The Stories of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke

Tell Me the Stories of Jesus
The Stories of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke
Luke 10:25-37

Tell me the story of Jesus, of unseen things above.
Tell me the old, old story –  of Jesus and his love.

This is the fourth week I am talking about the stories of Jesus.
We have lots of stories of Jesus,
– some good stories –
and we should be telling some of them.
We should be telling them, because it is up to us.
We don’t hear these stories anywhere else these days.
They aren’t being told in schools,
they are not on television very often,
and, most families today don’t know the stories in order to tell them to their children.
So, we have an obligation, really, to tell the old, old stories . . . of Jesus and his love.

Three weeks ago we looked at the very oldest stories I could find about Jesus.
The very first stories of Jesus that we know of – the stories that the Apostle Paul would have heard.

Two weeks ago I talked about the stories of Jesus we find in the Gospel of Mark – the earliest Gospel to be published.

And, last week we looked at the stories of Jesus that Matthew heard of and used in that Gospel.

(Just to remind us again, the obvious needs to be stated: no one was following Jesus around with a tape recorder loading sound bytes for future generations.
No one was following him around with a pencil and papyrus.

And, again, as a reminder, none of the documents in our New Testament were written when Jesus was alive –
all of the stories of Jesus we have in our Bible,
the stories we have heard all our lives,
were written long after Jesus lived.)

We know that almost all of our stories of Jesus come from the four Gospels in our Holy Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
And, Biblical scholars from all persuasions agree on general dates each of the Gospels were written.

And, it has become clear from studies in last 80 years, or so, studies of the Dead Sea Scrolls,
the Nag Hammadi library,
and other “recent’ discoveries of ancient documents,
each of the Gospels in our Bible comes out of a different community reflecting different traditions, (different denominations, if you will) –
communities of “Christians” that differed in some ways from other communities of Christians –
differed in their practices,
differed in their racial/ethnic make up,
differed in their emphases,
differed in their theology behind their understanding of Jesus.

As we heard a couple of weeks ago: all Biblical scholars seem to agree that the very first Gospel (the earliest one that was written) is the one attributed to Mark.

And the second Gospel to be published is the one we call Matthew. 

And, Luke is not published until some 100 years after the execution of Jesus.

It seems that the Gospel of Luke came out of a community of Christian believers in and around Philippi – a Roman colony in Macedonia.
These Christians were primarily Gentile – with very few, if any, Jewish adherents.
This group published the Gospel of Luke – and used it as a resource for their faith.

These believers living in the Roman empire at the beginning of the second century AD, were gentiles – and they were Roman citizens.
And, they were careful not to include any inflammatory words or insinuations against the Roman government. 
There are no stories here of Roman soldiers flogging, or mocking, or beating up Jesus – in fact it includes a statement from the Roman governor that there is no basis in Roman law for a charge against this man Jesus.


By this time, the Gospel of Mark was well known – and a good part of the life of Jesus as described there is included in Luke.
As a side note, in the Gospel of Luke as we have it today, a significant part of Mark’s outline appears to be missing. 
Several consecutive lines are simply not there – scholars estimate enough to fill about four pages front and back with the typical writing of the day.
This omission leads to the speculation that early on, someone simply lost four pages of the document (maybe the camel ate it).
At any rate, the earliest copy of the Gospel of Luke we have today comes from a time several hundred years after it was published – of course something could have happened to part of it along the way.

So, Luke knew about Mark’s outline of the live of Jesus – what he did.
Luke also shows that the community knew about stories attributed to Jesus.
Many of the stories in Matthew are included in Luke – and some are not.
But, Luke also has many other stories and sayings that are attributed to Jesus that Matthew did not have.

Now, we know even more about these believers that produced the Gospel of Luke.
We know that the Apostle Paul visited Macedonia and Philippi, in particular, and started the church there.  
One of his first converts was a Roman Centurion.  
He speaks of several women, by name, that he baptized and taught.
So, today we see a document that is put together in such a way as to not aggravate the powers that be, and that is profoundly pro-women. 

In this Gospel of Luke, many many stories are about encounters with women.
Women are given respect and equal status as believers within the community of faith.
Only in the Gospel of Luke do we here the stories of Elizabeth and Mary,
the story about Mary and Martha,
the story about the women who came in and doused Jesus with expensive perfume,
the stories of Jesus casting out demons from women,
the story of raising a widow’s dead son out of his coffin,
and the women who went to the tomb . . .

Of particular interest to me is what we read a while ago.
The story of this teacher of the law coming up to Jesus with intent to trap him into saying something particularly incriminating is in both Matthew and Luke – this indicates that it one of the stories that was being circulated after Mark was published.
But, Luke is the only gospel that tells us the story of the Good Samaritan.

This story of the Good Samaritan is probably the most well-known stories we have in our Bible – certainly one of the most well-known stories of Jesus.
A recent survey that 49% of Americans said they would be able to tell the story of the Good Samaritan if asked to do so,
45% said they would not be able to,
and 6% were unsure whether they could tell it or not.
Among those who attended religious services every week, the proportion who thought they could tell the story rose to 69% percent.
It is a most familiar story, right?
We name hospitals, churches, institutions of mercy, even legislation in honor of the good Samaritan – here in this story.

Here, in Luke, we have this lawyer coming up to Jesus (as in Matthew) and asks the question he hopes will entrap Jesus into saying something incriminating.
 
But, instead of answering, Jesus turns it around and asks of lawyer, “Well, what does it say in the sacred writing?”
 
Well, for sure, the lawyer wasn’t about to be tripped up, he knew what the scriptures said,
he knew what had been taught to him and to those who had gone before him,
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind';
and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

“Good answer,” Jesus said.

Then the lawyer continues, “So, I understand the first commandment – I repeat the shema five times a day.
But, just who am I supposed to love?
Who is my neighbor?”

And, that famous question, leads into to the famous story Jesus tells about the Good Samaritan.

You remember:
The first person to whom we are introduced is the poor traveler.
He is one of us.
And, he had taken the road from Jerusalem to Jericho which was notoriously dangerous.
It descended nearly 3,300 feet in 17 miles, running through narrow passes at points.
The terrain offered easy hiding for the bandits who terrorized travelers.
And sure enough, just like was feared, this unfortunate fellow had been stripped, beaten, and left for dead.
A first century mugging.
One more random victim in a randomly violent world.
Jesus' audience that day knew how easily it could happen.
For that matter, with a quick glance at the newspaper or TV, his audience TODAY knows just as well.
While hearers then and now would sympathize with the poor fellow, we are not forced to identify with him because in a story that begins with a tragedy, helpers are sure to arrive, right?
If we will identify with anyone, we will wait for our helper/hero.

Hallelujah! Here comes a priest.
If anyone could be expected to stop and help it would be a priest.
But wait.
The priest is not only not coming over to help;
he is passing by on the other side.
No reason is given.
Some have suggested that, as a priest, he could fear ritual defilement with a corpse,
but truth is if a priest on a journey found a corpse, he had a duty to bury it.
Perhaps it was fear.
Those who beat the man in the ditch might be lying in wait to beat him as well.
Perhaps it was simple revulsion.
Have you ever come upon someone after a bloody accident?
Ugly.
Whatever.
"He passed by on the other side." Some hero!

No matter. Here comes a Levite...an "assistant" priest.
The first one was an aberration.
THIS one will come through.
Right.
As the text has it, "he came to the place and saw him, [and] passed by on the other side."
Another hero!

Now what?
By normal storytelling conventions, we can expect we are about to meet a third character who will break the pattern created by the first two.
In the context of our current parable, the expected sequence would be a priest, a Levite, and then...
TA DAH!...our hero will be an ordinary Israelite who will come to the rescue even when the high muckety-mucks of the Temple fail to do so.
The story would have an anti-clerical edge to it along with the reminder that love of God AND NEIGHBOR are commanded,
but a shot at the Holy Joe's would not be any big shock considering the difficulty Jesus regularly has with the religious establishment.

So, enter character number three –  a Samaritan. The GOOD Samaritan!
HA! You know those words are not actually uses together.  
Nowhere in the Bible will we find the words "Good" and "Samaritan" next to each other. 
For those folks who first heard this story, the phrase "Good Samaritan" would have been an oxymoron anyway -
the only GOOD Samaritan would have been a DEAD Samaritan.
No hero here.

The hatred between Jew and Samaritan in Jesus' day was at least as deep as the feeling Jews and Arabs have toward each other today.

The story goes on.
Just as the priest and the Levite, the Samaritan sees the man, but instead of distancing himself,
he comes closer.
As the text has it, "when he saw him, he took pity on him.
He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine [oil to keep them soft, wine to sterilize].
Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.
The next day he took out two silver coins [two days wages] and gave them to the innkeeper.
'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'"
Not an insignificant amount, not lavish either, but enough to do the job.

So, the story is over.
Jesus has responded to the lawyer's question about the limits of neighborliness with his story and now turns the question back to the lawyer: "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

And the answer, "The one who had mercy on him." 
It’s pretty amazing, when you think about it.
The concept of a GOOD Samaritan is so distasteful that the lawyer cannot bring himself to even speak the name.

Jesus concludes, "Go and do likewise." 
What? 
Be the guy in the ditch?

Perhaps that is not so far-fetched as we might think.
We never hear if this poor victim recovers, but my assumption is that he does.
That being the case, what would the effect have been on him that he had been rescued by a Samaritan?
One would presume that it would forever color his view of Samaritans.
For that matter, one would presume that it would forever color his view of the world's victims.
There would be less callousness, less inclination to lay blame for getting into such a fix in the first place, less temptation to "pass by on the other side."
If Jesus' story had gone on any longer, I would bet that this poor fellow, from that day forward, became a better neighbor to the rest of his world than he would have ever dreamed possible.


Friends, there is much to the stories of Jesus.
This is just one of them.
One that is found only here in this Gospel of Luke.

I only hope and pray that we may never take these stories of Jesus for granted.
Let’s continue to tell them –
in as many ways as we can think of.
Let all who will, listen.
And, may all who listen, understand.

Next week, when we come together we will join Christians at the Lord’s table in all corners of the world –
gathering around the longest table imaginable to join in a World Wide Communion.
More Christians that day will celebrate the Lord’s Supper than any other day of the year.
Don’t miss it.

Amen.
 
The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, heard this sermon during a worship service September 30, 2012.