Luke 1: This Gospel opens with a greeting. Luke is writing to Theophilus, a fellow follower of Christ, as confirmation that the things Theophilus is being taught are real and true. In the notes underneath the text, my Bible also states that this introduction is among the finest Greek which goes to show the intellect that Luke possesses as a physician and writer. Furthermore, a theme displayed within this first chapter is God’s desire to use the weak to make His kingdom known. For example, God chose the humble family of a priest to bring forth John the Baptist, who would go on to proclaim the message of God in many places. In addition to Zechariah and his wife, God chose to use the Virgin Mary, a woman destined to marry a carpenter, who courageously accepted God’s call without hesitation. I think this is why so many Pharisees and Sadducees neglected Christ’s proclamations of being the Messiah. They were expecting some glorious king to liberate them from the Romans, but when He came as a humble man who came to set them free from unearthly hardships they became upset. On a more comical note, one thing that I found intriguing is when Gabriel appeared to both Zechariah and Mary they were a little scared, and rightfully so; however, Gabriel seems to act as if they see stuff like this all the time and just says “Do not be afraid.” I believe that it would be quite odd if they were not afraid. Another point I saw was the importance of a fetus. In verses 39 through 45 it describes
In Matthew 1-2, the infant stories are used to prepare the ground for the theme of Jesus; the new and perfect Moses, the great teacher and interpreter of God’s ways. A parallel can be drawn between the experiences of the infant Jesus and the experience of Moses. This can be seen in Matthew 2:16-18, where the slaying of innocent male Hebrew children occurred around the time of the birth of Jesus, and in Exodus 1:15-22, where Hebrew children were also murdered at the time of Moses’ birth. Just as Moses came out of Egypt, leading the people of God, so does Jesus. Following the infancy stories, the rest of Matthew’s Gospel is structured around five long discourses where Jesus teaches. On each occasion, the evangelist indicates that a great teacher has been at work (Maloney, 1988, p. 133-34).
In class, we read the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This book was about the crazy childhood Jeanette experienced. Jeanette had to become independent at a very young age, since her parents didn’t seem to take responsibility for their children. She learned how to do many things on her own, like boil hotdogs at the age of three. Jeanette’s family was also always on the move; they drove miles and miles until her parents found a small town where they wanted to settle down for a little while. She became familiar with her dad’s term the “skedaddle,” which means they would just pick up and leave in a hurry. Because of all these sudden changes in Jeanette’s life, she had to start a new life for herself everywhere she went, such as starting a new school, making new friends, and adapting to the way of living in that
The people were foretold of Jesus’s coming, but they were not expecting him to come as a common person. They were expecting him to come in riches and glory, but he came down in the humblest way. Our whole existence was based on a young teenage girl named Mary. She was foretold by an angel of her being pregnant with the holy son. If it was up to our generation to give birth to a being that would save the whole world, they might dismiss the idea and try to abort the child. Our generation would be in shambles. According to Yancey, “The virgin Mary, though, whose parenthood was unplanned, had a different response. She heard the angel out, pondered the repercussions, and replied, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said” (Yancey, 32). Mary was ready for the spirit of the Holy Ghost to impregnate her with the holy child. Even though she was a teenager, she did not question the what the angel had told her. Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph and instead of Joseph making a big scene about he baby (Jesus) not being his, he hid her away from the shame that his soon to be wife would endure.
Luke was a medical doctor, a missionary, and evangelist, a historian, a researcher, and the writer of the third Gospel. The book of Luke was written in a formal literacy introduction noting his purpose in writing, his methodology, and the attempts others had made in such writing. Luke is the author of the book and it was written in AD 60 in Caesarea. According to Hindson and Elmer Luke’s purpose is to give “an orderly sequence” of the events about Christ’s birth, life, and sacrificial death followed by his resurrection and ascension back to heaven. The occasion calling for Luke to write his Gospel was that Theophilus, and other new believers like him, needed a clear account of the life and ministry of Jesus as an aid to confirm his faith
Luke’s introduction of the Gospel started with an angel visiting a priest named Zechariah and informing him that his old barren wife will give birth to a son named John. Around the same time the angel Gabriel visited the virgin Mary in Nazareth and told her that
He is mentioned to by Paul as "Luke the beloved physician" (Col. 4:14). Luke fixed forth the humanity of the Son of Man and cites it in chronological order the life of Christ. Being a physician, he is more precise when using language. For example, when he indicates a leper he uses the identical medical term to describe the circumstance, for example "full of leprosy" (Luke 5:12). Luke’s gospel is particularly focused towards an individual named Theophilus and is focused on the complete story and past events of Jesus Christ from his birth and ministry to his crucifixion and resurrection. A major theme in Luke’s gospel shows how important the poor were to Jesus and how we should not neglect the poor. Examples of this are seen when the book talks about the distinctive beatitudes “blessed you are poor…hunger now...weep now...” and the distinctive woes “woes to you that are rich...that are full...that laugh now…” which overall say, money and power will tend to bring judgement upon you. In addition, the gospel of Luke refers to certain parables like the Rich man and Lazarus. This sends a message to warn the rich who tend to trust in their riches more than in God, wealth tends to pull us away from God and that if we neglect the poor and prioritize our riches more we will go to hell. Asking oneself- is your existence a blessing for the
Thesis Statement: The Great Pyramid is a mystery to the modern age, even though its
The Gospel of Luke focuses on the conception and the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus. It also provides the histories of Elizabeth and Zachariah. It also describes Angel Gabriel’s announcement to Zachariah and the Virgin Mary.
I chose to read The Gospel of Luke for my project. It is said that The Gospel of Luke was written somewhere between 80 CE - 90 CE. The Gospel of Luke was written for Theophilus, who was called “Friend of God”. But The Gospel was also written for a wider audience, including converts and potential converts.
Jesus is portrayed as a compassionate healer and teacher in Luke's gospel. Luke also portrays Jesus as a saviour in the image of a divine man. Like was a well educated jew that was struggling with the christians new faith. Luke is one of the synoptic gospels in the New Testament whose audience appears to be gentiles. Luke portrays Jesus as a person who reaches out to the poor and brings Justice to all. In Luke 10:38-42 Jesus visited Martha and Mary. Martha was disrespectful to Jesus as she put cleaning before Jesus, where as Mary sat down at Jesus’ foot and stayed with him. Jesus then says “Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things” Jesus is showing compassion and love even though Martha was showing disrespect towards Jesus. Overall,
According to Carter-Levine, “For some readers, Luke is an ancient feminist seeking to enfranchise women and erase gender distinctions’ (Pg. 69). What I found most interesting from our first set of readings was the idea that the Gospel of Luke may have been written by a woman. I do not believe this is the case; however, Carter and Levine do give good arguments as to why this may be. Luke talks about many women in his Gospel: Anna, Tabitha, Mary, Martha, Lydia, and even recognizes Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, as a prophet. I just cannot buy the concept that women were writers in this time period. It seems to me that women had a place and men had a place and even today, in that part of the world, women tend to certain jobs and
In our society today, it can be hard to fully understand and relate to biblical texts written in a seemingly different world. With stories of great joys and sorrows, I found that although the world we live in today is different, the messages are still highly relevant. As long as humans are still imperfect and desired filled beings, we will need the wisdom of these biblical texts to guide us. As the stories of overcoming hardships and suffering made an impression on me, the stories of love and acceptance filled me with great emotion. There are many differences that seem to separate Christians today, whether in arguments such as interpretations or certain beliefs. This has only divided an undivided religion. I found comfort and strength from texts about love and a calling for Christians to come together despite differences. In this, I found a deeper connection to myself and others.
The Giver is a morally driven and thought-provoking story about a young boy called Jonas who lives in a society free of crime, sadness, pain, death, music, color and love. The story follows Jonas as he receives the memories of the past, good and bad, from the current Receiver, who is called the Giver. The Giver transfers memories by placing his hands on Jonas 's forearms. The first memory he receives is of a thrilling sled ride, which he will remake in the end of the movie. Jonas discovers the dangerous truths of his community 's secret past. Armed with the power of knowledge, which he knew about from memories (Ways of Knowledge), Jonas realizes that he must release all the memories to the community to allow them to feel
In the Bible, the four Gospels push different ideologies, views, lessons and different stories that center around the central figure of Jesus. The Gospel of Luke main themes center on Universalism, social justice, compassion for outcasts, the role of woman and the Holy Spirit.(Hauer and Young) These parables are able to connect to the context of when Luke was able bring these stories together in 85 CE. The Gospel was most likely written in Greek speaking area located in the Roman empire.(Coogan et al.) This time of stability allowed for the proliferation of Christianity and Gospels such as Luke. The passages that will be discussed will mainly focus on compassion for outcast seen in Luke 16:19–31 and warning against greed in Luke 12:13-34. Luke 13:6-9 focuses on a fig tree talks of the opportunities people and if they use them properly. Finally, the last parable is 7:11-17, which focuses on holy spirit and the possibilities for miracles and the importance of life. These parables in Luke are able to give a social justice commentary that can make a person feel compassionate for the poor and the reckoning they would receive in the afterlife if they didn’t follow Jesus’s teachings. As, well the story is able to push across a message that will everlasting importance to people. This has led to the Gospels of Luke becoming one of the main 4 Gospels and one of the most highly regarded of the Gospels. (Hauer and Young)
The theme of the gospel of Luke talks about the journey of the life of Jesus, Christ. His death, burial, and resurrection. Moreover, his ministry, teachings and parables. As a historian, and physician, Luke was not only eloquent in his writing about Jesus; he also took interest in his early life. The Gospel of Luke also depict Jesus as compassionate, caring, and loving. Likewise, Luke not only put Jesus at the heart of the Jewish world during the first century, but also at the heart of the Roman world, where with the Christian gospel exploded.