than that; this would accord with Luke having a copy of Mark’s Gospel, which was probably written sometime around 65–73. A handful of scholars do try to date Luke’s Gospel earlier than this (in the 60s), but the great majority places it in the decade of the 80s, around the same time as the Gospel of Matthew.
What Is Distinctive about the Gospel of luke?
As with Matthew, we might begin our investigation of what is distinctive about Luke’s Gospel by first noting what is unique to this book and then proceeding
hyperlink 7.4 Examples:
• Probably because he is writing for a culturally diverse audience throughout the Roman Empire, Luke eliminates all eight of the Aramaic expres- sions found in Mark: Boanerges (3:17), talitha cum (5:41), corban (7:11), ephphatha (7:34), Bartimaeus (10:46), Abba (14:36), Golgotha (15:22), eloi, eloi, lema sabachthani (15:34).
• Notations providing broad historical/cultural context are introduced (cf. Luke 3:1–3 with Mark 1:4) because Luke wants the story that he tells to be received as a work of “world history” with implications for all humanity.
• The word village (kōmē) is often changed to city (polis) to give the story a more urban feel that transcends its setting in rural Palestine.
• The monetary value of coins is increased to keep the story relevant for those who live more pros- perously than did Jesus and his original followers (cf. Luke 9:3, where the Greek word [argyrion]
means “silver,” with Mark 6:8, where the Greek [chalkos] means “copper”).
Character Portrayal
Luke changes the way major characters are portrayed in the Gospel story, including Jesus, his disciples, and his family.
Jesus
• Statements that imply a lack of ability or authority on Jesus’ part are omitted (comment in Mark 6:5 does not appear in Luke 4:16–30).
• References to Jesus exhibiting human emotions are dropped: “pity” (Mark 1:41), “anger” (Mark 3:5),
“sadness” (Mark 3:5), “wonder” (Mark 6:6), “compas- sion” (Mark 6:34), “indignation” (Mark 10:14), “love”
(Mark 10:21).
• Some stories in which Jesus acts in a somewhat violent way are omitted (cursing of the fig tree [Mark 11:12–14, 20–25; but cf. Luke 16:6–9]; over- turning tables in the temple [Mark 11:15–17; cf.
Luke 19:45–46).
• Stories that might seem to portray Jesus as a magician are dropped (Mark 7:31–37; 8:22–26).
Disciples
• Stories of Jesus rebuking Peter (Mark 8:33), of James and John’s presumptuous request (Mark 10:35–40), and of the disciples’ flight at Jesus’
arrest are eliminated.
• Peter’s denial (Luke 22:31–34; Mark 14:29–31) and the disciples’ sleep in Gethsemane (Luke 22:45–
46; Mark 14:37–41) are muted and explained.
• Lack of understanding is attributed not to the disciples’ unperceptive nature but instead to di- vine concealment (cf. Luke 9:45 with Mark 9:32;
see Luke 18:34).
Jesus’ family
• Reference to Jesus’ family “coming to seize him”
is dropped (Mark 3:21).
• Story of Jesus designating his “true family” is re- worded to lessen the contrast with his earthly family (cf. Luke 8:19–21 with Mark 3:31–35).
to consider how Luke edited the material that he took from Mark. Finally, we will want to consider Luke’s Gospel as a whole and note what is distinctive about its overall structure and arrangement.
A list of unique material in Luke’s Gospel appears in box 7.1 on page 151.
The first thing we should note about this list is its length: about one-half of Luke’s Gospel is composed of material that is found nowhere else. The book opens with a unique infancy narrative (1–2), and Jesus commences his ministry with an inaugural sermon not recorded elsewhere (4:14–30). Luke also reports five miracle stories and a whopping seventeen parables not recounted anywhere else. Jesus’ words from the cross are completely unique in this Gospel (see box 4.7 on p. 95). And, Luke provides us with our only account of Jesus’ ascension (or, our only two accounts, since the story is repeated later in Acts 1:6–11). If we were to study just the material on this list, we would note several recurring topics or motifs: women are prominent (1:26–56; 2:36–38; 7:11–17, 36–50; 8:1–3;
10:38–42; 13:10–17; 18:1–8); Samaritans are mentioned repeatedly (9:51–56;
10:29–37; 17:11–19); Jerusalem is a frequent setting or focus (1:5–23; 2:21–38, 41–52; 9:51–56; 19:41–44; 24:13–53); and considerable attention is given to
ascension: the event in which Jesus Christ left the physical earth and was raised into heaven, as reported in Luke 24:50–51 and Acts 1:9.
Box 7.3
Expanding Mark: How Matthew and Luke Arranged Their Gospels
The Gospel of Mark tells the story of Jesus in two major phases: (1) the story of his adult life and ministry (1:1–10:52); (2) the story of his passion—the events leading up to and including his arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection (11:1–16:8). Matthew and Luke both had copies of this Gospel, but they had other materials as well. Where should they add the additional material?
• genealogies and birth stories—added to the beginning (Matt. 1–2; Luke 1–2)
• resurrection stories—added to the ending (Matt. 28:11–20; Luke 24:13–53)
These were obvious choices, but Matthew and Luke also had copies of Q, which reported the teaching of Jesus, and both had many other traditions regarding things that Jesus had said or done. They probably did not know the chronology for any of this material—when Jesus said or did these things—so there was no obvious place where this material should go.
• Matthew decided to break up the story of Jesus’ ministry by having him deliver five long speeches or sermons (chaps. 5–7; 10; 13; 18; 24–25).
• Luke decided to put most of the extra material in the part of his narrative that relates a long journey of Jesus to Jerusalem (9:51–19:44).
One consequence of these organizing techniques is that the teaching of Jesus is set in different contexts in these two Gospels. Matthew has more the atmosphere of a classroom: Jesus is the rabbi, instructing his disciples in thematic lessons. In Luke, discipleship seems more like an immersion experience of learning on the job: Jesus takes his disciples with him on a trip, and they learn from what he says and does along the way.
155 What Is Distinctive about the Gospel of Luke?
riches and poverty (1:52–53; 3:10–14; 4:14–30; 12:13–21; 14:12–14; 16:1–12, 19–31; 19:1–10).
Another way to determine what is distinctive about Luke is to notice the editorial changes that he makes in the material that he takes from Mark’s Gospel. Luke tended to make the same kinds of changes that Matthew made, smoothing out unsophisticated language and deleting parochial references (e.g., Aramaic expressions) to make the story speak more directly to readers removed from the context of rural Palestine. Luke does not change “kingdom of God” to “kingdom of heaven,” as Matthew does, but (unlike Matthew) he does sometimes add notes to stories that provide historical or chronological information (3:1–2; 4:23; cf. 2:1–2). Thus, whereas Matthew wanted to alter Mark to appeal to an ethnically Jewish readership, Luke’s editorial changes perhaps are intended to appeal to a broader, more culturally diverse audience, one that would be likely to interpret what is reported here against the back- ground of Roman history (see 2:1–2).
Like Matthew, Luke also makes changes that affect the way major characters are presented. There is no increased disparagement of Israel’s religious leaders, as there was in Matthew, but Luke edits material that portrays Jesus’ disciples in a negative light much more drastically than Matthew does. He either eliminates or explains away a good number of passages in Mark that present the disciples as failures (e.g., Mark 8:33; 10:35–40). He also gives more positive attention to the earthly family of Jesus and softens negative comments that Mark’s Gospel had made concerning them (cf. Luke 8:19–21 with Mark 3:31–35).
The most noticeable difference in the way that Luke and Matthew used Mark as a source lies in the amount of material that they chose to retain: where Matthew incorporates about 500 of Mark’s 649 verses into his Gospel, Luke retains only about 350 verses of Markan material. One reason for this is that Luke completely omits everything found in two sections of Mark’s Gospel.
He does not include anything at all from Mark 6:45–8:20 (sometimes called the “Great Omission”) or from Mark 9:41–10:12 (sometimes called the “Little Omission”). Scholars are at a loss to explain this; it has been suggested that Luke might have had a defective or incomplete copy of Mark’s Gospel, but that is only speculation.
We may also discern what is distinctive about Luke’s Gospel by examining the overall structure and arrangement of his Gospel. The first thing that we notice in this regard is that the entire first two chapters of Luke are composed of unique material that functions as something of a prologue or overture to the work. Indeed, they are written in a literary style different from that of the rest of this Gospel. The Greek is closer to the style of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) and/or to the style of Greek that was used in synagogues. It seems that Luke wanted to begin his Gospel by writing in a lofty
hyperlink 7.5
manner that would evoke religious or biblical associations. One does not need to know Greek, however, to recognize something else that is distinctive about these first two chapters of Luke: the narrative is repeatedly interrupted by poetry and hymns. A modern reader might think that Luke’s Gospel was a musical: every time something important happens in the prologue, a character seems to burst spontaneously into song. Christian tradition has assigned Latin names to these hymns, which are widely used in the liturgies of many churches to this day:
Luke 1:42–45 the Ave Maria Luke 1:46–55 the Magnificat Luke 1:67–79 the Benedictus Luke 2:14 the Gloria in Excelsis Luke 2:29–32 the Nunc Dimittis
Why would Luke do this? Again, he seems determined to introduce this story in as masterful and impressive a manner as possible. Further, many scholars believe that all of the most important themes of Luke’s Gospel are introduced in these first two chapters (and, indeed, in the hymns). Thus, the analogy of
Fig. 7.3. Jesus at Emmaus. The risen Jesus shares a supper with disciples at Emmaus (Luke 24:13–
35), one of nineteen meals mentioned in Luke’s Gospel. (Bridgeman Art Library)
157 Major Themes in the Gospel of Luke an overture is appropriate: the reader hears snippets of everything that is to come, presented in an especially engaging and artistic fashion; then, as the story unfolds, these themes are reintroduced and developed more fully.
When we look at the rest of Luke’s Gospel (chaps. 3–24), it becomes ap- parent that the story follows the same basic outline as the Gospel of Mark.
As a general rule, Luke seems to have taken over the narrative structure of Mark’s Gospel and inserted other material (i.e., from the Q source and from the miscellaneous other sources that we call “L”) into that framework at two key junctures:
Luke 3:1–6:19 draws primarily from Mark Luke 6:20–8:3 draws primarily from Q Luke 8:4–9:50 draws primarily from Mark
Luke 9:51–18:14 draws primarily from Q and L (interwoven) Luke 18:15–24:7 draws primarily from Mark
Thus, the Markan story of Jesus is “interrupted” by two relatively long sec- tions largely devoted to the teaching of Jesus. The first of these (Luke 6:20–8:3) includes what is known as the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20–49), teaching material from Q that corresponds closely to what is found in Matthew’s much longer Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7). But most of the material from Q has been interwoven with material that is unique to Luke in order to be presented as part of a very long section of Luke’s Gospel known as the Journey to Je- rusalem (9:51–19:40). This journey functions as a literary device, such that much of the teaching of Jesus and many of Luke’s unique stories concerning him are presented within the context of traveling, and specifically, traveling to Jerusalem (with some anticipation of all that will happen there: crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, outpouring of the Spirit).
Finally, we should note that the Gospel of Luke is the only one of the four Gospels that has a sequel. Luke also wrote the book of Acts, and most scholars believe that he intended the two works to be read together. Some of the ma- terial in Luke’s Gospel might be intended to prepare the readers for what is to come in the second volume.