Part 2

Passages Unique to Luke

As mentioned in Part 1, a number of the most well known and well loved Gospel passages are unique to Luke. Amongst others these include the story of the widow at Nain, the Good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the rich man and Lazarus, the Pharisee and the tax collector, the cleansing of the ten lepers, the story of Zacchaeus, the dialogue between Jesus and the thieves on the cross, the encounter on the road to Emmaus and the Ascension. These unique passages, along with others that are less well known, as well as the way that Luke uses sources shared with the other Gospel writers, reveal Luke’s particular emphases as will be explained below.

Use of Geography

Luke makes use of Geography to tell his story. The Gospel begins and ends in Jerusalem, significant because of its centrality to the Jewish religion. Jesus’ ministry begins in Galilee and makes its way outwards from there. Luke expands the journey to Jerusalem, which accounts for less than three chapters in Mark, to more than 9 chapters, comprising the lion’s share of Jesus’ teachings. After the Gospel ends in Jerusalem with the resurrection appearances (unlike in Mark where they are in Galilee), Jesus ascends to heaven from Jerusalem and the story continues from there in Acts. The trajectory of the Word in Acts goes from Jerusalem and eventually to Rome.

Universal Salvation

The use of Geography and, to a lesser extent, the mention of historical figures from both the Jewish and Gentile world give us a clue to what is Luke’s preeminent theme: that God’s salvation has reached all nations. This message is proclaimed by the trajectory of the story, particularly taking Acts into consideration (cf. Acts 1:8 “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”), is announced by Simeon in the Temple (2,31) and is indicated by the genealogy of Jesus, which runs in reverse order all the way back to Adam, the son of God (3:23-38), in contrast to the version in Matthew, which begins with Abraham. At the end of the Gospel, Jesus tells the apostles that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in the name of Christ to all nations as the story of Acts then recounts (24:47).

Promise-fulfilment

In order that the “nations” can rely on the promise that salvation applies to them as well, Luke is also keen to demonstrate that God has been true to the promises made to the people of Israel. Thus another major theme of Luke is how Jesus and the Church fulfil God’s promises. While “fulfilment” is a feature of Matthew’s Gospel, he demonstrates this using specific prophecies. Luke, in contrast, is more interested in demonstrating that what is happening is in fulfilment of God’s overall plan. A common feature in this respect is how Luke uses the notion of necessity (Greek: dei) to demonstrate that things could not be done any other way (for example 24:6-7 on the road to Emmaus, “Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and on the third day rise”).

Fitting in to this same promise-fulfilment motif are the various ways that Luke presents Jesus as bringing together several lines of expectation from the Old Testament. He is more specific than the other Gospels in identifying Jesus as the Messiah (9:20), the Son of Man (for example Luke 22:69), the Mosaic prophet (cf. Deuteronomy 18:15, Acts 3:22, 7:37) and the Suffering Servant of Isaiah (22:37). 

It is also common in Luke-Acts to see a promise-fulfilment device in his own story telling, particularly when taking into account Acts. One simple example is that Luke is the only Gospel writer to specifically point out that Jesus’ passion predictions (9:21, 44; 18:32-33) were in fact fulfilled (24:6-8, 44).