Today's Scripture Reading (October 15, 2020): Luke 1
With any critical
event, people will try to write about the things that have taken place.
Countless books have been written about the American Civil War or the
Assassination of John F. Kennedy. People have put forward their theories about
what had happened, or have tried to uncover facts hidden in the pages of time.
It doesn't matter what the event is; someone who has an opinion about what has
happened often feels the need to write it down.
And it was not
any different when it comes to the life of Jesus. John seems to agree with
Luke. As he closes the words that he wrote about the life of Christ, he makes this
comment; "Jesus did many other things as
well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the
whole world would not have room for the books that would be written" (John
21:25). Many books had been written about the life of Jesus; many more would be
written long after Luke and John's lives had ended. But even now, more books could
be written about Jesus.
So, Luke opens up his account of the
story of Jesus by admitting that many people had already written down their
accounts of what happened when he walked the earth with us. Luke's desire to tell
the story was likely not just to add his voice to the many, but to write a document
from which the early church could read during the emerging communion services
taking place in homes across the known world.
What were the many accounts? We suspect
that the Gospel of Mark was one of the many, and likely the only existing writing
that Luke knew about that we still have and can read. There is a long-lost document
that we call "Q," probably a collection of the sayings of Jesus, much
like the Book of Proverbs. "Q" was a bare-bones collection of the things
that Jesus said during his time of ministry. Another document consisting of
other teachings of Jesus was likely being circulated at the time, and Luke
appears to have, at least, used these three documents to write his account.
Luke probably knew of many more writings,
including Paul's letters, which were beginning to be shared among the house
churches. Luke had heard the stories of Jesus shared by the disciples and had
many discussions about Jesus, and what follows in the gospel that bears his
name is the portion of the information that Luke thinks is important to tell to
the church.
As Luke was preparing his story, Matthew
was also preparing the report that he wanted to tell. The two men would tell
similar stories, although with slightly different emphases. Luke was writing to
a Gentile audience that had primarily become Christians because of the ministry
of Paul. Matthew would write his gospel to Jewish Christians living in
Jerusalem and diaspora around the known world. These were not the only writings
that existed and that Luke had read. But what had impacted Luke as important,
Luke has written down so that we would know.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew
1
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