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Sunday, January 21, 2018

Take a Weekly Walk with Luke & Friends in 2018

Nine men invest an hour a week connecting with each other, reading and discussing a book written in the first century.

We are engineers, researchers, a winemaker, a financial advisor, and active retirees. We meet weekly over coffee to study the gospel according to Luke. We begin by reading this week’s passage aloud.

You are invited to join us on our journey. The first chapter is packed with unusual stories and surprising details:

A temple priest named Zechariah becomes speechless after a conversation with an angel named Gabriel.

The same angel—Gabriel—predicts two miraculous births, and assigns a name for each child:

One boy will be born by Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth an older woman who suffers the shame of being childless;

Elizabeth’s son will become known as John the Baptist. Zechariah recovers his ability to speak eight days after his son’s birth, when he is filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesies:

“And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace” (Luke 1:76-79).

The second son will be born by Mary a young unmarried virgin engaged to Joseph, a descendant of David.

According to Gabriel, Mary will “conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end” Luke 1:31-33).

Mary initially questions Gabriel “How will this be since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34). Gabriel answers, “The Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). After telling her how her cousin Elizabeth is also going to have a baby, Gabriel reassures Mary by saying “no word of God will ever fail” (Luke 1:36).

These are just some of the details Luke packs into his account. Known as the apostle Paul's "beloved physician." Doctor Luke's writings (the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts) are addressed to the same person—Theophilus. We do not know if Theophilus was a real person—possibly a Roman governor or local officialor simply a literary device Luke uses to speak to any "lover of God" (the Greek meaning of Theophilus). 

Luke himself was an educated Gentile from Antioch in Syria. He is the only Gentile writer of any book in the Bible. He joined the Apostle Paul’s second missionary journey, and spent time in Antioch, Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Rome. Luke is recognized as the “father of Christian history” based on his work as a careful historian as seen through his writing of the gospel that provides the most complete picture of the life and work of Jesus. 

He opens his gospel account by clearly stating his purpose: "since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught" (Luke 1:3-4).

Like Jesus, Luke is ahead of his time and pays special attention to women with stories that are only found in his gospel. Children are also given more attention by Luke than by the other three gospels. Like Jesus he considers the plight of the poor and oppressed, and shows how Jesus healed people, befriended sinners and extended sympathy to the outcast and unfortunate. 

I was surprised to learn about a legend suggesting Luke may have been an artist. This may not be factually accurate, but imaginatively speaking it sits well with Luke’s graphic writing style. As J.B. Phillips writes “we owe him a definite enrichment and enlargement of the story of Jesus that gives the impression of an artist’s sensitivity.”