The good news of Luke

Theo (most excellent) | December 2012 - Highfields Book of the Month

By Dr Luke - (AD 60ish) Rome: Theophilus Publishing House

The good news of Luke is part of a series of 66 books, usually published as a complete work, and called 'The Bible' (from the Greek, 'the books').  Luke's book revolves around the life of the central character, Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee. 

Luke, a doctor, carefully investigated eye-witness accounts about Jesus, arranging information in an orderly manner, for me, Theophilus, so that I would be certain of what I had already heard of Jesus.  His was no ordinary life, but it is no story - it really happened.

Luke exposes the scandal of Jesus' birth, to a teenage virgin, Mary, who was engaged to a carpenter called Joseph.  Thankfully, Joseph stood by Mary, although the child was not his, and she gave birth in a stable, laying the child in a feeding trough.  This was not an auspicious start for the main character.  It got worse.  His first visitors were shepherds - rejects of society.  They had seen an angel in the fields at night who told them that the baby was the Christ - God's anointed King! - and they rushed to visit him. 

For Jesus, this seems to have been the start of a predisposition to mix with people with bad reputations.  The childhood of the main character is not covered in much detail, just his presentation at the temple at 8 days old, and his Bar Mitzvah at 12 years old.  The story picks up again when Jesus is around 30 years old.  He bursts onto the scene, apparently from nowhere, being baptised by a man called John.  After this, he starts teaching the people about the kingdom of God, driving out evil spirits, healing the sick, raising the dead and defying nature itself.  The people follow him in great crowds, clamouring to hear him and see what he will do next.

But Jesus keeps going to the rejected people.  He mixes with tax collectors, even eating with them, and asking one, Levi, to be his disciple.  When questioned by the authorities, he simply answers that he didn't come for the righteous, but for the sinners.  He seems to want to reach the sinners and help them.  There's something about Jesus that attracts repentant sinners, who see that he is safe.  He mixes with prostitutes, Gentiles (foreigners), lepers (expelled from society because they are unclean) and women.  He teaches about loving your enemies and not judging other people.  Most of Jesus' teaching is in the form of parables - stories that seem to be about something familiar, and then you realise there's a twist - the story is actually about the kingdom of God and how to be part of it.  He tells stories about lost sheep, lost coins and lost men, wanting people to understand that they are lost, and God is looking for them, and will find them. 

But we also see people who reject his teaching, hearing him speak about the cost of following him they see that it is not the easy road to take, and walk away.  He seems to want people to follow him because they believe what he is saying about the Kingdom of God, not because they want to see more of the spectacle.  The miracles seem to be just a way of showing us who he really is - Jesus is claiming to be God without actually saying the words!!

Jesus has several run-in's with the religious authorities who really don't approve of what he is doing or how he's doing it, but somehow he always comes out on top.  Gradually the opposition increases until things reach a head.  Jesus enters Jerusalem, the capital city, one Passover, on a donkey (a clear claim to kingship) and the crowds treat him like a king.  But within a week, one of his own has betrayed him to the Jewish authorities, he is arrested and the same crowd demands his death.  His trial is completely unjust, and even Pilate, the Roman governer, says that he can find no charge against him.  But the Jewish leaders have made their minds up and push for the death sentence, which is finally granted, as Pilate caves in.

Jesus is crucified, and mocked and taunted even as he hangs on the cross.  The soldiers tempt him to save himself if he really is the King of the Jews.  But he doesn't move.  He invites a criminal to come into his Kingdom and commits his spirit into his Father's hands.  And then he dies.  According to Luke, he just stopped breathing.  He didn't die of exhaustion - Luke implies that he chose his moment.  And at that moment, strange things happened.  The whole world goes totally dark for 3 hours in the middle of the day and a curtain in the Temple gets torn, exposing the Holy of Holies, where God is said to be - somehow Jesus' death has removed the barrier between man and God.

The twist at the end happens after they have taken down his body and buried it in a sealed tomb.  Three days later, Jesus is alive again!  He comes back from the dead and appears to his disciples.  Luke's book ends by telling us that repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in Jesus' name, to all the nations, starting in Jerusalem, and reaching even you, my dear website reader.