Each gospel writer brings his own perspective
in sharing the Good News of Jesus.
This liturgical year we hear mainly Luke’s gospel at Sunday Mass,
through until next Advent, and so, during this time,
the Church is inviting us to be attentive to Luke’s voice,
to his particular emphases.
Today’s gospel, the start of Luke’s third chapter, is, in a sense,
a second start to his gospel,
after his account of events around Jesus’ birth.
He fixes events in time by naming a variety of ‘important’ people,
Tiberius, Pilate, Herod, Philip, Annas, Caiphas,
who all occur in non-biblical accounts from the time,
and one puzzling name: Lysanias.
As well as rooting Jesus in time,
Luke is teaching about how God communicates.
He is creating a counterpoint between human power,
represented by these important people,
and the initiative of God, exercised at the margins,
away from human power:
the word of God came to John … in the wilderness.
Luke, like the other three gospel writers, quotes Isaiah
to identify John the Baptist as Israel’s final prophetic voice:
The voice of one crying in the wilderness
crying out: ‘the Lord is coming; you must prepare’.
A message for its own time, and a message for today.
One of Luke’s particular emphases,
is that the Good News is for all, that it is universal.
So, his quote from Isaiah is longer than the other gospel writers,
to include that last line.
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
In the previous lectionary it was
all mankind shall see the salvation of God,
which is easier to understand, but less accurate.
‘Flesh’ is the first sense of the underlying Greek (and Hebrew) word,
and apparently those words have a very physical feel.
It is used, by extension, for the human body:
but still with a very material, physical, sense –
which the English, ‘flesh’ probably does reflect.
The same word is used in John’s gospel to speak of the Incarnation,
emphasising its physicality –
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us –
and of the Eucharist – whoever feeds on my flesh ... has eternal life.
Resonances dampened in the previous translation.
There is no perfect translation: all have strengths and weaknesses.
I will miss some of the Jerusalem bible’s turns of phrase,
but I am also pleased to have others replaced.
Roughly, the translation used in the new lectionary
aims to reflect the word choices and composition of the original,
rather than interpreting and representing ideas and sentiments.
Consequently, as we just saw,
in comparison with what we have been used to,
this translation requires more engagement.
The language, at least to my ear, isn’t as natural,
and so needs more ‘processing’.
Readers will have to prepare carefully,
and we will all have to pay more attention.
However, and this is really important,
any Christian translation of the bible aims, ultimately,
to provide a foundation for encounter with the person of Jesus Christ,
the Word of God,
whose life, death and resurrection draw us, through him,
into the life of God, and who is with us to the end of time.
This ‘big picture’ is what really matters.
Word choices, particular details and incidents are of course significant, but they are subservient to the big picture;
they are individual brush strokes on a large canvas,
and are always to be seen in relation to the whole.