowly are exalted and the powerful are brought low this is part of Luke's portrayal of the great reversal that comes within the kingdom of God God is concerned about the lowly and the mistreatment of the lowly is going to be reversed so they'll be
exalted one day he talks about this in the sermon of the plain uh in Luke 6: 17- 26 here Jesus blesses the poor and the hungry while he pronounces woes and judgments against the rich and the wellfed illustrating a radical shift in the understanding of how God's kingdom is going to be lived out here on Earth this theme is evident throughout Luke's Parables such as the parable of the rich fool the parable of the great banquet we see in Luke chapter 14 the parable of the prodal son uh and we start seeing that Jesus has
a different understanding of what the role of wealth and poverty has for human in intervention Luke's gospel reveals that in the kingdom of God conventional social hierarchy is overturned and God favors God's favor rests on the humble and the oppressed a final important theme in the Gospel of Luke is that of prayer and worship Luke gives significant attention to the themes of prayer and worship ship highlighting Jesus's example of a life rooted in communion with God throughout the gospel Jesus has often depicted withdrawing away from the others to go pray alone particularly at Key moments
in his ministry he focuses on prayer with the father you think Jesus would be about action but Luke has him going off by himself in prayer for example before choosing the 12 apostles Jesus spends the night in Prayer in Luke 6: 12-13 an important decision has to be made so Jesus spends the whole night praying to God about that decision similarly Jesus prays In The Garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22: 39-46 before his arrest demonstrating his Reliance of on God in the most crucial moments of his ministry when he's about to be on trial and
executed he spends the whole night in prayer Luke also emphasizes the importance of persistence in prayer of other people such as Through The Parables of the persistent Widow in Luke chapter 18 which encourages Believers to continually approach god with their requests demonstrating that we have to trust in God with fervency worship is likewise Central with songs of praise like Mary's magnificant and the Angel's announcement of Jesus's birth demonstrating the importance of giving glory to God Luke has prayer and worship as Central functions of his gospel now there's a lot more we can say about the
individual Ministries uh that Jesus performs this teaching and his Galilean and his Judean Ministries we're going to get to those in later sections but today I wanted to give an overview of Luke and we're going to see how these fit together as we begin to look at those specific Ministries it's good to know that there's a gospel for those who are oppressed those who are marginalized those who have been rejected we all have a place in the kingdom of God and it's good to know that Jesus is for all people the rich and the poor
not just for one class Luke emphasizes that Luke was an outsider and so he wrote his gospel in a way for Outsiders and aren't we glad for we are not of Jewish descent at least most of us are of Gentile descent and this gospel hits right in our heart because it speaks to us as a people may God bless you all
