Part 1: Introduction
This Gospel was written by St Luke around 60 AD, 30 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
He also wrote the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, where it is recorded he travelled with Paul. The earliest mention of Luke in the Bible is in Paul’s letter to Philemon, circa AD 57. He is also mentioned in Colossians 4 v 14 and 2 Timothy too.
According to tradition, Luke was a Syrian and worked as a physician and a historian.
Colossians 4 suggests Luke was not “of the circumcision,” and tradition has always said he was a Gentile.
I wrote about how a gospel was a military document, setting out the terms of surrender. And so Luke is showing who Jesus Christ is, why He deserves loyalty and how to be saved from the coming judgement.
An important point to make is that this book should not be called Luke’s gospel, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Luke. It helps us remember that this is Luke writing about the Gospel of Jesus.
Four Animals
In the late 3rd Century, Irenaeus used the imagery of the creatures around God’s throne in Ezekiel and linked them to the Gospel writers.
Ezekiel 1 v 1-13
In the fire were what looked like four living beings. In their appearance they had human form, but each had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight, but the soles of their feet were like calves’ feet. They gleamed like polished bronze. They had human hands under their wings on their four sides. As for the faces and wings of the four of them, their wings touched each other; they did not turn as they moved, but went straight ahead.
Their faces had this appearance: Each of the four had the face of a man, with the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left and also the face of an eagle.
Irenaeus compared Luke to the being who looked like a winged ox. This symbolised the priestly aspect of the Gospel and the sacrifice at the heart of Jesus’ ministry.
Prayer
Luke emphasises prayer in the Gospel. He mentions that Jesus prays on numerous occasions. More so than any other gospel. This shows that Jesus saw communication with His Father as important.
Outcasts
Luke’s narrative is also known as the Gospel of the Outcast, due to the many characters we encounter in the story who didn’t fit into 1st century AD Jewish culture.
The Samaritan (Luke 10)
The Harlot (Luke 7)
The Prodigal (Luke 15)
The Woman with the issue of blood (Luke 8)
The Thief on the Cross (Luke 23)
Zaccheus (Luke 19)
As a gentile, Luke probably aimed this telling of the Gospel towards those outside of the Jewish faith and culture.
He shows a Jesus who welcomes outsiders, who wants to extend God’s invitation to the Kingdom of Heaven with everyone.
Part 2 Luke: Miraculous Birth Stories
There are several miraculous birth stories in the Bible.
Each time this pattern repeats in the Bible, it is slightly different. But the outcome is still the same, a baby.
Here are a synopsis of six birth stories:
Abraham and Sarah
Genesis 18
God tells Abraham that even though he and Sarah are too old to conceive a child, Sarah will become pregnant and give birth.
Sarah was listening to the conversation and burst out laughing when she heard this. Sarah gave birth to Isaac later within the year.
Manoah and his Wife
Judges 13
Manoah and his wife could not have children. The Angel of the Lord came to his wife and told her she will give birth to a son.
Manoah was not sure, so he prayed to God and asked for the Angel of the Lord to return to talk with Him about it.
She gave birth to a boy and he was named Samson.
Elkanah and Hannah
1 Samuel 1
Hannah could not bear children. God had ‘closed up her womb’. Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah, would taunt Hannah for being barren.
Eventually, Hannah went to the ‘House of the Lord’ and wept bitterly, praying for a baby. She made a vow to dedicate him to God.
Eli, the High Priest, thought she was drunk, but she explained she was praying to conceive a child. Eli gave her a blessing and sent her home. She soon gave birth to Samuel.
The Shunammite Woman and her Husband
2 Kings 4
The Shunammite woman was a prominent lady in her community and when Elisha was in town, she gave him and his servant lodgings.
Elisha asked her what payment she wanted for her hospitality and she asked for nothing. His servant pointed out that she was childless and her husband was too old.
So, Elisha said that she would bear a child within the year. She struggled to believe him. And even with her lack of faith, she bore a child.
Zechariah and Elizabeth
Luke 1
The Angel Gabriel came to Zechariah and told him, Elizabeth will bear a child. Elizabeth was barren and the couple were both too old to conceive.
Due to Zechariah’s disbelief, he was made mute until the birth of the child.
John the Baptist was born later that year.
Joseph and Mary
Matthew 1 & Luke 1
The Angel Gabriel came to Mary and tells her she will have a baby. She asks how is this possible as she is a virgin. The Angel explains by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Joseph, her betrothed, was unsure of this news and proposed to ‘divorce her quietly’. An angel of the Lord came to him in a dream and told him to take Mary as his wife.
As we can see through all these stories, there are similar circumstances:
There is a barrier to conceiving a child (barren/too old/virgin)
There is always a husband and a wife.
God gives a message and ordains the birth.
There is some form of disbelief.
A baby is born.
Pagan Culture
There are god ‘inspired’ birth stories in pagan cultures too. Especially in the Roman and Greek religions.
Zeus, the Greek king of the gods, raped numerous women, who subsequently birthed some of the Greek heroes.
Mars, the Roman god of war, raped the mother of Romulus and Remus. Romulus then killed his brother and established Rome.
In all these cases, the women were not willing. There was no love or respect, but lust, violence and abuse.
God’s Way
God does not force himself on women like the pagan gods. He instead works with people to achieve His plans. He announces his intentions, addresses their questions and disbelief and performs a miracle.
The Virgin Birth
Luke explains how the Angel Gabriel brings news to Mary that she will bear the Son of the Most High.
A unique difference between the other birth stories is that Mary is a virgin. Her womb is not barren and she is not too old to bear children.
Mary was betrothed to Joseph and had not yet consummated their marriage.
For her to be with child is more than just a miracle of seeing a baby conceived in a womb which cannot produce, but in a woman who was not married nor had sexual intercourse.
The Genesis Connection
Reading the Virgin Birth story reminds me of Genesis 1. The Holy Spirit hovers over the waters, God speaks the Word (Jesus) and creation unfolds.
In the Virgin Birth, Mary’s womb is like the Earth in Genesis, void, but full of potential.
Jesus’ coming was to unfold a new creation. The Incarnation brings the possibility for all of us to become new creations in Christ. If we allow ourselves to be Born Again.
Part 3 Luke: Faith of a mustard seed
Luke 17 v 5-6
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
The disciples asked Jesus to increase or deepen their faith.
Jesus then explains all they need is faith the size of a tiny mustard seed and they will see the mulberry tree pulled up with its roots and planted in the sea.
Mulberry Tree
Mulberry trees in Palestine are not the same as the common mulberry (Morus Nigra). The sycamine or mulberry fig is the tree Jesus mentions here.
The sycamine is a deciduous tree which grows to thirty feet tall. Its roots are deep and once established, it is hard to remove. It fruits are prolific, but the taste is bitter. They were a staple food for the poor and strangely they are pollinated by wasps rather than bees
Symbolism
Symbolically, fig trees in the Bible are associated with shame. Fig leaves were used by Adam and Eve to clothe and hide their nakedness, in an attempt to cover up their shame.
If the sycamore-fig represents shame, it shows that guilt from sin pushes its roots deep down into our hearts. Eventually, it will touch every part of our lives and even effect those around us. And just like the roots of the sycamine, sin and shame is impossible to remove without God’s intervention.
Planted in the Sea
The phrase ‘planted in the sea’ sounds like an idiom to me. An example of an idiom is the phrase, ‘Timmy jumped out of his skin’. Clearly, Timmy didn’t literally jump out of his skin. So the idiom denotes that Timmy was very scared.
We see idioms used in several places on the New Testament. In John 10 v 24, Jesus is accused, ‘How long will you take away our life?’ This idiom means, ‘how long will you keep us in suspense?’
A gardener cannot plant something in the sea. It would quickly be washed away and disappear.
So the phrase, could mean the tree is moved to the furthest, most distant place where it will be completely and utterly destroyed.
Believe in God
It is tempting to misread these verses and think that through faith, the Christian has the power to pull the tree up and plant it in the sea. This is not correct. It is God who has the power to do this. The Christian does not. This is why we must have faith and trust in God. So, as Jesus says, all we need is tiny faith to see God move in marvellous and miraculous ways.
Part 4 Luke: Zacchaeus and the Tree of Shame
Luke 19 v 1-6
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
In the last post, I wrote about the sycamine, the sycamore-fig. And how this symbolically represented Adam and Eve’s attempt to cover their shame. Luke revisits this symbolism in the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19.
The Tax Collecter
Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector. In the 1st Century Roman Empire, the Jews paid their Roman taxes via local tax collectors. Zacchaeus was in charge of these local tax collectors in Jericho. Not only were the tax collectors skimming the top off the tax revenue, but so too was Zacchaeus.
Climbing the Tree
Luke describes Zacchaeus as a short man. So when Jesus turned up at Jericho, he was too small to see through the crowds. He decided to climb a nearby sycamine-fig. When Jesus saw him, He asks Zacchaeus to come down and said He wanted to go with him to his house.
He accepted Jesus’ request to join him at his home. This changed his life. So much so, he returned all the money he stolen, four times over.
He Turned Away
Symbolically speaking, when Zacchaeus first encountered Jesus, he was confronted by a barrier between them. It was a crowd, a multitude of people who knew Zacchaeus’s sins. He was effectively excluded from Jesus as God is holy and His holiness will not tolerate sin.
Zacchaeus, realising his problem, decides to take the matter into his own hands. He turns his back on Jesus and runs ahead. He turns his back on God and comes up with his own plan. He runs from God’s presence.
Climbing the Tree
He finds a tree and begins to climb. He strives to elevate himself above the crowd. Clambering higher so he can see God. Rather than trusting that Jesus will encounter him, he tried to exalt himself to connect with God.
However, even at this height, the leaves created just another barrier to see Jesus. The leaves of the fig-sycamore covered him much like the leaves covered Adam and Eve’s shame. Zacchaeus’s view of Jesus was still impeded.
We cannot truly encounter God in our own strength. We can try all kinds of spiritual practices and techniques, but we cannot reach God. No matter how high we might ‘climb up the tree’, the leaves will not allow us to see Him fully.
It is only through God’s gift that we can truly encounter Him. Not through our own strength, or our own plans.
Jesus Sees Zacchaeus
Jesus sees Zacchaeus amongst the leaves and tells him to come down immediately. The way Jesus says this makes me think that there was no need for Zacchaeus to climb the tree. This was not the right place for him. His place was in his home with Jesus.
Maybe it’s because the only true occupant of the tree is Jesus. He died on the Cross, the ‘Tree of Shame’, to take our sins and shame upon Himself.
Foreshadowing
Another element of this story is that later in the chapter, we see Jesus enter Jerusalem for the last time. Is Luke using this story to foreshadow the moment Jesus ascends His own tree, but this time to be crucified?
Pure in Heart
A final point to make is the symbolism of Zacchaeus’s name. His name means pure. He was not pure at the the start of the tale, but by the end he exemplified the Beatitude; Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5 v 8).
Part 5 Luke: Jesus, Elijah and Elisha
Luke 7 v 11-17
Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”
Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.
In this story, Jesus heals a widow’s son. Then the crowd were overjoyed and stated that a ‘great prophet’ was in their presence.
Elijah and the Widow’s Son
During a drought in Ahab’s reign, God directed Elijah to stay with a widow in Zarephath (1 Kings 17). During this time, God had blessed the widow with unending flour and oil. However, her son became ill and died.
Elijah took him in his arms and went to the upper room. He laid on the boy three times, asking God to bring life back to him. The son was then alive again.
Elisha and the Dead Child
In a previous post, I talked about the woman at Shunammite. Elisha prayed that even though her husband was too old, she would give birth to a child.
Unfortunately, the child becomes ill with headache symptoms. He is taken up and laid on his bed. The woman finds Elisha and asks him to come and heal the boy. By the time Elisha gets to the house, the boy is dead.
Elisha prays and then lies on the boy and he is alive again.
Jesus, Elijah and Elisha
These three stories share some common themes.
In all cases, the child is lifted up, onto a bed or bier. A bier is like a stretcher used to carry a dead body or coffin before burial.
Words are spoken and then the child is revived from the dead. The child is then given back to the mother.
In the cases of Elijah and Elisha, they lie on the body. But Jesus does not even touch the body. He touches the bier and then uses his words to revive the boy. Elisha and Elijah, ask God, but Jesus commands.
The crowd in Luke 7 understood this miracle and linked it to the stories of Elijah and Elisha. These Old Testament prophets were indeed great, but clearly not as great as Jesus.
The Symbolism of Up
In the stories above, all the children are lifted up; either to the upper room, up to their bed or up on a bier.
When people go up, they are symbolically getting closer to God. Think about the Tower of Babel, it was built up toward God. It’s not called the Mine of Babel. They didn’t dig a deep hole in the ground to get to God.
Think about the number of Bible heroes who climb mountains and encounter God.
In the Bible, when we see someone going up a mountain, a hill or in fact elevated above ground level, they are coming closer to God.
This is a very common motif in Scripture and worth looking out for.
Jesus is Greater than Elisha
There are other similarities between Elisha’s life and the miracles of Jesus. These include:
Transforming water (2 Kings 2),
Feeding many people with limited food (2 Kings 4),
Healing lepers (2 Kings 5)
But in all these cases, the miracles Jesus performs far exceed all that Elisha did. And also by a wide margin!
Part 6 Luke: Sending out the 70 or 72
After Jesus sends out the 12 disciples in Luke 9, he then sends 70 disciples out in Luke 10.
Similar to Luke 9, Jesus sends them out without a purse, a bag or sandals.
They report back after this journey and say that ‘even the demons submit to us in Your name’.
70 or 72?
In about 50% of the oldest copies of the Gospel according to Luke, it is recorded that 72 disciples were sent out, not 70.
Most commentators say this is a scribal error which was passed down through subsequent copies. However, the cost of copying anything in ancient times was very expensive. So a scribe who made such a fundamental error could be dismissed from their job.
This discrepancy does help us understand what the symbolic meaning of 70/72 means and also the meaning of the 12 being sent out too.
Septuagint
Most of the time, when the New Testament quotes the Old Testament, it uses the Septuagint.
The Septuagint was a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek from around the 3rd Century BC. When the English translators came to translate the Bible into English, they went to the Jews and used the their Old Testament text. This is called the Masoretic Text. It was compiled around 1000AD and there are some small but significant differences from the Septuagint, especially around the Old Testament verses which prove Jesus is the Messiah.
In the Septuagint, there are 72 nations listed in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10. However in the Masoretic Text, it only lists 70.
This means, it is likely, the copies saying 72 disciples were sent out are referencing the Septuagint. While those scribes used 70 were referencing a different source, the one used to compile the Masoretic Text.
So symbolically speaking, these 70/72 disciples were sent to the nations. This means all the nations will hear the Gospel of Jesus.
Who did the 12 Disciples get sent to?
If the above is correct, then the 12 were sent to the twelve tribes of Israel. Israel is not mentioned in the Table of Nations. God chooses to create Israel to be His own nation, made up of the Children of Israel and the ‘mixed multitude’ who left Egypt with them. This ‘mixed multitude’ were made up of all the nearby nations and probably included some Egyptians.
Elim
If we look at the end of Exodus 15, we see the Children of Israel settle briefly in Elim. They find 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees there.
Palm trees prolifically produce dates. Twelve springs would easily quench any amount of desert-thirst.
Symbolically speaking, the springs connect with the 12 disciples sent out by Jesus and the palm trees connect with the 70.
The Children of Israel and the ‘mixed multitude’ rested at Elim, amongst these springs of water and palm trees. This shows that the Gospel of Jesus is freely available to abundantly feed and water all the nations of the World.
Part 7 Luke: The Road to Emmaus
Luke 24 v 13-16
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.
Why Emmaus?
Out of the blue, the town of Emmaus is mentioned in the New Testament. It doesn’t appear anywhere else in the Protestant Bible.
In fact, we only find it in the first book of Maccabees. This book was well known at the time of Christ and records the history of a Jewish rebellion against their Greek overlords.
Their leader, Judas Maccabees, won a great battle at Emmaus. After this, the Jews rededicate the temple in Jerusalem. Under the Greek rule, the temple had been defiled and fallen into disrepair. So Judas rebuilt the altar, cleansed the sanctuary and installed new priests. [This rededication of the Temple is celebrated by the Jews as Hanukkah.]
Symbolically speaking, the meeting between Jesus and the two people on the Road to Emmaus, indicates that a great victory had been won on the Cross and that Jesus had restored the temple, i.e. Himself.
Who are Cleopas and the Other Disciple?
Traditionally, Cleopas is linked to Mary, wife of Colphas. She was one of the woman at the foot of the Cross when Jesus died.
The unnamed disciple may have been Luke. It was common for the person who was the author to not name himself within the text. We see this in the Gospels according to Mark and John too.
Why did they not recognise him?
According to Luke’s account, the two followers were kept from recognising Him. What a strange thing to happen. How could they not recognise Jesus?
Having said that, Mary Magdalene didn’t recognise Jesus either, in the Gospel according to John. And again the disciples do not recognise Jesus in John 21.
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul addresses the issue of resurrection bodies. After Jesus is resurrected, He receives a new body. It is a spiritual body, not an earthly body. It appears this new body is not easily recognised by those living with earthly bodies. Their eyes need to be ‘opened’ to see Him.
Breaking of Bread
When the night draws in, His followers persuade Jesus to stay and eat. Jesus sits at the table and takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it to them.
Their eyes are suddenly opened and they see Him. He then disappears.
The followers run back to Jerusalem and they retell the story to the disciples. And how Jesus was revealed to them in the breaking of the bread. This story of Emmaus is also found in the Gospel according to Mark (Mar 16 v 12-13).
Adam, Eve and the Eucharist
There is a symbolic link between Cleopas and the unnamed disciple and Adam and Eve.
The Serpent in the garden lies and deceives Eve and then Adam and persuades them to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Their eyes were then opened (Gen 3 v 7) and they saw their nakedness and experienced shame.
Conversely, Jesus used the truth of the Scripture to reveal who He was.
When Eve shared the fruit, it led to the Curse, but when Jesus breaks and shares the bread, it symbolises the Curse has ended.
From the Last Supper, we understand that the bread symbolises His own body. And His body is the fruit of the Cross.
By sharing the bread, Jesus reveals Himself to His disciples. Their eyes are opened and rather than seeing their nakedness and feeling shameful, like Adam and Eve, they see the King of Glory and joy floods their hearts.
Jesus then disappears, but leaves behind the bread. A symbolic link to the Eucharist.
If Luke was one of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, does this suggest that Luke became a follower of Christ that early? I always thought—and did no research to confirm—that Luke was a converted Gentile after the time of Christ, possibly by Paul which explains why he travels with Paul. If Luke was among the disciples at the time of the Passion, it means his account is a first hand account validated by historical research, not a second hand account as I always thought; it also would suggest Luke was much older at the time he wrote the Gospel than I originally thought.
Neither of these are particularly theologically interesting but it changes the context for this Gospel.
I am deeply enjoying your work, thank you!