Part 4: Luke's Gospel: a wise silence
Aug 1, 2016 12:00:44 GMT
Post by Colossians on Aug 1, 2016 12:00:44 GMT
This material is for the teaching of the Body of Christ, however the author reserves copyright over it.
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LUKE’S GOSPEL: A WISE SILENCE
“Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God” 1 Cor 10:32.
Luke would have concurred.
A family matter
You’re sitting in a restaurant and a man who knows of you but with whom you are not personally acquainted approaches you and tells you he’s going to detail your family tree and publish it.
Initially you’re a little flattered that someone outside of your family would take the time to do such a thing. But after he’s gone and you begin to reflect on the matter, you start to feel a little violated: after all, it’s your family, not his, and families are a personal matter.
And so you wish you had asked him to refrain when you had the chance, but now he’s gone. At the very least you wish he’d instead asked your permission to go ahead with the project rather than simply declare it a given.
Luke was a Greek, and Judah a family. The Holy Spirit in Luke knew it would be inappropriate – in fact unwise – for Luke to in a sense ‘take ownership’ of the genealogy of Christ: regardless of whether Christ was accepted by the Jews as Messiah or not, He was nevertheless ‘their property’.
And regardless of the fact that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, there comes a point at which human issues nevertheless need to be respected: the Holy Spirit would make sure no unnecessary stumbling block would be presented to the Jews: Luke would write a list, for sure, but not the genealogy of Christ.
An overwhelming omission
Accordingly, Luke would (also) make no mention of Joseph’s flight into Egypt with the young child Jesus and His mother, and their subsequent return upon the death of Herod.
For although he detailed the legal proceedings of Joseph and Mary upon the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:21-25), it is quite another thing to detail an event which fulfilled the prophecy: “Out of Egypt have I called my Son”: it simply cuts too close to the familial bone: there comes a point where outsiders, no matter how well-intentioned, must step back and allow the family to tell the story if and when they decide to do so.
In line with such, the (non-Jew) “God-fearers” who attended synagogue in NT times, were positioned at the back of the congregation: Jews sat up front.
Conclusion
Luke’s (apparent) failure to record the calling of Jesus out of Egypt, was in fact deliberate and in line with the fact that he did not record the genealogy of Christ.
However we shall show later in this series, that Luke did in fact record the calling of Jesus out of Egypt after all, and that the (merely-apparent) omission is in fact part and parcel of what Luke’s list will be shown to be.
Amen.
_____________________________
LUKE’S GOSPEL: A WISE SILENCE
“Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God” 1 Cor 10:32.
Luke would have concurred.
A family matter
You’re sitting in a restaurant and a man who knows of you but with whom you are not personally acquainted approaches you and tells you he’s going to detail your family tree and publish it.
Initially you’re a little flattered that someone outside of your family would take the time to do such a thing. But after he’s gone and you begin to reflect on the matter, you start to feel a little violated: after all, it’s your family, not his, and families are a personal matter.
And so you wish you had asked him to refrain when you had the chance, but now he’s gone. At the very least you wish he’d instead asked your permission to go ahead with the project rather than simply declare it a given.
Luke was a Greek, and Judah a family. The Holy Spirit in Luke knew it would be inappropriate – in fact unwise – for Luke to in a sense ‘take ownership’ of the genealogy of Christ: regardless of whether Christ was accepted by the Jews as Messiah or not, He was nevertheless ‘their property’.
And regardless of the fact that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, there comes a point at which human issues nevertheless need to be respected: the Holy Spirit would make sure no unnecessary stumbling block would be presented to the Jews: Luke would write a list, for sure, but not the genealogy of Christ.
An overwhelming omission
Accordingly, Luke would (also) make no mention of Joseph’s flight into Egypt with the young child Jesus and His mother, and their subsequent return upon the death of Herod.
For although he detailed the legal proceedings of Joseph and Mary upon the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:21-25), it is quite another thing to detail an event which fulfilled the prophecy: “Out of Egypt have I called my Son”: it simply cuts too close to the familial bone: there comes a point where outsiders, no matter how well-intentioned, must step back and allow the family to tell the story if and when they decide to do so.
In line with such, the (non-Jew) “God-fearers” who attended synagogue in NT times, were positioned at the back of the congregation: Jews sat up front.
Conclusion
Luke’s (apparent) failure to record the calling of Jesus out of Egypt, was in fact deliberate and in line with the fact that he did not record the genealogy of Christ.
However we shall show later in this series, that Luke did in fact record the calling of Jesus out of Egypt after all, and that the (merely-apparent) omission is in fact part and parcel of what Luke’s list will be shown to be.
Amen.