Gospel of Luke

Published on: Author: hstern@uoregon.edu

The Lukean narrative of Jesus’ life starts out with a proclamation by Elizabeth to Mary that she is pregnant with the son of god by immaculate conception. This opening is very different than that of the Gospel of Mark, which includes no birth narrative, in fact this section of Luke is entirely L material. Luke begins strong by proclaiming that Jesus is a divine man, and he goes on to prove this to us in this gospel.

The inclusivity that Luke uses in his gospel around the different audiences of the time adds to the depiction of Jesus as a teacher and preacher to all. In Jesus’ new kingdom of God, everyone is welcome and this idea is exemplified in the passages included in this question. It is also important to note that Luke includes a travel narrative to Jesus’ life story, and in this ministry he reaches out to many non-jews. For instance, the healing of the roman slave at Capernaum demonstrates this. Although Jesus has many deeds to perform, he takes out time to heal a poor slave, because the man in charge of the slaves, gained Jesus’ respect. There is an almost perfectly paralleled story in Acts involving Peter being called upon to heal someone. This story goes along with a dream that Peter has about eating food. God tells Peter to kill and eat, and Peter replies with a statement about not eating anything unclean. God states that everything he makes is clean, and not to be considered profane. When Peter then goes to heal the person he has been called upon to heal, he goes without question even though the man is a gentile, because he learns from god that everything made clean by god must not be seen as profane (and all men are made clean). Thus carrying out the ministry of Jesus by reaching out to Jews and non Jews alike to bring them into the kingdom of god.

In Luke 9:57-56, when Jesus’ ministry goes to the Samaritans, they are not received positively because they are not seen well by southern Jews and they distrust Jesus and his ministry. Without any hatred in return, Jesus assures his disciples that these people are not evil, and to simply move on and speak to those that want to hear his word. Finally, in Acts 8, the theme that money cannot buy anything in the kingdom of god is established. To Jesus, race and health and money all mean nothing, and faith and devotion is what can save people. Luke’s Jesus is beyond a divine man who reaches out to the entire new world, and his entire narrative goes on to show this to the reader in a smooth, comprised fashion.