Luke begins his Gospel with the goal to write an orderly account of the life of Jesus. Of course, one person's order is another person's chaos. What makes sense to one person is completely random to another person. Over the next few months, we are going to walk through the Gospel of Luke to see if we can sense an order to the way he tells the Good News of Jesus Christ.
In the brief passage above, Luke has two very interesting comments. First he acknowledges there are other accounts of Jesus' life. There are three others in the New Testament: Mark, Matthew, and John. Of course there are other gospels and accounts of the good news...but that is for another post.
Mark, scholars think, is the earliest Gospel...it is also the shortest. Mark is often said to have been most interested in Jesus' death and resurrection (or what is called the "Passion"). And so the first part of Mark's Gospel moves like the bus in the movie, Speed - Mark constantly uses the word, "Immediately" when describing parts of Jesus' life. Mark also always has Jesus telling the people who he heals to "Not tell anyone", because the truth about who Jesus is Mark wants to keep a secret until the resurrection.
Matthew and Luke, scholars think, were written about the same time. And most tend to think that Matthew and Luke were aware of Mark - which perhaps Luke is referring to Mark when he acknowledges the others who have written down accounts of what happened in Jesus' life. Matthew's concern is that Jesus has a connection to Moses and seen as a "New and Improved Moses". So, Joesph and Mary flee to Egypt after Jesus' birth a la Moses. Jesus gives a sermon on a mount a la Moses and the 10 Commandments. Jesus is very Jewish a la Moses as well.
John is the last Gospel...and to be honest needs more than a quick synopsis. My favorite description of John is that he wants Jesus to float about two feet off the ground and Jesus always is two steps ahead of everyone else. A gospel to turn to at another time.
Luke has his own understanding of what Jesus is up to and we will explore that in the coming posts. And from the beginning Luke shows his hand of what he might be up to. Luke dedicates his Gospel to "most excellent Theophilus". On the surface that does not seem all that interesting. Yet, "Theophilus" is a name that literally means "God lover". So, was Theophilus an actual person who perhaps paid for the writing of this gospel as writing was a very expense form of communication in the 1st Century? Or is Theophilus a statement about you the reader, that you are a "God lover" and that this orderly account is going to help remind us of God's unconditional and unceasing love as well as our love for God?
Something to ponder this week and throughout these posts and we delve into Luke's orderly account.
May the traces of God's grace and love be with you as we prepare room in our hearts for "love's pure light" who is born away in a manger, Jesus our Christ.
Blessings!
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