| Luke Luke's gospel is a compilation of
various interviews with eye-witnesses and close
followers of Jesus (Luke 1:1-4). The author,
Luke, probably did not become a christian until
several years after the death and resurrection of
the Lord Jesus. He is first mentioned
(implicitly) in Acts 16:10 (Acts is another book
of the New Testament which Luke wrote). He did
not, therefore, meet Jesus in the flesh and he
himself was not an eye-witness.
However, Luke was a
physian, a doctor (Colossians 4:14), a man of
integrity and intelligence. He obtained pertinent
facts regarding the conception and birth of Jesus
that are not brought to light in the other gospel
accounts. Luke records the precise details of
Mary's extended family, the ageing couple
Zachariah and Elizabeth, and their experiences
(as parents-to-be) throughout the conception and
pregnancy of John the Baptist, who was the
Forerunner who would announce Jesus as the
Messiah. Luke also records details of the
conversation between the angel Gabriel and Mary
(a young virgin), when she is told that she will
conceive and give birth to God's Son, the Messiah
who will reign (Luke 1:31-35). So, Luke the
doctor records two women, who are at the two
extremes of the child-bearing age-range.
Luke also records the
circumcision of Jesus on the eighth day, and the
mother's ritual purification in accordance with
the Jewish law (Luke 1:21-22).
These records not only show
Luke's intense interest as a physician; they also
highlight one of Luke's main purposes in his
gospel: to show the genuine humanity of Jesus. To
this same end, the only incident from Jesus'
childhood in any of the gospels is recorded by
Luke, as Jesus remains behind in the Temple at
Jerusalem after the Feast of Passover, discussing
with the scribes and Pharisees of the law (Luke
2:40-52). Here, Luke takes the opportunity to add
to the babyhood and childhood of Jesus His early
recognition of His divine sonship: "Did you
not know I must be in the things of My
Father?" (Luke 2:49).
Luke mentions the Holy
Spirit more than the other two synoptic gospels,
Matthew and Mark. John the Baptist is filled with
the Holy Spirit even before he is born (Luke
1:15); next, John's mother Elizabeth is filled
with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41); before long,
John's dumb-struck father Zachariah is also
filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:67). The
conception of Jesus is brought about by the Holy
Spirit (Luke 1:35). The Holy Spirit reveals to
the aged Simeon that he will see the Messiah
(Christ) before he dies (Luke 2:26-27). John the
Baptist announces that the powerful one coming
after him will baptize with the Holy Spirit and
with fire (Luke 3:16). When Jesus is baptized,
the Holy Spirit descends on Him in bodily form as
a dove (Luke 3:22), as God the Father confirms
from heaven that Jesus is "My Son, whom I
love". At this point Jesus is "full of
the Holy Spirit" (Luke 4:1), and is
"led out by the Spirit into the
wilderness" (Luke 4:1), where the Devil
tempted Him for forty days. Having successfully
resisted the Devil as a man (Luke 4:4,8,12),
Jesus returns to Galilee "in the power of
the Spirit" (Luke 4:14). Luke uses all these
references as a build-up to Jesus reading the
prophet Isaiah in the synagogue: "The Spirit
of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed
Me" (Luke 4:18-19). 'The Anointed One' is
'the Messiah' in Hebrew, 'the Christ' in Greek.
The total involvement of the Holy anointing
Spirit at every step of the way (conception,
babyhood, childhood, extended family, baptism,
temptation and inauguration to ministry) proves
that He, Jesus, is the Anointed One, the Messiah,
the Christ.
What is He anointed for?
The passage that Jesus reads from Isaiah 61:1-2
states: "He has anointed Me to preach good
news to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the
broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom (liberty) to
the captives, and the opening of the prison to
those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord". The 'acceptable year of
the Lord' is synonymous with the year of the
Lord's favour, the Year of Jubilee commanded by
the Lord in Leviticus chapter 25. In the Year of
Jubilee, all debts were cancelled, all lands were
restored to their owners and God, in His justice,
made sure that His people's care for one another
was properly restored. God's thoughts in the
Jubilee are incarnated in His Son Jesus, who
displays such fine humanity, just and upright,
compassionate and caring, altogether lovely.
It is very significant that
Jesus closes the scroll of Isaiah after that last
clause regarding the Jubilee, since that does not
mark the end of the passge in Isaiah, which would
normally have continued "and the day of
vengeance of our God" (Isaiah 61:2). Here is
the point: that day of God's vengeance is not
yet. It will come, soon now, but it was not then
and it is not yet now. Jesus announced the
beginning of the acceptable year, the year of the
Lord's favour, the Year of Jubilee in springtime
probably 30AD. Since then, He is anointed to
preach the good news of His salvation to all the
poor, ie anyone who will receive it. When Jesus
had rolled up the scroll of Isaiah, the people
marvelled at the words of grace that came from
His mouth (Luke 4:20-22). The Year of Jubilee,
the age of grace, began and is still running. God
the Father has prepared a great feast of His
salvation and He has invited many, including me
and you (Luke 14:16-17). Because many who were
invited have declined, making excuses (Luke
14:18-20), God is still saying to His servants
"Compel people to come, that My house may be
filled" (Luke 14:23). But don't dither or
make excuses: the age of grace is about to close
and the day of vengeance of God will soon begin
(Luke 14:24).
The Year of Jubilee in
Leviticus 25 was when all the slaves were set
free. It should have occurred every 50 years in
the land of Israel, though it is not clear if it
was ever applied in Israel's history. If one of
the children of Israel got into financial
difficulty, he might have to sell his inherited
portion of land. If he had to sell his land, he
would not be able to generate as much surplus
with which to pay off his debts. Therefore, it
was possible he would eventually have to 'sell'
himself and his family as slaves to his biggest
debtor, who would then pay off all his other
debts. However, God only permitted the debtor to
keep the man and his family in slavery until the
next Year of Jubilee. In that 50th year, all
debts were to be cancelled and all slaves
released and all lands restored (Leviticus 25:10,
38-42). The transfer back took place at the
beginning of the year, the time of the Feast of
Passover. This is the good news that Jesus was
anointed as the Messiah, the Christ, to preach:
the cancelling of all our debts to the law of
God, which we cannot keep; release from the
slavery to the one who constantly reminds us of
our debts, our adversary the Devil (I Peter 5:8);
and the restoration of our inheritance as God
originally planned. This is exactly the gospel
Saul of Tarsus heard Jesus preach to him (Acts
26:18), on the road to Damascus.
The miracles Luke records
highlight the main features of the Anointed One
as He proclaims the acceptable Year of the Lord,
the Jubilee. He will:
i.bring the gospel (good
news) to the poor (the woman in Luke 8:43,48; the
prodigal son in Luke 15:15-16,22) ii.heal the
broken-hearted (Jairus and his wife in Luke
8:49-56 and the widow of Nain in Luke 7:12-15)
iii.proclaim liberty to the captives ('Legion' in
Luke 8:26-39) iv.proclaim the opening of the
prison to those who are bound (the woman bent
double "whom Satan had bound for 18
years" in Luke 13:10-17) v.proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord (the paralyzed man in
Luke 5:18-25; Leviticus 25:10).
In his interviews, Luke
obtained records of six more miracles that were
not included by the other writers. In all the
miracles and in His dealings with people, Luke's
interviewees testify of the lovely humanity of
Jesus. He is so tender ("Do not fear",
Luke 5:10), generous (Luke 7:47-48) and
compassionate (Luke 8:49-50), He breaks taboos
(Luke 5:13) and stereotypes of hatred (Luke
5:30). The humanity of Jesus is fine, pure,
caring and lovely, portrayed by Luke from His
conception and birth, His childhood, throughout
His healing-teaching ministry, on into His being
despised, rejected and mistreated, all the way to
His death as the Son of Man on the cross. Even
after His resurrection, He joins the two saddened
disciples on the road to Emmaus to just talk to
them, asking why they are so saddened (Luke
24:17).
Luke also documents fifteen
or more parables in the teachings of Jesus that
the other writers did not include. It is
interesting to note that many of the additional
parables in Luke's gospel contain some reference
to this matter of the Year of Jubilee:
either to
accounting/administering of money and/or
possessions:
the
creditor and two debtors (Luke 7:40-50)
the rich
fool (Luke 12:15-21)
the
faithful and the evil servant stewards (Luke
12:35-48)
counting
the cost (Luke 14:25-33)
the lost
sheep (Luke 15:1-7)
the lost
coin (Luke 15:8-10)
the lost
son (Luke 15:11-32)
the unjust
steward (Luke 16:1-13)
the rich
man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)
the ten
slaves with ten minas (coins) (Luke 19:11-27)
or to
caring for someone who has need:
the good
samaritan (Luke 10:30-37)
the friend
in need (Luke 11:5-13)
the
avenging of the oppressed widow (Luke
18:1-8).
This, then, is the
underlying thought in Luke's gospel: that the
dear man Jesus, who is the Son of God and the Son
of Man, is the Messiah, the Christ. As such, He
is the fulfillment of the Year of Jubilee, the
acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:19). What a
proclamation!
Gradually, by observing the
individual fulfillments of the Jubilee, the
disciples (especially Peter) really began to see
who Jesus was: "the Messiah, the Christ of
God", "the Son of Man" (Luke
9:20,22). Since the Year of Jubilee in Leviticus
began at the Feast of Passover, Jesus steadfastly
set His face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51;
Isaiah 50:7). He warned the disciples four times
that the Messiah must suffer in Jerusalem, be
killed and rise again on the third day (Luke
9:22,44; 13:32-34;18:31-33).
It is only by Jesus
fulfilling every detail of the Passover that the
Year of Jubilee can become a proclamation for
all, Jews and Gentiles. So, as it is written in
the scriptures of the law and the prophets,
"the Anointed One (the Messiah, the Christ)
should suffer and rise up from the dead on the
third day, and repentance (changing your mind)
for forgiveness should be proclaimed in His (the
Anointed One's) name to all nations, beginning
from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:46-47); this is how
"all the families of the earth shall be
blessed" (Genesis 12:3), as God promised to
Abraham.
It is also Luke who
uniquely records the calling of Zacceus in
Jericho (the lowest city on the earth's surface,
500 feet below sea level). There in the low city,
we meet low-life himself, Zacceus. Zacceus was a
chief tax collector, working for the Romans,
hated and despised by those he collected taxes
from, oppressed himself (he was small) and
oppressing others (he was rich). When Jesus was
passing by through Jericho, Zacceus became
slightly 'seeking'. He could not see, because he
was so small and the crowd so tall. So, he
climbed up into a tree, so he could see Jesus.
Mind you, he was still 494 feet below sea level!
Much to his surprise, and everyone else's dismay,
Jesus called to him "Zacceus, come down, for
today I must stay at your house". Delighted
at this (Jesus wants to come to my house!),
Zacceus' whole downward trend goes powerfully
into reverse. Zacceus the chief tax collector
starts giving out money! Half of his possessions
he gives away and he undertakes to restore four
times as much to anyone he has oppressed. Jesus
says "Today, salvation has come to his
house, since he is also a son of Abraham. For the
Son of Man came to seek and to save that which
was lost." (Luke 19:1-10).
Note the three words:
'seek', 'save', 'lost'. The seeking of the Son of
Man took Him 500 feet below sea level, but He
found the totally lost Zacceus and the salvation
that came to his house was wonderful! What a
Jubilee! The good news came to the poor; even
Zacceus was now one of the poor! Are you ready to
receive Jesus to stay in your house (your life)
today?
Leaving Jericho, Jesus
enters triumphantly into Jerusalem: the people
hope He will straightaway rid them from the Roman
oppressors. The religious leaders plot to kill
Jesus and try to catch Him out in His teaching
(Luke 19:47-48). Some of them even find partners
among the wary Romans. Jesus, the Lord of the
Jubilee, confronts the issue of who owns things.
On the coin Caesar's head is stamped: "Pay
to Caesar the things of Caesar, and to God the
things of God" says Jesus (Luke 20:25). The
point is this: "the earth is the Lord's and
everything in it" (Psalm 24:1). That is what
God is pointing out in the Year of Jubilee in
Leviticus chapter 25.
Finally, after no-one can
catch Him out, Jesus reveals that God is triune:
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the
living God. And the Messiah, the son of David,
David's Lord is the second of the Godhead (Luke
20:37-44). Like Isaac, Jesus the Son is to be
willing to be offered up (Genesis 22:1-18). As
the lamb of God fulfilling Genesis 22:8, Jesus is
also the fulfillment of the Passover lamb (Exodus
12:1-8). He is without blemish. Pilate twice says
"I find not one fault in this man"
(Luke 23:4,15), neither could Herod (Luke 23:15).
Their concensus was "He has done nothing
worthy of death" (Luke 23:15,22). In His
pure, fine, sinless humanity, Jesus is also the
unleavened bread. In His betrayal, trial, mocking
and scourging He is also the bitter herbs. As
Jesus dies on the cross, still His fine, pure
humanity is clear to see, as the centurion
glorifies God "Certainly, this was a
righteous man" (Luke 23:47).
For His burial, one of the
highest men in Israel's Council, Joseph of
Arimathea, responded with fitting humanity to the
broken body of Jesus, the Unleavened Bread:
Joseph laid Jesus' dead body in a fine white
linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb (Luke
23:50-53). This corresponds closely with the
broken bread in the Passover (Seder) meal being
wrapped in linen, the Afikomen as it is called.
But He has already told us:
God is the God of the living. Luke's interviewees
tell him on the third day, the women went to the
tomb, found the stone rolled away, but the body
of the Lord Jesus was gone (Luke 24:1-3). Then
they are quizzed: "Why are you seeking the
living One among the dead? Remember his
words..." (Luke 24:4-8). The Jubilee is
here: through death, the Lord Jesus has broken
the power of death, the greatest oppressor, the
last enemy (I Corinthians 15:26).
Luke's gospel finishes with
several interviewees' accounts of how they saw
the risen Jesus: two Marys, Joanna and the other
women, Peter, Cleopas and his friend on the road
to Emmaus, finally all of them together. Jesus
appears as a man, with hands, feet and words, He
eats fish in front of them and then opens their
minds to understand in all of the scriptures the
things concerning Himself (Luke 24:44-45).
Since Jesus was full of the
Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1) and anointed with the
Spirit to preach the good news and bring the
Jubilee to individuals (Luke 4:18-19), He charges
the disciples to wait in Jerusalem, praying (Luke
11:13 Acts 1:13-14), until the power of the Holy
Spirit is sent upon them. Then they will be
anointed to bring the good news of the Jubilee to
the whole world (Luke 24:48-49).
Jesus is the Son of Man who
came to seek and
to save that which was
lost! (Luke 19:10)
He is seeking you. You are
slightly seeking Him.
Will you stick your neck
out a little and let Him find you?
Page authored by Martyn Barrow.
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