Blog (4) Madelaine Crabtree

The gospel of Luke is obviously quite different from the two other gospels we have already read. In fact, “none of the specific stories of Luke’s narrative occur in Matthew, just as none of Matthew’s appears [in Luke].”¹ This makes me wonder, how do Christians reconcile these stark contradictions form gospel to gospel? According to Matthew and Luke, Mary and Joseph came from different hometowns, and Jesus has a different genealogy in each gospel. Without even going into the vast differences in the ways in which Jesus is portrayed and the details of his life, these basic contradictions would make it very difficult for me at least to interpret the bible from a faith-based perspective. I don’t understand how anyone can justify a literal interpretation of the bible, what with so many contradictions, and yet people do.

The crucifixion scene in particular casts Jesus in a different light. In Luke, Jesus remains calm and collected, conversing with the criminals being put to death next to him and even asking God for forgiveness for those heckling him. This crucifixion scene makes most sense to me in terms of teaching the importance of selflessness and faith in the unknown. Luke’s Jesus sets what seems like an excellent example of how early Christians might urge others to act; Jesus shows them that there is nothing to fear, not even death as long as they believe in the Lord. He also relays the message that everyone deserves forgiveness, and advocates for a “turn-the-other-cheek” mentality when he asks forgiveness for those doing wrong to him. This makes me wonder why Mark chose to portray Jesus as momentarily losing his cool and almost panicking as he is about to die on the cross. Luke’s messages during the crucifixion scene seem clear, but what was Mark trying to tell people by having Jesus question God?

1. Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to Early Christian Writings (New York: Oxford, 2000), 117.

Ehrman, Bart D. The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to Early Christian Writings. New York: Oxford, 2000.

Blog 4 James Leman

The Gospel of Luke is the only gospel with a formal introduction, in which the author explains his methodology and purpose. It states that many others have already "undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word." ^[1]

The Gospel According to Luke is written as an eyewitness account.[2] The purpose of Luke is to write a historical account,[3] while bringing out the theological significance of the history. The evangelist divides history into three stages: the first ends with John the Baptist, the second consists of Jesus' earthly ministry, and the third is the life of the church after Jesus' resurrection.[4] Luke portrays Christianity as divine, respectable, law-abiding, and international. Here, Jesus' compassion extends to all who are needy, women are important among his followers, he commends the despised Samaritans, and Gentiles are promised the opportunity to accept the gospel.[5] Although the gospel is written as a historical narrative, many of the facts portrayed there in are based on previous traditions of the Gospel and is thought by scholars to not be an actual historical account. Many scholars believe that like all of the other synoptic gospels, Luke used the Gospel of Mark to write his gospel.

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[1] Bauckham,Richard, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2006), pp. 116-117.

[2] Ehrman, B.D. The New Testament, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.)

[3] N. B. Stonehouse, The Witness of Luke to Christ (1951), pp. 24-45; H. J. Cadbury, The Beginnings of Christianity II, 1922, pp. 489-510; R. Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (Eerdmans, 2006)

[4] "Biblical Literature." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 06 Nov. 2010

[5] N. B. Stonehouse, The Witness of Luke to Christ (1951), pp. 24-45; H. J. Cadbury, The Beginnings of Christianity II, 1922, pp. 489-510; R. Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (Eerdmans, 2006)

Blog 4 Jedanndrila Bushnell

After reading the Gospel of Luke and comparing it to Matthew and Mark I start to think about what would happen if the people who put the Bible together had decided to not include Luke’s gospel. I feel that the idea of Jesus as savior is a big part of the foundation of Christianity today. In church today people sing songs about how Jesus takes away the sins of the world. I have always known that the Bible has had many changes in it, but I never did know that people had written other Gospels and that there were people to decide which ones would go into the Bible. This makes me think even more critically. If this particular Gospel were left out all messages of salvation and being saved would possibly be eliminated.

Christians today are always asking people if they have been saved. So many Gospel and religious songs are about how we have been saved and how Jesus took away the sins of the world. One scholar said “Happily,within the hymnal there is a place for teaching and adoration, liturgy for confession and exultation, a time for explaining the way in which Jesus' death merits our salvation and a time for simply basking in the cross's glow by gazing upon our Savior's beauty.¹” A whole musical industry would basically have a totally different foundation. What would people write their songs on Jesus about if this Lukan Jesus was not so widely accepted?

As a Christian I find this a very important thing to think about. I feel that if I never thought of Jesus as a savior then I might as well have been a Jew. I feel that if Luke were eliminated Revelations might also be eliminated. Many Christians today try to convert people to Christianity by this idea of Jesus being a savior and cosmic judge alone. People are always warning people about the Day of Judgment to come. People today are always searching for the right path and for something to save them. As one scholar says, “People naturally seek not only eternal salvation, but liberation from all that ails them physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.²” It seems as if this Lukan Savior Jesus matches with the society of today in that a majority of us want to be saved whether it be by Jesus, a physician, a priest, or a psychologist many people of today look for salvation.

[1] P. J. Scaer "Lukan christology: Jesus as beautiful savior," CTQ 69:1 (2005) 64.

[2] P. J. Scaer, "Lukan christology: Jesus as beautiful savior," CTQ 69:1 (2005) 67.

Bibliography

Scaer, Peter, "Lukan christology: Jesus as beautiful savior." Concordia Theological Quarterly 69:1 (2005): 63-74

Blog # 4 Jorge Morales

The Gospel of Luke, unlike any other of the gospels, focuses on quite controversial topics. Today, these continue to strike us significantly, highlighting unique elements from the author. The latter stresses the role of women from a very modern perspective. Luke emphasizes on high-ranking, wealthy, and wise women and basically points out how important these have been to the Christian movement by supporting Jesus and his disciples. Furthermore, Luke also highlights how education might have not just been reserved for the male community but also for those female willing and able to open up to new horizons. The passage of Martha and Mary, Luke 10: 38-42 [1] provides us with an insight on how relevant it might have been for certain individuals at that time to break with the traditional ideals in order to accomplish certain goals, in this case the teachings of Jesus. Certainly, this all resembles Luke's community and how women played an important role in such by not only engaging in social practices but academics as well. Although Luke points out how shocking it might have been at that time to go against household traditions, he also highlights how important it was to learn the word of the Lord, regardless of gender or social background. The latter mentioned is described in the passage where Martha reproaches about Mary's conduct and Jesus simply says how Mary has chosen over the best of the two options, either serving (following traditions) or learning (modern view). Moreover, it is quite interesting how familiar Luke's gospel is when it comes to the church's motto rooted in giving everything to the poor, being mercyful, and to follow sacrifices to achieve salvation. I'd be tempted to say this is one of the main reasons for such demands throughout Christian history.

Certainly, Luke's gospel is a break from the traditional scriptures that stress the established behavior based on rules and social practices. It brings about certain changes that call upon new ideals. Leaving everything behind to follow Jesus would be one of the most remarkable, along with what some feminist would call the empowerment of female figures, undoubtedly fundamental. Based on Luke's gospel, the following questions arise: What role specifically did women play in Luke's epoch? Who were the women mentioned in Luke? Was any of them a true figure and possible disciple of Christ? These are some of the doubts pending after exploring Luke's account.

1. Collins, John J. "Martha and Mary 10: 38-42." The Catholic Study Bible. Second ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2006. 1375. Print. New American Bible.

Bibliography

Ehrman, B.D. The New Testament, (New York, Oxford Press, 2004)

Blog 4 Sable LeFrere

What I found most interesting about the Gospel of Luke is his perspective of Jesus. As we all know, each gospel portrays Jesus in a different light. For Matthew, Jesus was seen as a Messianic leader. Mark portrayed Jesus more humanly and Luke sees him as a martyr, a person who sacrifices something of great value and especially life itself for the sake of principle.

According to Ehrman, "By the time Luke wrote his Gospel, there was already a long-standing tradition of Jewish martyrs who willingly, indeed sometimes eagerly, faced suffering and death for the sake of the law of God.1 From the beginning, Luke made a distinct emphasis about Jesus' character in his gospel. Jesus was to be a prophet and spokesperson for God that eventually would be rejected by his own people. With that said, L. Michael White brought "Jesus the martyr" into perspective for me when he compared Jesus' image to that of Socrates. "He's much more like a philosophic teacher... he's reasoned, he's dispassionate, he's a critic sometimes of society but he's certainly concerned about the way his teachings bear on society. And in the end he dies very much like Socrates."2 Jesus' death in Luke is just like a martyr's death. He went inexorably to the cross without any doubts or fears unlike Mark's Passion narrative. He knew his role and where it was going to lead him. At Jesus' crucifixion, Mark shows a very silent Jesus. His only words came at the very end when he yells out "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"3 On the way to his crucifixion for Luke, Jesus speaks to a group of women he sees weeping for him, he asks God to forgive those who are wrongfully treating him, and speaks to one of the criminals being crucified beside him. Also to show that he was a martyr for the cause, instead of asking God why had he been forsaken before he died as he did in Mark, in Luke, he offers a prayer saying, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit."4, dying like a true martyr would.

1 White, Michael L. The Gospel of Luke: a novel for gentiles, (FRONTLINE, 1998)

3 Ehrman, B.D. The New Testament, (New York. Oxford Press, 2004), 134

3 Ehrman, B.D. The New Testament, (New York. Oxford Press, 2004), 104

4 Ehrman, B.D. The New Testament, (New York. Oxford Press, 2004), 135

Bibliography

Ehrman, B.D. The New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 121-139.

White, Michael L. "The Gospel of Luke: a novel for gentiles ." FRONTLINE. April 1998. Accessed 21 March 2012 <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/luke.html>.

Blog (4) Alex Tabora

There are some key segments of the Gospel of Luke that form strong contrast between the other Gospels in the image of Jesus. According to David Hester's Expository Articles of Luke 4:1-13, there are three variations in the Lukan Gospel that are significant for Luke's intention. ¹First, Luke depicts Jesus as "full of the Holy Spirit" when he enters "the wilderness." The Matthean and Marcan Jesus on the other hand, describe the Spirit as an external force on Jesus that leads him. The passages depict the temptations of Jesus and the unique relationship of the Father to the Son. Jesus as the Son of God and the one "full of the Holy Spirit" bears the conflict as the One anointed by God to do battle in God's name. The second variation in the Lukan account occurs in verses 5-8. The discrepancies lie in the setting of this event. In Matthew, the scene of temptation is set on a "very high mountain." In Luke, Jesus is simply "taken up" and shown the kingdoms of the world. The third variation is the order of the temptations. Hester identifies that Matthew's third temptation is Luke's second, while Matthew's second temptation appears as Luke's final temptation. I wondered why the gospel authors thought it was necessary to rotate the order of the temptations and realized this was most likely due to the fact that Luke believed that the third temptation identified by Matthew was more important to emphasize and so believed it more sensible to have it placed second.

The Gospel of Luke, according to Ehrman's New Testament, identifies the gospel as a Greco-Roman biography of Jesus.² Something I found interesting about the Gospel of Luke identified by Ehrman is that the gospel is the only one of the four that actually presents a sequel, the Acts of the Apostles. The Gospel of Luke provides a sketch of the life and death of Jesus, while the book of Acts identifies the birth and life of the Christian church afterwards.

¹ Hester, David. Luke 4:1-13. "Expository Articles." (Interpretation Press, 1997.)

² Ehrman, B.D. The New Testament, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.)

Blog (4) Allegra Hartman

The Lukean Jesus is incredibly unique in comparison to the Jesus illustrated in the Gospels of Mark and of Matthew. As "savior of the world," a divine prophet, Jesus is additionally responsible for portraying himself as a teacher, a philosopher, a social critic, and a social reformer. Jesus’s identity as the divine prophet is something he carries with him from birth, throughout his life, and into his death[1]. In his teachings, Jesus heavily emphasizes that in the end (which is not immanent[2]), God will reward those who have lived and served him righteously. Like we have been learning this week, in antiquity and honor/shame societies, an individual receives honor when he/or she gives away their wealth to those in need. Jesus blesses not only the oppressed; he also “castigate the rich and the oppressor[3]” by saying “Blessed are the weepers, they shall laugh…Woe to the laughing ones, for you shall weep[4]”. Jesus obviously is trying to confront many of the social ills of his time through the preaching of God’s salvation, yet Luke attempts to narrate how this salvation was rejected by many of the Jewish people, which is how Jesus’s message reached the non-Jews and Gentiles. The primary conflict in the Gospel of Luke is between Jesus and the religious authorities that are consistently portrayed in stark contrast to Jesus himself. This tension is ultimately culminated on the cross as Jesus is representative of a martyr. Nevertheless, Luke notes that everything happening to Jesus and how God’s message of salvation is changing is in accordance to the divine plan, and thus the ‘end’ will not immediately occur after Jesus’s death. Out of all the Gospels we have read this far, Luke's includes many more stories which I think help emphasize the main themes and messages of Jesus.

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[1]Ehrman, B.D. The New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 132-3.

[2]Ehrman, B.D. The New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 138.

[3]Ehrman, B.D. The New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 138.

[4]Luke 6:21, 25, NAB.