Today’s Scripture Reading (July 31,
2014): Luke 1
Objectivity
is impossible. The truth is that each one of us perceives the world in which we
live in a certain way. We all have glasses that focus our sight on the world
around us, but the problem us that in bringing the world into focus, our
glasses change the world that we see. Personally, I also know that I see what I
expect to see. It happens all around me. I see the world as I want to see it –
and I do not have the slightest idea how to change that.
So as we
begin Luke’s version of the life of Christ, we have to be careful that we don’t
argue that this is somehow an objective account of the life of Christ. It is
not. As with all of the Gospels, the Gospel of Luke was written with a specific
purpose in mind, even though we may not be sure what that purpose might have
been (although we do have some theories.)
What we know
is that the Gospel was written by Luke. Luke was not an eyewitness of the events
that his writings, at least in the Book of Luke, attests to – but he was an
associate of Paul. And through Paul, Luke had access to the disciples and many
of the eyewitnesses of the events that he records in the Book of Luke. This is
why Luke says that he has “carefully investigated everything from the
beginning.” He had to investigate because he was not an eyewitness, he wasn’t
present when the events happened.
The book is
addressed to a man that Luke calls “most excellent Theophilus.” Experts have
argued that the “most excellent” title means that Theophilus was some kind of a
Roman official, but there are some other interesting theories. And maybe one of
the most interesting is that the recipient of the Gospel was actually a man
named “Theophilus ben Ananus, the son of the former High Priest Annas, the brother-in-law
of Joseph Caiaphas, the High Priest that Jesus appeared in front of during his
trial, and a High Priest in his own right from 37 – 41 C.E. But while support
for the idea seems to be growing, it is still accepted by only a minority of
experts. And the truth is that there were a lot of people named Theophilus
during this period of time.
Another
possible theory adds more of a purpose for the writing of the Gospel (and the
book of Acts.) Some have suggested that Theophilus was somehow involved in Paul’s
trial in Rome. Whether he was a lawyer or some other sort of legal
professional, Luke compiled his writings as part of Paul’s possible defence.
Before Paul was sentenced, the Roman officials needed to have the full story.
Whatever the
reason, Luke is a believer who has spent some time compiling a record of the
events that led him to belief. One last note, in Greek the first four verses of
Luke are one sentence and it is a sentence that is written in the classical
way. But the rest of the gospel is in the language of the person on the street.
It is like Luke is saying, “I recognize who you are, Theophilus, but this story
has to be told in the language of the street.”
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Matthew
1
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