Reading: Luke 1, Psalm 112
We are on to our fourth story of the life of Jesus. This one is different. Each of the three other gospel writers have a very clear point to make. Matthew told us about Jesus the fulfillment of the Scriptures, King of the Kingdom of Heaven. Mark told us about Jesus the Son of God, greater than even the emperor of Rome, and the King of the Kingdom of God. John told us about the Jesus the Messiah, the Creator God and the source of Truth. Usually the gospels are organized with Matthew, Mark, and Luke as the “synoptic gospels” and John standing alone as a different kind of literature. Here though we are reading Luke last, for a couple of reasons I think. First is that the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are really a series. Acts proceeds directly from the book of Luke, as they have the same author. But there is another reason.
Like John, Luke tells us exactly why he is writing his gospel story. It seemed right to me, having carefully followed all these things for some time, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may have exact knowledge about the things you have been taught. Luke is a researcher. A historian. It appears he has a patron, named Theophilus. Whether this was an individual or a group to whom Luke was writing is kind of immaterial. I tend to think it was a specific person, who believed in Jesus and had heard the stories of his life. Perhaps he had even read the gospels of Matthew and Mark (John was almost certainly written later.) Given that Matthew and Mark were using story as argument to make a point, Theophilus knew there was room for another kind of gospel story. One that is more concerned with the order and accuracy of the events from a non eye witness standpoint. And so he commissions Luke to write such a book. That is my theory, anyway. But really, who knows?
The point is, Luke is not making a specific argument with this book. He is attempting to construct an ordered account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth from the beginning. Unlike the other three gospel writers, we knew Luke was not an eyewitness to the life of Jesus. Mark was not present for all of Jesus ministry, but he appears to have been around for at least some of it. Matthew and John, of course, were telling firsthand accounts.
Why does this matter? Luke tells us a ton of details that are not present in the other three gospels. The birth narratives of John and Jesus that appear in today’s reading, for instance, are not present elsewhere, as least not in this level of detail. The story about John’s birth, which is really pretty dramatic, shows up for the first time. The other gospels say things like there was a man who came from God whose name was John. Luke gives us a story about how John’s birth was prophesied by an angel, who spoke to Zechariah in the temple. John is a child of Elizabeth’s old age. He is filled with the Spirit of God from his conception. By going back and researching what happened before Jesus began his ministry, Luke has found some amazing things.
What has he found? John is a character of the Hebrew Scriptures. He is of the tribe of Levi through his father, and Judah through his mother. He is a child of his parent’s old age. He is a chosen child. He lives in the wilderness eating locust and honey. His father makes this wild prophecy, after being mute for months, about how his birth heralds God’s deliverance of his people. This kid is all the prophets and heroes of the Hebrew Scriptures all rolled together.
Parallel to this story is the announcement to Mary that she will have a son, though she is a virgin. Given that ancient people knew very well how children were conceived, this is hardly an easy thing to them to believe. Still Luke the researcher puts this story right at the beginning. No work around, he is claiming that Jesus was born of a virgin. Let us not be anachronistic and assume this sounded any less absurd then than it does now. It did not. That Luke put it in the book indicates that he believed it was the case based on his research. As the angel responded to Mary, Nothing is impossible with God.
Luke has launched his gospel story and found a deep link to the Hebrew Scriptures. In the person of John the Baptist, who looks and acts like an ancient prophet, and in the announcement to Mary, which recalls the birth of Samuel and the song of Hannah. Luke has started his research, and he has found that Jesus is something exceptional. And we haven’t even gotten to his birth yet.