St Luke's Image of God

ST LUKE'S IMAGE OF GOD

I want to focus upon St Luke the writer, whose feast day is 18 October.

In particular I want to ask the question: if St Luke's Gospel was omitted from the New Testament, would our image of God be that much poorer?

After all, we do have three other gospels, namely, St Matthew, St Mark and St John, and each seek, in their own particular way, to give a picture or image of God, as revealed through the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. Why then should we need a further image of God, as revealed through the words of St Luke's Gospel?

I therefore invite you to play the part of a biblical detective, and try to discover what is unique about St Luke's Gospel.

Now, if you were to cut up the gospels of St Matthew, St Mark and St Luke into column form, and lay them side by side, the first thing you would discover is that both Matthew’s and Luke's gospels contain most of the Gospel of St Mark, almost word for word, and usually in the same order of events. In fact, it is estimated that almost half of St Luke's Gospel consists of St Mark's Gospel!

The second thing you would discover is that both St Matthew’s and St Luke's gospels also contain additional material which is the same in each gospel.

Scholars suggest that this material forms a second source for these two gospel writers. It is often called 'Quella' or just 'Q'.

And thirdly, you would discover that there are other verses which are quite unique to Luke's Gospel, and not to be found either in St Mark's Gospel or in the common material known as 'Q'.

It is therefore to this unique section we must direct our attention, if we are to discover Luke's particular understanding of God, as revealed through Jesus Christ, which is not to be found in the other two gospels.

For instance, only Luke records the story of the Good Samaritan, which shows that one's love should extend beyond national boundaries, particularly to those who are our deadly enemies.

Only Luke records the story of the healing of the ten lepers and the grateful thanks of the Samaritan, again showing that one's love should include one's enemies.

Only Luke records the story of the Gentile Samaritan who was commended for his faith by Jesus – faith which was far greater than that found in Israel, observes Jesus.

Only Luke records the Song of Simeon, sometimes called the Nunc Dimittis, in which Jesus is declared to be the light to lighten the Gentiles, which is to say those who are not Jews.

And only Luke traces our Lord's ancestry back to Adam, in other words, 'all men', and does not stop at Abraham, the father of the Jewish race, as does Matthew writing for his Jewish audience.

Now you will have noticed that the one thing all these Lukan stories have in common is that Luke does not confine God's love only to the Jewish people, but to all people, irrespective of the racial or religious background.

This conclusion is further reinforced when we look at some of Luke's additions and omissions to the words of the other gospel writers.

For instance, whereas Matthew writes that men and women 'will come from the east and the west to sit down at the Kingdom of Heaven', Luke adds the words 'and from the north and the south' in order to include everyone.

Again, whilst all four gospel writers quote from Isaiah chapter 40 concerning the message of John the Baptist, namely 'prepare ye the way of the Lord: make straight in the desert a highway for our God', only Luke completes Isaiah's original saying which adds 'and all flesh shall see the salvation of our God'.

On the other hand, Luke omits altogether the words of Jesus reported in Matthew's Gospel, when he told the disciples not to go and preach to the Samaritans and Gentiles. In other words, according to Luke, the disciples were not to confine themselves only to the Jewish race.

So I repeat what I said earlier, that St Luke, in his selection of stories which are not found in any of the other gospels, and in his additions and omissions to the words of the other gospels, seeks to present to us a picture of the love of God which extends beyond the narrow confines of nationalistic Judaism, to include all human kind.

Now, if you dig a little deeper, you will see that that love also includes those who were rejected or marginalised by respectable Jewish society.

For instance, only Luke includes the 'poor' within the realm of God's love.

So Luke reports that Joseph and Mary offered the poor man's gift of two pigeons at the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple.

He alone records the story of the rich man, Dives, and the poor man Lazarus at his gate.

And when Luke records the words of the Sermon on the Mount, he does not write, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit,' but 'Blessed are the poor'. In other words, the materialistic 'poor' are blessed and not just the spiritually poor.

Luke also includes within the loving embrace of God sinners, tax collectors and women, who the Jews tended to exclude.

Hence Luke alone records the woman of notoriety washing the feet of Jesus in the house of Simon the Pharisee.

He alone records the story of Jesus asking Zacchaeus, the tax collector, to provide hospitality for him and of the tax collector at prayer.

And only Luke tells the story of the penitent thief upon the cross, and the stories of the lost coin, the lost sheep and the lost son, all of which focus upon God's love for everyone.

When I consider therefore, the stories which are unique to Luke's Gospel, his additions and omissions to the words of Jesus in other gospels, and his concern for those excluded from Jewish society, I cannot but conclude that our picture or image of God would be that much poorer if his gospel, the only one written by a non-Jew for a non-Jewish audience, had not been included in the New Testament.

As the words of Father Faber's hymn put it:

'There is a wideness in God's mercy,

Like the wideness of the sea;

There's a kindness in his justice,

which is more than liberty.

For the love of God is broader

Than the measure of man's mind;

And the heart of the Eternal

Is most wonderfully kind.’

May your love for humankind reflect that same generous, all-inclusive love of God, which is revealed in the pages of St Luke's Gospel.