THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE GOSPEL
Closely r elated to the id ea of the pr evious chap ter is the concept of the universality of the gospel which is so pronounced in the Third Gospel. Whereas that chapter deals with the ministry to the despised among the Jewish people, this chapter deals with the extension of the ministry of Christ outside the Jewish people.
It is plain that Jesus virtually limited His direct work within the confines of the Jewish people. l Yet there is much justification far this chapter; there are incidents in the life of Jesus and incidents principally due to Luke whiCh point in the direction of the fact that the gospel was meant for all the people. These incidents will be examined in this chapter. How far the Lucan presentation can be traced back to Jesus is a question that must be raised and discussed.
concept of the gospel was conceived to be broader than the scope of the Jewish nation.
Text Quoted at Nazareth
As alr eady noted,2 in the synagogue at Nazareth, the sermon seaned to bive gone well until references were made that implied that the gentiles received blessings denied to the Jews. l~e idea of the ministry of Jesus to the gentiles is thus :Jndicated. 3
But a notice had been served earlier in the reading of the text on tha t occasion. 4 Jesus read th3 sele ction from Isaiah and broke off just before the phrase· "and the day of vengeance of our God.,,5 This statement was an integral part of the ministry of the speaker in Isaiah
chapter 61. The prophet regarded it as part of his work, as
2See chapter 1.
3 Cf. Cecil John Cadoux, The Historic Mission of Jesus (New York: Harper & Bros., fF.d"df, p. 154. John Martin Creed, The Gospel According to St. Luke (London: Macmillan &
Co., Ltd., 1953), p. 66.
4 In objecting to the motif of universalism in the
references to the work of Elijah and Elisha to non-Israelites Whitehouse indicate& that there had been nothing earlier to
suggest universalism. This objection is invalidated by this point. See N. B. Stonehouse, The Witness of Luke to Christ
(London: The Tyndale Press, 1951), p. 90. - - -
5Isaiah 61:2. See chapter 1. Cf. James Muilenburg,
"The Book of Isaiah: Chap ters 40-66," The In terireter' s
Bible. (New York and Nashville: Abingdon Press, 956), V, 710.
a matter of course, that Israel's enemies would encounter the vengeance of God. When Jesus broke off before that particularistic tune, He was saying in effect that He was not sent to proclaim vengeance upon anybody, Jew or non- Jew. 6
Reply to John the Baptist
It has been necessary to refer to the reply of Jesus to John the Baptist in the previous chap terse 7 One more aspect needs to be marked here. 8 The reply was a free quotation from Isaiah 35:5-6 and Isaiah 61:1. 9 It started at a point calculated to exclude the latter part of the previous verse: lO
Behold, your God
will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.
It could hardly be m accident tha. t the same idea Jesus excluded by stopping short in His reading in the synagogue
6Joachim Jeremias, The Parables of Jesus, trans.
S. H. Hooke (3d ed.; London: S.
C.
M. Ltd., 1955), p. 151, note 59.7Luke 7:22 f.; Matt. 11:4-6. See pp. III f.
~or this valuable thought, see Jeremias, loco cit.
Jeremias credited G. Bornkamm with the original thoughr:- 9Ibid • Cf. R. B. Y. Scott, liThe Book of Isaiah:
Chapters 1-39,11 The Interpreter's Bible (New York and Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1956), V, 358.
lOIsa. 35:4b.
at Nazareth was by-passed on a later occasion.
People in the Kingdom
28There you will weep and gnash your teeth, When you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out. 29And men will come from east and west, and from norfi and
scuth, and sit at table in the kingdom of God.
The source of this passage is admittedly Q. The parallel passage in Matthew reads:
11 • • • many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, l2while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth .12
While the context shows that the kingdom was ccnceived of in terms essentially Jewish, Luke introduced a broader view by the introduction of the phrase "and all the prophets" as occupants of the kingdom.
The fact that the material was derived from Q height- ens the ccnsideration that i t most probably preserved an authentic saying of Christ. The whole idea of the passage is, of cour se, t ha. t the genti les would also share in the ble ssings of t he kingdom of God.
Lone Exorcist
This liberal view-point is that which confronts the reader in the Marcan story of,the strange exorcist reproduced
llLuke 13:28-29. l2Matt • 8:11-12.
by Luke. 13 The stcry has a very close parallel to that of Eldad and Medad who were prophesying in the camp while the main prophetic gro up were out side the camp .14 Just as Joshua want ed Mos es to prevent the two upstarts from fur ther
ecstatic display, so John reported that they, the disciples, had forbidden the lone exorcist from the further performance of his art. And just as Moses would have nothing to do with the suggestion of Joshua, so Jesus wo uld not approv e the action reported by John. 15
Taylor notes that this "pronouncement-storylt might possibly have been used in support of the ministry of paul. 16 This conjecture of itself indicates the nature of the story as t ending to a universal view on the part of Jesus.
Centur ion's Slave
The stClr'y of the healing of the centurion's slave was proba~ly derived from Q.17 There are some differences
13Mark 9:38-41, Luke 9:40-50. There is no indication as to whether the exClr' cist was a Jew or a gentile, so that the story might cCIlvenimtly have been discussed in the previ ous chapt er.
14Num • 11:26-30.
15Num. 11:29; Mark 9:39, Luke 9:50.
16Vincent Taylor, The Gospel According to St. Mark (London: Macmillan & Co., 1952), p. 406.
17Luke 7:1-10, Matt. 8:5-13.
between the Matthaean and the Lucan versions. 18 According to Luke, the elders of the Jews appealed to Jesus earnestly:
"He is worthy to have you do this far him, for he loves our nation, and he built us our synagogue.,,19 The story
preserves a notable saying: "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such fai the ,,20
II. VIEW OF SAMARITANS
Luke alone of the synoptic authors preserves material showing Christ's favorable view of the Samaritans. 21 That the relatioriship between the Jews and the Samaritans was not the best is certain. 22 Three references to the Samaritans in the Third Gospel are of particular interest.
18The most pronounced difference is that in Matthew the centurion visited Jesus in person on behalf of his servant. In Luke the man sent a delegation. W. Manson
comments: "Jesus came to the Jews in person: to the Gentiles he comes only through the pr eaching of the word." William Manson, The Gospel of Luke (liThe Moffatt New Testament Com- mentaryll; London: Hooder & Stoughton, Ltd., 1948), p. 76.
19 Luke 7 :4b-5.
20Luke 7:9, Matt. 8:10.
21See S. MacLean Gilmour, II The Gospel According to St. Luke,1/ The Interpreter's Bible (New York and Nashville:
Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1952), VIII, 195.
22The Fourth Evangelist preserves the taunt, IIAre not ri*ht in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? John 8:48. Cf. Branscomb, Teachings, p. 326;
C. K. Barrett, The Gospel According to St. John (London:
S. P. C. K., 1955), pp. 194 f., 290.
we
Inhospitable Samaritans
The story of the re jection of' Jesus in a Samaritan village23 will receive f'urther consideration later. 24 The
only point that is relevant at this point is that the narrative shows the attitude of Jesus plamly. As f'ar as James and John were concerned, it did not matter if' a couple of' Samaritan s were con sumed. 25 Af'ter all, they were just Samaritans! But f'or Jesus, the matter was dif'f'erent: the Samaritans were just as valuable in the sight of' God as the Jews or anybody else, f'or that matter. His ministry was one of' building up lives, not of' destroying them.
Good Samaritan
The stCl['Y of' the good Samaritan26 is one of' the
"Example-stories" which only Luke records. 27 It might have forrmd a pair wi th the similar parable of' the Pharisee and the tax 00 llectcr .28 The setting is the question of' a lawyer as to what he should do to inherit eternal lif'e. 29 This question led to another, HAnd who is my :neighbor?,,30
23Luke 9:51-56.
25Luke 9: 54.
26Luke 10:29-37.
24 Inf'r a, p. 175.
27 Supra, pp. 117, 121, 122.
28Creed ascribes such a view to Jftlicher. See Creed,
!?E.. cit., p. 150. It is to be noted, however, that the word parable doe s not oc cur in this story under considerati on.
29Luke 10:25-28. 3 0Luke 10:29.
The story is intended to answer that question. 3l
A man was going down from Jerusal an to Jericho when he fell among robbers who treated him roughly.32 A priest and a levi te who passed that way ignored the helpless man. 33 At this point, the audience would be prepared to name the
third traveller, an Israelite layman, of course. 34 But Jesus shocked His audience by making the hero a Samaritan. 35
In point of fact, the story is not an answer to the question. Rather, it illustrates neighborliness: 36 any person in need is a neighbor. Love knows no limits of race or nationality.
Grateful Samaritan
In the story of the healing of the ten lepers,37 Luke
3lThe answer might have arisen from an actual
occurrence. Cf. Jeremias, ~. cit., p. 141. It compares closely with the complaint of two pig-merchants to the Strategus in 171 A.D. See Adolf Deissmann, Light From the Ancient East, trans. Lionel R. M. Strachan (Revised ed.;
New York: Harper & Bros., LI9217>, pp. 134 f.
32The road" was notorious for such incidents. See Creed, £E.. ci t., p. 152.
33They might have thought the man dead and so would not want to be defiled. Jeremias, loc. cit. If so, it implies that ceremonial purity came aheaa-Df human need.
34B • T. D. Smith, The Parables of the Synoptic Gospels (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1937r;-p. 180; Jeremias, loco cit.
35Luke 10:33. 36Gilmour, loc. cit.
37Luke 17:11-19; supra, p. 127.
records that as the lepers went to show themselves to the priests they were cleansed. 38 One of them" a Samaritan"
returned to show his gratitude to Jesus. 39 Thus in the group of ten, the hero was the Samaritan. Creed comments,
"We may suppose that we are here given an ideal scene, fOilnded upon the story in Mark, L,Mark 1:40