Related posts: Iconography Of The Gospels, Iconography Of The Gospels 2, The Doctor’s Strange Omissions, Iconography of the Gospels 3, Sure Lazarus wrote John, but who wrote Luke?, Iconography of the Gospels 4: Metanarratives, Gospel Spin

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In an earlier post, The Doctor’s Strange Omissions, I puzzled over the “strange omissions” in Luke’s Gospel.  Why does he leave out Jesus walking on water, for example? Luke had his reasons, unknown to us, for selecting the details to include in his Gospel. While the omissions are puzzling, the things he chooses to emphasize are likewise puzzling.  Why, in an account of Jesus’ life written to the supposedly rich and well-educated Theophilus, does Luke place such an emphasis on the poor and outcasts of society. And for a Gospel written about Jesus’ mission to save the whole world, why is there so much talk about the Jews?

Luke seems obsessed with a number of themes but it’s hard to understand how they all fit together.  These themes include: the Holy Spirit, prayer, and the prophet motif.

If you’re confused, you’re in good company

The organization of Luke’s Gospel generally follows Mark. But he purposely departs from Mark in chapter 9 and doesn’t pick up Mark’s storyline again until chapter 19.  This section is framed by these two statements:

But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it. (9:45)

The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about. (18:34)

The thick-headedness of the disciples should be a comfort to those of us who all these centuries later are still trying to understand this section of Luke’s Gospel.  This section has been called “The Travel Narrative” and “The Great Insertion.” Marshall writes:

“The whole section gives the impression at first sight of a journey from Galilee to Jerusalem…it is now recognized that it is impossible to construct an itinerary that runs clearly through this section…It follows that the real importance of the section lies in the teaching given by Jesus. Here again, however, we land in difficulties, for the general themes of the section are hard to define, and it is even more difficult to find any kind of thread running through it.” (Marshall’s commentary on Luke)

To summarize, this looks like a travel-narrative but it doesn’t follow any logical geographic progression. That would lead one to assume that it is organized thematically, but no one can actually discover a consistent theme to organize it by!  Green in his commentary detects at least five different “threads” running through this section.  So don’t be surprised if while studying this section you end up in a tangle!

Even so, the inclusive nature of Jesus’ mission shines brightly in this mysterious section. A woman is accepted as a disciple. A Samaritan is praised for his mercy. A leper, a cripple, a man with dropsy and a tax collector are all included within Jesus’ circle while his most scathing condemnation is reserved for the religious elite. All of this sets the scene for a plot on his life:

“Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.” (19:47-48)

 Luke shows Jesus’ rejection by the religious community from the very beginning of his ministry at Nazareth to the end in Jerusalem even while the common man “hangs on his words” and the Roman government declared, ”I find no basis for a charge against this man.” (23:4) But by bringing his first account to an end in Jerusalem, Luke is setting Theophilus up for the birth of the church in the Book of Acts. And it is that story that unites both the Gospel and Acts with the common theme of the Holy Spirit.

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