Luke

 Gospel of Luke   

Title: Gospel – good news. Luke – the only not-eyewitness of the Life of Jesus. He does careful investigation (1:1-4, cp. Acts 1:1-3) 

Date of writing: probably 60s, not later than 70AD. He meets with many eyewitnesses of Jesus’s life, ministry, resurrection, and ascension.   

Date of Narrative: From the conception of John the Baptizer to the Ascension. 

Structure: adopted from “Luke 1:1 – 9:50” by Arthur A. Just Jr., p. 32.

Intro, 1:1-4

A. 1:5 – 2:52, Infancy narrative 

  B. 3:1 – 4:13, The Preparation for Jesus’ Ministry

    C. 4:14 – 9:50, The Galilean Ministry

      D. 9:51 – 19:28, Jesus’ Journey to Jerusalem

    C’. 19:29 – 21:38, The Jerusalem Ministry

  B’. 22:1 – 23:56a, The Passion Narrative

A’. 23:56b – 24:53, The Resurrection Narrative.

Main themes:

Jesus’ Prophetic ministry

Journey

Only in Luke we have a story of annunciation of birth of both John the Baptizer and Jesus and 12^th year old Jesus – together with his family He makes a trip to Jerusalem for one of the major feasts (Passover, Shavuot [Pentecost], Sukkoth [the feast of booths]).

Main Characters:

Family of John the Baptizer

Family of Jesus

Disciples and people who present at the Jesus’ table fellowship

Reflection in other parts of the Bible: To understand the activities of John the Baptist family it is important to know the Temple sacrificial system. Also, the ‘songs’ of Mary, Zechariah, and Simeon have roots in the songs of the Old Testament (cp. 1 Sam. 2, Ex. 15).

The idea of exodus in the account of Transfiguration is present only in the Gospel of Luke (9:30-31). There is a connection between the figures of Moses (Ex. 33 – 34) and Elijah (1 Kg. 19).

The description of triumphant entry of Jesus is framed around “drawing near” to the sacred space – Lev. 1 is a sacrificial and sacramental background for this narrative.

On the other hand, Luke in his Gospel sets up a background for the Book of Acts (as a continuation of the Gospel) and Pauline sacramental theology (1 Cor. 10 – 11).        

Lutheran teaching: Obedience to the LORD’s authority (10:16) is discussed in variety of ways especially in Augsburg Confession and its Apology (AC XXVIII:22; Ap. VII and VIII (IV):28, 47; XIIA (VI):40; XXVIII (XIV):18).   

The teaching on Justification is supported by Lk. 24:47 in many paragraphs or articles of the Book of Concord (Ap. IV(III):62; XIIA (V):30; XIIB(VI):25/122; SA III,III:6; FC SD XI:28).

Lutheran hymnody:

LSB 414 – ‘Tis Good, Lord, to be here

LSB 933, 934, 935, 936, 937, 938 Biblical Canticles are based on the passages from Gospel of Luke. 

Relevancy of the Book:

Jesus in the Gospel walks long ways and trails to find the lost and bring back to life what was dead. He did it then – He does it now. He reaches out through the ministers to whom He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and charged to share the promise of the His Father, clothing then with the power from on high (24:44-49).      

Memory verses:

15:31-32 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.”