The Gospel of Luke: A Gospel of Inclusiveness

An examination of the apostle Luke's two-part account, viewing his writings from the viewpoint of his role in the Gentile mission.

Priscilla Papers, 2004

Author: Mary H. Brondyke Publisher: CBE International We all like to believe ourselves to be discerning. However, Luke 7:36-50 challenges us: Do we really get the main point? And if so, how shall we respond? In the account of the anointing of Jesus by the sinful woman, Jesus radically reverses all assumptions about himself, the woman and Simon, highlights true repentance and forgiveness, and causes us to reflect on the boldness of the Lord’s ministry to women. In examining this account, we need to ask: How does it relate to Luke’s major themes and its immediate context? Is this text reliable? What is the historical-cultural meaning of the woman’s act? How do the grammar and literary aspects highlight the Lord’s major point? What is the significance of key words? How does this text apply to our own lives? Through seeing this passage as representative of Luke’s theme of discerning the truth (which causes paradigm shifts) and the theme of God’s gracious forgiveness, we see this woman’s seemingly lavish response as appropriately representing a repentant heart. Because the historical-cultural information has such importance for the clarity of this article, it has been moved to the forefront of the following presentation, to be followed by grammar and word studies.

The aim of this thesis is to show how in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus and the early church relied on food and hospitality provided in homes to propagate the mission of bringing the good news of the kingdom of God to Israel, and subsequently to Gentiles. Secondly, in Luke-Acts provision of meals in homes was also a means of serving Christ and one another through table ministry. These two factors of mission and ministry in Luke through domestic hospitality can provide theological impetus for contemporary Christian communities to think and reflect more intentionally regarding food and hospitality in their own contexts. Though research and study into the various aspects of food have advanced in recent years through various disciplines, theological research has not been so generous in its handling of food. Although food preparation and cooks have been historically ignored by scholars, it is argued that hospitality is best expressed in the sharing of food. A definition of hospitality that sees its normal and natural expression through the sharing of meals is posited, rather than being defined as “welcoming strangers”. Meals are universal “cultural sites” that enable human formation and deepen bonds with others. Food needs to be taken more seriously in the theological enterprise, as does considering food as theology. The Hebrew Bible, ancient Near East, Greco-Roman banquet customs, and intertestamental Jewish literature provide the cultural and historical backdrop for Luke’s Gospel. And as such, an engagement with how food and hospitality was regarded within these texts and cultures is examined. Regarding the Hebrew Bible, it will be shown that food and meals played a significant, if not central, role in Israel’s covenant identity with Yahweh, and with one another. Special attention is given to whether Jewish groups in this period, as well as Luke’s Gospel, were influenced or not by the Greco-Roman banquet tradition of the symposium. The Greco-Roman Symposium has been offered by scholars as a theory for the basis of Jesus’ dining events in Luke, however, this theory was rejected for a number of reasons. The definition of mission and ministry within the context of Luke-Acts is outlined, and the pre-resurrection domestic meal scenes of the Lukan Jesus are analysed with a narrative theological and socio-scientific approach. The Last Supper, or Eucharist, is deliberately avoided for numerous reasons; one being that the initial remembrance of this event was celebrated within the context of actual domestic meals. Special note of how Jesus acts at table, as well as critical questions concerning whether the author of Luke is using hospitality as a key motif, are explored. This Lukan analysis demonstrates how the mission of Jesus was aided in these domestic settings. Mission in Luke-Acts reflects the actual domestic location of the early house churches Luke was addressing. Through the domestic meal scenes, Luke gives Jesus primacy whenever he is at table and by doing so provides instruction to the banquet communities that are gathering around meals to read/hear the message of Jesus. The διακονία of the women who serve Jesus at table is presented favourably by Luke as a way of affirming this ministry in the propagation of the mission of Jesus and the early church. After briefly placing mission in a contemporary context, the notion of invitation in Luke-Acts is discussed with regards to how it may be useful regarding mission in the contemporary secular and pluralistic context in which Western churches find themselves. Secondly, regarding ministry, the sacramental nature of “mundane” work such as food preparation is considered by engaging with the ideas of French philosopher Simone Weil. And finally, a dialogue with a number of authors who have written about the practical application of hospitality for the contemporary context and Christian communities will be engaged in. This heuristic engagement is viewed as a theological “round-table” discussion in the spirit of hospitality, in which a dialogue with these authors, through reflection on the findings of the analyses of Lukan meal scenes, is undertaken. By reflecting theologically on the motif of hospitality in the mission and ministry of Jesus and the early church in Luke-Acts, the mission and ministry of contemporary churches can be informed and reformed in their own expressions of hospitality.

The present paper tries to turn our attention to the Christology of the Synoptic Gospel and of the Acts of Apostles. The Gospels emerged from a context and were addressed to particular contexts. Communication within contexts requires appropriating the language and concepts of a context.

Draft of the Reflections on the readings from the Tenth to the Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (05 June to 28 August 2016) prepared for The Australasian Catholic Record.

Already a rather straightforward reading of the Gospel of Luke and the Letter of James reveals that both of these books have a strong emphasis on the proper attitude towards possessions and on the care for the poor and needy. This thesis is an attempt to describe the connection between the two writings on this subject. It is argued, firstly, that Jesus’ blessing of the poor in Luke 6:20 is similar to James 2:5. Secondly, it is shown that many aspects of the portrayal of the poor and their connection to the kingdom of God in the Gospel of Luke are unfolded and applied to the situation of the early church addressed in the Letter of James. The thesis begins with some methodological considerations and a brief summary of the most important studies in the field of wealth ethics in the Gospel of Luke and in the Letter of James. It is argued that most interpreters have focused on individual wealth ethics, while the present thesis is more concerned about the ecclesiological aspects. In order to substantiate this claim, the thesis contains four major sections in which different texts from the Gospel of Luke and the Letter of James are investigated. The first section of the second chapter looks at the understanding of the “poor” in six different passages of Luke. The focus here is to understand what is implied in the use of the category “poor.” The study of the different texts reveals that not only socio-economically poor people are understood as “poor,” but also others who are on the fringes of society. The subject of wealth and poverty is part of the bigger theme of the great reversal. While pious first-century Jews probably expected this reversal to fully happen once the Messiah appears, Jesus redefines the timing and teaches instead an inaugurated eschatological reversal, which will take place at the end of days but reaches already into the present. Who will then and already now receive blessings does not primarily depend on one’s socio-economic standing, but rather on one’s response to Jesus and his teaching. In the second section of the second chapter, seven different passages on the kingdom of God in Luke are discussed. They are grouped according to three different aspects. In the first category two texts on the redefinition of honor and shame in the kingdom of God are addressed. The focus of the second category is on the requirements for receiving and entering the kingdom of God. The three texts in the third category are all about God’s promise to care for his people. The third chapter has again two parts, one about the understanding of poverty and wealth in the Letter of James and the other about how kingdom, covenant and family language is used there. The focus in this chapter is to compare the texts in James’ letters with characteristics of Luke’s understanding of the “poor” and the kingdom of God. It is argued that James very often admonishes his readers to live according to the principles that Jesus taught and Luke reports. However, James does not simply repeat the Jesus tradition, but rather presupposes, unfolds and applies it to the particular setting of the community he is writing to. In the conclusion of the thesis, four themes are shown to have crystallized throughout the discussion of the texts in Luke and in James. A brief consideration of further research possibilities closes the thesis.