Wednesday, June 15, 2005
LUKE 10:1-9
Luke was a Gentile, born of Greek parents at Antioch in Syria. He was among the earliest of the Gentile converts to the new Way. He was baptized as a young man, probably in his early twenties.
Luke was a well educated man, a physician, who traveled widely. He accompanied St. Paul on portions of his overseas missionary journeys and stayed with Paul even when everyone else had abandoned him during his imprisonment in Rome. Paul refers to Luke as "the beloved physician."
Luke was not, of course, an eye witness of what Jesus said and did. As he begins his gospel Luke tells us that after weighing carefully the various sources he had on hand, he wrote down in orderly sequence his own account.
In writing his gospel Luke, like the other evangelists, had no intention of producing either a theological essay on Christian doctrine or a biography of Jesus, as we understand biography today. Luke and his fellow evangelists wanted to present Jesus as an object of faith and love, as Messiah and God-man, as the one who would establish God's kingdom on earth.
The evangelists differ from one another in the emphasis which each gives to his portrait of Jesus. Luke's Jesus is a man of deep compassion, who desires that salvation be made available to all human beings. His compassion reaches out not only to human beings in general, it embraces especially the outcasts, the marginalized of society. Among these marginalized are the women of Palestine, who are caught in a rigidly patriarchal society and whom Luke portrays with warm respect. Another aspect of Jesus' compassionate nature that Luke presents is the solicitous mercy he manifests in regard to sinners. It is Luke who tells the stories of the sinful woman (ch. 7), the prodigal son (ch. 15), Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector of Jericho (ch. 19), Jesus' forgiveness of his executioners (ch. 23), and his blessing of the good thief (ch. 23).
Jesus as Luke portrays him is a very attractive person, the man-God we can approach confidently, recognizing that we will be received by him with compassion, warmth, joy and delight.
Luke was a well educated man, a physician, who traveled widely. He accompanied St. Paul on portions of his overseas missionary journeys and stayed with Paul even when everyone else had abandoned him during his imprisonment in Rome. Paul refers to Luke as "the beloved physician."
Luke was not, of course, an eye witness of what Jesus said and did. As he begins his gospel Luke tells us that after weighing carefully the various sources he had on hand, he wrote down in orderly sequence his own account.
In writing his gospel Luke, like the other evangelists, had no intention of producing either a theological essay on Christian doctrine or a biography of Jesus, as we understand biography today. Luke and his fellow evangelists wanted to present Jesus as an object of faith and love, as Messiah and God-man, as the one who would establish God's kingdom on earth.
The evangelists differ from one another in the emphasis which each gives to his portrait of Jesus. Luke's Jesus is a man of deep compassion, who desires that salvation be made available to all human beings. His compassion reaches out not only to human beings in general, it embraces especially the outcasts, the marginalized of society. Among these marginalized are the women of Palestine, who are caught in a rigidly patriarchal society and whom Luke portrays with warm respect. Another aspect of Jesus' compassionate nature that Luke presents is the solicitous mercy he manifests in regard to sinners. It is Luke who tells the stories of the sinful woman (ch. 7), the prodigal son (ch. 15), Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector of Jericho (ch. 19), Jesus' forgiveness of his executioners (ch. 23), and his blessing of the good thief (ch. 23).
Jesus as Luke portrays him is a very attractive person, the man-God we can approach confidently, recognizing that we will be received by him with compassion, warmth, joy and delight.
# posted by F O O D F O R T H O U G H T @ 5:02 PM 
