Two More Questions from Luke

3. Why did Gabriel pick Zechariah and Elizabeth?
First, Gabriel picked the couple that God instructed him to choose.

Second, both Zechariah and Elizabeth are descendants of Aaron, the first priest of Israel. Only descendants of Levi can be priests, and Aaron was the first descendant of Aaron to be named a priest - this makes Zechariah and Elizabeth special. The role of a priest was to serve as a go between the people and God. The priest was responsible for making the sacrifices of atonement which covered the sins of the people and restored the relationship. John, the announced son of Zechariah and Elizabeth was to serve as a very unique priest - declaring God's mercy and willingness to forgive the sins of all who would repent.

Thirdly, Zechariah and Elizabeth were honest and humble people who were devout in their faith and blameless in their walk before God and their neighbors. They had a heart willing to obey whatever the LORD would instruct them to do, and thus they would be ideal parents for John.

4. How did Elizabeth become pregnant? Was it like Mary or was it through Zechariah?
This is a good question - the text does not make implicit that Zechariah is the father, though the phrasing does make that allusion. With Mary the text makes it quite obvious that the LORD will cause the pregnancy to happen in a miraculous way. What is special about Elizabeth was that her womb was barren in her old age; she had been unable to conceive and now she was beyond the age of being physically able to conceive. The LORD did intervene to make it possible for both Zechariah to impregnate her, as well as touch her womb so that Elizabeth could become pregnant. It was a special birth for which their was much rejoicing.

The First Questions about Luke

1. How do we know that Luke travelled to different places to get his information?
We don't know all the places he went, but since he claims to have had eyewitness information, he had to at least travel to the lands of those who saw or participated in the events of the life of Jesus. We also know that he was a travel companion of Paul, which shows that he was a veteran traveller.

2. What kind of physician was Luke?
It is in the context as a travel companion of Paul (Colossians 4v14) that we find out that Luke is a doctor. Also, in a letter to the Corinthians, Paul reveals to have some physical ailments and injuries, we conclude that Luke was likely his physician doctor. Luke was not a magician doctor. The disciples never used or endorsed the use of magic to promote or further the work of the gospel (see the story of Elymas the Magician, Acts 13v4-12). Luke was also not into the use of superstition in order to diagnose or cure sicknesses, since Paul makes a big point in a letter to Timothy to avoid all such nonsense.

Luke 1v1-4

So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives.

Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story's beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught.
Luke 1v1-4 (The Message)

Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven.
Acts 1v1 (The Message)

The first text we reflectively walk through is Luke's prologue to his narrative of all the things that Jesus began to do and teach. In ancient texts, a lot like today, the authors try to clarify what they are seeking to accomplish through their writings through their introductory paragraph. We know that Luke wrote this gospel, as well as the book, the Acts of the Apostles. Luke-Acts is one story, one narrative about the work of God through Jesus and the local church - a work that began long ago and which will go on for a long time yet.

Since the Luke-Acts narrative is a story about the work of God - it's worth noting what the big picture is concerning this written account. Literally, gospel means good news. Narratively, according to Luke-Acts (and the rest of the Scriptures), the Gospel is:
The work of God to restore us
in the context of community to God and to others
for the good of others and the world.
(see Scot McKnight: Embracing Grace)

Luke acknowledges that many people before him had been passing on the stories of God and the teachings of Jesus - but he was going to write it all down so that Theophilus could regain some of his confidence in what he had been taught concerning the life and events of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is where so many of us can connect with Luke and Theophilus: we have our doubts about the reliability of the stories, we wonder about the realisticness of Jesus' teachings, and we wonder whether what we've been taught really matters. Luke's answer: Yes! The stories are trustworthy, the teachings are transformative, and all that God has done in the world with and through Jesus matters.

The brilliant story that Luke has revealed through his literary craft - a story rooted in historical veracity, eyewitness accounts, and oral traditions - has to do with the ongoing work of God to gather together a community of men and women in whom and through whom he wants to fix what is wrong in the world. God started with Adam and Eve, but their Fall has been an ongoing descent of humanity. God also began the restoration process with Adam and Eve, forgiving them, being reconciled to them, and using them still to bless the world. God's intent is to restore all humanity and this whole world - the heavens and the earth, and this is what his work has been about since the days of Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, John, Jesus, Peter, Paul and you.

About Luke: from his letter Acts, we find out that he was a physician attending to the apostle Paul. It's likely that Luke was of Jewish descent but probably a citizen of Greece or Asia Minor. He is obviously well-educated, a man of discipline and rigorous training with a scientific mind. His friend Theophilus is a man of some power and prestige who has become a follower of the Way - as many have done within the courts of Herod and Caesar. And like many, Theophilus has doubts, has trouble counting the cost, and needs his talented and credible friends like Luke to remind him of what is true. Luke was possibly a member of the churches in Ephesus, and possibly converted there through the ministry of either the apostle John or Paul himself.

Luke is not a eyewitness to the actual events of Jesus' life, but he is eyewitness to the lives of the disciples in the decades following the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Most eyewitnesses were still alive when Luke began his two-volume project, as well as many church communities located all over the Roman Empire. Luke must have had the means to travel throughout Palestine to collect the eyewitness accounts and see the geographic locations of the stories/teachings. Luke needed also to travel to track down some of the apostles who had travelled to the far edges of the empire: Thomas trekked to India, Peter to Rome, others went to Egypt, Persia, the southern steppes of Russia, and to the wilderness of Europe.

I'm sure that Luke was constantly reminded of the power of the gospel as he daily endured the dangers of travel in the ancient world to catch up with the disciples of Jesus who were energized by some Spirit to bring light and truth and grace and justice and mercy to the far corners of God's creation. Luke would arrive to some distant land to discover a community of followers who were seeking to further God's restoration to their families, friends, neighborhoods and livelihoods. Luke would arrive with news of what else God was doing in the world, which would only further boost the efforts of this brave community, and I'm sure boost the efforts of Luke to keep collecting the stories of God at work to restore his world to Himself and to one another for the good of each of us and our world.

Making Disciples

Next Sunday we kick off our year long (13 months...) look at the Gospel of Luke. We've invited everyone at Anchor to read one chapter every two weeks, or half a chapter every week, or two chapters a month. The pace is pretty easy - the point is not just to read through the gospel. The point is to reflectively read through the stories and instructions of Jesus so that we can better know what he was all about - and thus so we can better pattern our life after him.

What's exciting about this is the potential of critical mass: when enough people are making time (a precious commodity) to put energy into reflectively reading through Luke - something good will happen. Alot of people don't read the Scriptures because they don't really understand what they read. What is cool about this plan is that we can use Sunday Mornings, this blog, one on one conversations, commentaries and other tools to help more people get more out of the gospel of Luke.

To state the obvious: to make a disciple, one must be a disciple; and at the heart of being a disciple is taking to heart the stories and instructions of Jesus. One of the most powerful catalysts for growing as a disciple is to get Jesus' stories and instructions deep inside your soul and keep striving to live them out in everyday life. I'm excited about this coming year - Anchor is giving everyone a great opportunity to together take a next big step towards becoming more like Jesus. And this matters because we believe that the more we love and serve like Jesus, the better this world will be.