… the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. – Luke 3:38

 … the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. – Luke 3:38

Today's Scripture Reading (October 22, 2020): Luke 3

American Academic Chip Heath, in his best-selling book "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die," observes that "To make our communications more effective, we need to shift our thinking from "What information do I need to convey?" to "What questions do I want my audience to ask?" Of course, to do that, you need to know who it is that is listening to your message. And that might be the most formidable task of all.

The writers of the Gospels had specific audiences in mind as they set out to write their biographies of Jesus. John's Gospel was the last of the histories of Jesus to be written, and his writing might have been intended for the broadest audience. John had read the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) and thought that some critical information was missing in those histories that he felt was essential to pass on to his friends. But the Gospel of John was also an announcement of the last apostle's impending death. One of John's messages was that there would come a day when he would no longer walk with them, despite rumors that claimed the opposite.

The Gospel of Mark also appears to be more general in its intended audience. It relates the movement of Jesus as seen by a young man who had associated himself early on with the disciples during the earthly ministry of Jesus; Mark was the son of one of Jesus's significant supporters.

Matthew and Luke were written to more specific audiences, which is actually revealed in their genealogies. In the lineage that Matthew uses, his anchor point is Abraham. The line emphasizes that Jesus was a Jew, a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And that is important for a Gospel whose prime audience was Jewish.

But Luke decides to anchor his genealogy of Jesus in Adam, who God formed out of dust and to whom God gave life. And in doing so, Luke makes the point that the story of Jesus is not about one race, but that the gift of Jesus was for the entire world, regardless of their racial heritage. Jesus came for the world, and he was a descendant of Adam, as are all of us. An essential concept for a history written with a primary audience that was not Jewish, but consisted of all the other races who live and breathe on this planet. Jesus was not just a local deity of the Jewish people. Jesus's presence and ministry impacted all of us, and the story that Luke intends to tell is essential to us all.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew 4