Luke: Finding Jesus

“Luke’s Gospel is for anyone who needs to know Jesus. It is for people who have never met Jesus before, and for people who need to meet Him again, as if for the very first time. It is for people who aren’t quite sure about Jesus, for people who are just starting to trust in Him, and for people who have known Him for a long time, but still need to become more secure in their faith. It is for anyone who wants to know for sure.” Philip Graham Ryken

  Someone once asked Scottish theologian, Dr. James Denney, if he could recommend a good life of Christ. Dr. Denney answered, “Have you tried the one that Luke wrote?” When was the last time that you read a book about the life of Christ? So have you tried the book of Luke?

  This morning we’re beginning a new sermon series on the Gospel of Luke – Luke: Finding Jesus. A perfect and complete Jesus is presented to us in each of the first four books of the New Testament, that we know as the Gospels. Yet, each of these four books emphasizes a slightly different aspect of Jesus’ many-sided character. Luke then is unique in its presentation of who Jesus is.

  Luke is the Gospel of stories. Don’t you love a good story? People in today’s culture quickly tune out data or facts or statistics, but they love a good story. Studies show that we’re wired to remember stories much more than facts and figures. Luke shows us who Jesus is through story after story. One picture or one story can crystallize a particular truth or concept for us. Luke uses stories to powerfully communicate God’s truth.

  Luke’s Gospel is universal. In fact, it’s the most universal of the four Gospels. Matthew’s Gospel was written to Jews. It gives background and details that have particular meaning for a Jewish audience. Mark was written for the Romans, the pragmatists, lovers of power and influence. It’s full of fast moving events written with brief language to communicate the mighty acts of God to people who understand power. John wrote his Gospel for the Church and those with a Greek worldview. His Gospel is a deeply spiritual book for the believer and focuses on the Deity of Christ for the unbeliever. Luke, though, writes for the whole world.

  For example, while Matthew’s Gospel traces Jesus’ earthly genealogy back to Abraham to make his point, Luke takes his genealogy all the way back to Adam, our universal ancestor. Luke’s Gospel frequently mentions half-breeds like the Samaritans, underscoring again that Jesus was the Savior of the world, not just the Jewish Messiah. Luke portrays Jesus was the hope of the world. He says that everyone and anyone can be born-again—old, young, slave, free, rich, poor, man, woman or child, Jew, Samaritan and Gentile. Whoever you are, Jesus loves you and died for you.

  The Gospel of Luke is for the disenfranchised. It’s for the poor, the lost, the diseased, the hurting and broken. There are twenty-one unique parables in Luke that exhibit similar themes that emphasize the worthiness of plebeians and even the lowliest of society, those who others would not give the time of day because they considered them unworthy of notice.

  And more than any other Gospel writer, Luke gives women a very prominent role in his story. He names several female followers of Jesus, noting that they are the first witnesses of Jesus’ empty tomb. He affirms that they, too, should attend to the teachings of Jesus. But Luke lives in a Greco-Roman culture, where there is a commonly held worldview that women don’t even have the capacity to learn. Luke's sensitivity towards women is such that his whole Gospel is marked with a distinctly feminine overtone. His concern for downcast women is particularly evident. Over half of all references to widows in the five New Testament history books appear in the Gospel of Luke.

  Luke writes about home life. In his Gospel we find the only scene from Jesus’ boyhood and it explains just a little of Jesus’ relationship with Mary and Joseph. He introduces John the Baptist’s parents and shares in detail the unique circumstances of his birth. It’s through Luke that we have a glimpse of the home where Jesus loved to stay, the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. He emphasizes the shaping influence of home life and family.

  The Gospel of Luke is deeply spiritual. Luke writes of angels, prayer, and the Holy Spirit more than any other Gospel writers. He gives us seven more prayers of Jesus than the other writers. Luke points to the Holy Spirit as the motivator and source of life, stressing that it’s the Holy Spirit Who is the key to understanding Jesus.

  This is a mean world. Our world suffers from a severe lack of compassion. Even for the Christian, it’s easy to walk through the world with tunnel vision, concerned only with ourselves and getting through the day, blocking out concerns and issues that stir feelings of tenderness within us. Luke is the Gospel of compassion. Jesus Christ in Luke is seen as the tender, compassionate Son of God. Luke shares how Jesus mingled with people, including the outcasts, and that He shared the burdens of the afflicted and weak. Jesus demonstrates conclusively that compassion is a sign of strength, not of weakness; and that God’s power flows through loving hearts.

  “Whom the gods would destroy,” goes an ancient Greek proverb, “they first make mad.” Or, as George Bernard Shaw mused, “If other planets are inhabited, they must be using this earth as a lunatic asylum.” Our world is overflowing with hurting, confused, often irrational people who need a tender, loving touch, a word of encouragement. Luke is the Gospel of compassion. It’s our marching orders as Jesus’ followers. The Lord Jesus has put us here to let this hurting world know that He cares and because Jesus cares, His followers too must care.

  During the course of our study of the Gospel of Luke may each of us “find Jesus” in a new, more personal, deeper and unique way. And then, because of His work in our heart and lives, may we be Jesus to a lost and hurting world.