BibleProject New Testament Series - Lesson 5

BP150-05 - Luke (Part 1) The gospel. According to Luke, it's one of the earliest accounts of Jesus's life, and it's actually part one of a unified two volume work. Luke acts. If you compare the opening lines of both of these books, it's clear that they come from the same author. And there are internal clues in the Book of Acts, as well as an early tradition that identifies the author as Luke, the traveling companion and coworker of Paul the Apostle, who we know was also a doctor. Luke opens his work with a preface telling us how and why he wrote this book. He acknowledges that there's many other fine accounts of Jesus life out there, but he wanted to go back to the eyewitness traditions of his many early disciples as he could in order to produce what he calls an orderly account about the things that have been fulfilled among us. Now, that word fulfilled shows us why Luke wrote this account for him. The story of Jesus isn't just ancient history. He wants to show how it's the fulfillment of the long covenant story of God and Israel, and bigger than that of the story of God in the whole world. The book's design is fairly clear. There's a long introduction that sets up the stories of John the Baptist and Jesus. Then in chapters 3 to 9, Luke presents a robust portrait of Jesus and his mission in his home region of Galilee. After that, the large mid-section of the book is Jesus's Long Journey to Jerusalem, which leads to the story's climax, Jesus's final week in Jerusalem, leading up to his death and resurrection, which then leads on into the Book of Acts. In this video, we're just going to focus on the first half of Luke's gospel. The extended introduction tells in parallel the birth stories of John the Baptist and Jesus. So you have this elderly priestly couple, Zachariah and Elizabeth, and then this young unmarried woman, Mary and Joseph. They both receive an unlikely divine promise that they're going to have a son. Both promises are fulfilled. Then, as John and then Jesus are born and both parents sing poems of celebration. Now, these poetic songs, they're filled with echoes from the Old Testament, Psalms and prophets, showing how these children will fulfill God's ancient promises. But these poems also preview each child's role in the story to follow. So John is the prophetic messenger promised in the Torah and the prophets who's going to prepare Israel to meet their God and Jesus? He's the messianic king promised to David, who's going to bring God's reign over Israel and God's blessing to the nations, just like he promised Abraham. After this, Mary brings Jesus to the Jerusalem Temple for his dedication and two elderly prophets, Anna and Simeon. They see Jesus and they recognize who He is. And Simeon sings his own song, a poem inspired by the prophet Isaiah. He says, This child is God's salvation for Israel and he will become a light to the nations. So with all of this anticipation, the story moves forward into the next main section where Luke presents Jesus and his mission. He sets the stage with John's renewal movement at the Jordan River, where he's calling a new, repentant, recommitted Israel into existence through baptism. He's preparing for the arrival of God's kingdom. And then Jesus appears as the leader of this new Israel, and he's marked out by the spirit and the voice of God from heaven. He is the beloved son of God. After this, Luke follows with the genealogy in it traces Jesus's origins back to David, then back to Abraham, and then all the way back to Adam from the Book of Genesis. Luke's claiming here that Jesus is the messianic King of Israel who will bring God's blessing, but not only to Israel, the family of Abraham. He is here for all the sons of Adam, for all humanity. After this, Luke has strategically placed the story of Jesus going to his hometown, Nazareth, where he launches his public mission at a synagogue gathering. Jesus stands up and he reads from the scroll of Isaiah saying, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor and freedom for the prisoners. New sight for the blind and freedom for the oppressed. Now, along with the other gospels, Jesus is presented here. He's the messianic king, bringing the good news of God's kingdom. But what Luke uniquely highlights are the social implications of Jesus mission. So He brings freedom. The Greek word is Ephesus. It literally means release and refers to the ancient Jewish Practice of the Year of Jubilee, described in Leviticus 25. It's when all Israelite slaves were released, when people's debts were canceled, when land that was sold is returned back to families. It's all a symbolic reenactment of God's liberating justice and mercy. And then Jesus says that this good news of release is specifically for the poor. Now, in the Old Testament, the poor or in Hebrew. It's a much broader category than just people who don't have very much money. It refers also to people of low social status and their culture, like people with disabilities or women and children and the elderly. It also can include social outsiders like people of other ethnic groups or people who. Poor life choices have placed them outside acceptable religious circles. And Jesus says that God's kingdom is especially good news for these people. So after this, Luke immediately puts in front of us a large block of stories showing us what Jesus is good news for the poor looks like. It involves the healing of a bedridden, sick woman or a man who has a skin disease or someone who's paralyzed. There are stories here also about Jesus welcoming into his community a tax collector like Levi, who's not financially poor, but he is a social outsider. There's a story about Jesus forgiving a prostitute. Luke showing us how Jesus, his kingdom brought restoration and reversal of people's whole life circumstances. He's expanding the circle of people who get invited in to discover the healing power of God's kingdom. And as Jesus mission attracts a large following, He does something even more provocative. He forms these people into a new Israel by appointing over them the 12 disciples as leaders corresponding to the 12 tribes of Israel. And then Jesus teaches his manifesto of an upside down kingdom, or, as Luke calls it, the sermon given on the plane. He says God's love for the outsider and the poor means that his kingdom brings a reversal of all of our value systems. He is here to form a new alternative people of God who are going to respond to Jesus invitation by practicing radical generosity, by serving the poor people who are going to lead, by serving and live, by peacemaking and forgiveness. People who are deeply pious but who reject religious hypocrisy. Now Jesus radical kingdom vision has claim to divine authority. It starts to generate resistance and controversy, especially from Israel's religious leaders. His outreach to questionable people. It's a threat to their religious traditions and their sense of social stability. And so they start accusing Jesus of blaspheming God, of being a drunk and mixing with sinners. And so this section culminates in a new revelation of Jesus mission to his disciples. He says that yes, he is the messianic king and that he's going to assert his reign over Israel by dying in Jerusalem, by becoming the suffering servant king of Isaiah 53, who dies for the sins of Israel. And then this shocking idea it gets explored in the next story as Jesus goes up a mountain with three of his disciples and he's suddenly transformed in front of them. They're enveloped in this cloud of God's presence. Who announces, This is my chosen son? And then Moses and Elijah are there. The two other prophets who encountered God's presence and voice on a mountain. And Luke tells us they're talking together about Jesus's exodus that he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem. Now, that Greek word exodus, it's a clear reference to the Exodus story. Luke is portraying Jesus here as a new Moses, who will lead his newly formed Israel into freedom and release from the tyranny of sin and evil in all of its forms personal, spiritual and social. And that's going to lead us into the second half of the book. But for now, that's the first half of the Gospel, according to Luke.