Gospel #3 - OK, Luke, So NOW What?

So far we’ve seen the gospel story presented from two very different angles.

Angle #1: Jesus the Messiah in Matthew

Angle #2: Jesus the Son of God in Mark

But now we’re on the third account of the life and works of Jesus – and I can almost hear you, my beloved audience, groaning and mumbling under your breaths: “So what?” Believe me when I say I understand. I can only hear the same story so many times before I feel like the horse is dead and I’m ready to move on. More than that, after a while I begin to ask myself:

This is where the gospel of Luke is so special and awesome, for a plethora of reasons:

#1 – Luke writes his book to a very VERY specific audience: his name is Theophilus. (We’ll call him Theo for short.) Theo is a Gentile believer, who just needs some confirmation and encouragement about the things he already claims as a believer.[1] Hmm…what does that sound like to you? To me, it sounds like good, down-home discipleship between believers. You might even go as far as calling the gospel of Luke a “Discipleship Manual”[2] If we understand the gospel of Luke this way, it becomes super uber applicable to you and me today as believers.

#2 – Luke was a doctor and close companion with Paul – they were traveling buddies.[3] And because of Paul’s status as the world’s greatest apostle in the history of ever, Luke then had access to pretty much every person who had close contact with Jesus while He was alive. Which leads us into reason…

…#3 - Luke took advantage of the access he had to witnesses such as Mary (Jesus’ momma), the other apostles, and many of the people whose lives Jesus was involved in. He conducted personal interviews, recording details meticulously. Think of Luke as Indiana Jones or one of those super-dedicated investigative journalists you see on Dateline. Case in point:

Luke 6:6
“On another Sabbath He went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled.”

…now, I ask you…how would Luke have known which hand was shriveled, if Luke wasn’t there to have witnessed it himself?

Luke is about getting the facts – because his whole objective is to make sure that the person he’s writing to can trust the things he has claimed faith in. We’ll talk about this aspect more in the next post.

#4 - Luke takes us through the gospel story step by step, laying out very clearly how to live the life of a disciple. Did you catch that? This is the HOW-TO gospel, for anyone and everyone who reads it. Luke makes it a point in his book to show us not only that salvation is extended to anyone and everyone who believes in Jesus, but how to live as a disciple.

I don’t know about you, but I operate so much better when I have specific instructions to follow. So I plan on giving Luke a great big thank-you-high-five when I finally get to meet him. :)

So in the coming posts we’re going to explore each step-by-step that Luke takes us through. Be ready for an adventure. And stay classy. 

Click here for next post! 

---

[1] Luke 1:1-4

[2] Phraseology taken from John Correia’s gospels class…Not to be confused with the infamous Discipleship Manuel.

[3] We see this spelled out in Acts – also written by Luke. Spoiler alert: Luke-Acts is like a double feature, prequel and sequel, both written to Theophilus. I got this information from my Acts-Rev class with John Correia spring 2011.