News of Great Joy(Gospel of Luke)

By Marcel Gervais

Luke's purpose is to present Jesus as the Christ and his life, death and resurrection as Good News. In Luke’s introduction of the Good News starts the infancy narrative, then the ministry of John and Jesus in adulthood. We are then introduced to Jesus’ ministry in Galilee which is Good News to the Poor.
Luke describes the wisdom Jesus imparts to his disciples. Jesus teaches that discipleship is a journey with no resting place on earth and secondly that there is no more urgent binding obligation than to follow Jesus. Jesus also teaches his disciples how to manage material things, how to treat other people and how to serve God. Luke also gives us some parables that reveal what Jesus has been teaching especially how disciples should deal with riches.
In the last section we come to Luke’s presentation of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Luke presents the death and resurrection in the light of Jesus role as prophet. Then he continues his presentation of the death and resurrection in the light of the Passover and the New Covenant. Then Luke reveals to us the supreme mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus through three experiences on the part of the disciples; the discovery of the empty tomb, the appearance of Jesus to two disciples on the road to Emmaus and the appearance of Jesus to the community in Jerusalem.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marcel Gervais
• Release date: Oct 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781927766491

Marcel Gervais

About the Author Archbishop Gervais was born in Elie Manitoba on September 21 1931. He is the ninth of fourteen children. His family came from Manitoba to the Sparta area near St. Thomas Ontario when he was just a teenager. He went to Sparta Continuation School and took his final year at Saint Joseph`s High School in St. Thomas. After high school he went to study for the priesthood at St. Peter’s Seminary in London , Ontario. He was ordained in 1958. He was sent to study in Rome. This was followed by studies at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem. He returned to London to teach scripture to the seminarians at St. Peter’s Seminary. In 1974 he was asked by Bishop Emmett Carter to take over as director of the Divine Word International Centre of Religious Education. This Centre had been founded by Bishop Carter to provide a resource for adult education in the spirit of Vatican II. This Centre involved sessions of one or two weeks with many of the best scholars of the time. Students came not only from Canada and the United States but from all over the globe, Australia, Africa, Asia and Europe. By the time Father Gervais became the director Divine Word Centre was already a course dominated by the study of scripture to which he added social justice. This aspect of the course of studies was presented by people from every part of the “third world”; among which were Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez and Cardinal Dery of Ghana. In 1976 the Conference of Ontario Bishops along with the Canadian conference of Religious Women approached Father Gervais to provide a written course of studies in Sacred Scripture for the Church at large, but especially for priests and religious women. This is when Fr. Gervais began to write Journey, a set of forty lessons on the Bible. He was armed with a treasure of information from all the teachers and witnesses to the faith that had lectured at Devine Word. He was assisted by a large number of enthusiastic collaborators: all the people who had made presentations at Divine Word and provided materials and a team of great assistants, also at Divine Word Centre. The work was finished just as Father Gervais was ordained an auxiliary bishop of London (1980). He subsequently was made Bishop of Sault Saint Marie Diocese, and after four years, Archbishop of Ottawa (1989). He retired in 2007, and at the time of this writing, he is enjoying retirement.

Book preview

News Of Great Joy(Gospel of Luke)

by Marcel Gervais, Emeritus Archbishop of the diocese of Ottawa, Canada

Nihil Obstat: Michael T. Ryan, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

Imprimatur: + John M. Sherlock, Bishop of London

London, March 31, 1980

This content of this book was first published in 1977 as part of the JOURNEY Series By Guided Study Programs in the Catholic Faith and is now being republished in Smashwords by Emmaus Publications, 99 Fifth Avenue, Suite 103, Ottawa,ON, K1S 5P5, Canada on Smashwords

Cover: .....he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said...'my eyes have seen your salvation... Luke 2:28,30,31

COPYRIGHT © Guided Study Programs In the Catholic Faith, a division of The Divine Word International Centre of Religious Education 1977. Reproduction ln whole or ln part is Prohibited.

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Luke's Introduction to the Good News

Chapter 2 The Ministry in Galilee

Chapter 3 Fallow Me (Luke 9:51 .12:12)

Chapter 4 Wisdom and Time (Luke 12:13 - 14:35)

Chapter 5 On Mercy and Riches (Luke 15: 19:23)

Chapter 6 The Prophet (Luke 19:28 •21:38)

Chapter 7 The Death of Jesus (Luke 22:1 - 23:56)

Chapter 8 The Resurrection of Jesus (Luke 24)

About The Author

Bibliography

Psalm 67

This joyful psalm of thanksgiving reflects the priestly prayer of blessing: May the Lord bless you and keep you ... let his face shine on you . . . and bring you peace (Num 6:240. What is special in this psalm is its invitation to all nations of the world to shout and sing for joy (vs 4) at the wonders God has worked through his People. This suits the mood of the Gospel according to Luke: Jesus, the Lord, is the greatest work of God done among his People for the sake of all the nations of the world.

Luke, the author of the Gospel, is also the author of the Acts of the Apostles. He most probably intended one large book in two parts: the Gospel presenting Jesus and his Good News, the Acts presenting the Church spreading the Good News to the ends of the earth. Somewhere in our past history the two parts of Luke's work were separated by the Gospel of John.

The main purpose of the Gospel according to Luke is to present Jesus, the Christ and his Good News. In writing the Gospel Luke used the traditions about Jesus which were preserved by the Church in his day. This is what each evangelist did. The evangelists, however, are also true authors: they not only respect the traditions of the Church, but they also bring their own special touch to these traditions. The Gospel according to Luke illustrates this very well: from beginning to end it is a combination of fidelity to the traditions and originality in the way these traditions are handled. In these chapters on Luke we intend to pay special attention to the particular genius of Luke, without losing sight of the main purpose of his Gospel. The special emphases and concerns of Luke are what we will call themes.

To simplify your study we will now give a short description of the themes upon which we will focus in this chapter. These are not the only possible themes, but those characteristic of Luke.

The People of God. Luke is very interested in showing how the faith of Christians has its historical roots in God's People. This faith started with Abraham, reached its perfection in Jesus and is carried into the world by the People recreated by the Spirit which Jesus sent. In the life of the People Jerusalem and its Temple is the meeting place of the old and the new. John the Baptist stands for the old pointing to the new; Mary, the mother of the Lord, stands for the best of the old which gave birth to the new. She is also the best of the new, the model of faith in the Lord.

The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the power of God in action on earth. The whole history of the People is the work of the Spirit. The birth of Jesus, all of his public life is by the power of the Spirit. After his ascension Jesus sends the Spirit to fill the newly formed People with life. This outpouring of the Spirit opens the People to all the nations of the world.

Prayer. Where there is the Spirit there is prayer; where there is prayer there is the Spirit. Throughout the history of the People there was prayer. Throughout his life Jesus was a man of prayer; at every important moment in his life he prays. To receive the Spirit requires prayer, and prayers of praise and rejoicing are always a sign of the Spirit.

The Prophet.* Jesus is the prophet, fulfilling in himself all that the ancient prophets were and all that they hoped for. Because they revealed the will and plan of God to a stubborn society, the prophets were persecuted; in order to reveal God perfectly Jesus can expect to suffer and be rejected. The People of God renewed by Jesus inherit his prophetic role and can expect to suffer as he did.

The Goods of the earth. The Law and the Prophets insisted that the goods of the earth were important and had to be handled justly and shared generously by all. Jesus accepts this basic teaching and even makes the proper use of material things a condition for entering into eternal life.

The Poor. Luke gives many levels of meanings to this theme: the economically poor are especially important. Persons are poor also in the sense that they look to God for their salvation. One is poor if one admits sinfulness truthfully and knows the need for forgiveness. The humble are poor. The true prophet should expect a life of poverty.

Women. More than the other evangelists, Luke notes the presence of women in the life of Jesus. Jesus serves them and they, in turn, serve him and the other disciples. Mary, who is poor and lowly, is raised up to be a model not only for women but also for all disciples.

We single out the title "prophet because it is characteristic of the Gospel according to Luke, not because it expresses the profoundest truth about Jesus. Saint Luke, like Saint Mark, makes it very clear that the most important title of Jesus is Son of God. Luke underlines this at the annunciation to Mary (1:32, 35), at the baptism (3:22), the transfiguration (9:35) and at the trial of Jesus (22:67ff). Jesus is the Son of God from the first moment of his earthly existence in the womb of his mother. In his last appearance on earth Jesus is worshipped by his followers (24:52), an act which is reserved for God alone (4:8). The realization that Jesus is the Son of God leads directly to the recognition of him as God the Son. Beside this title that of prophet" is inadequate.

The Gospel according to Luke falls into four sections:

1-Luke's introduction to the Good News (1:1-4:13)

2-The Ministry in Galilee (4:14.9:50)

3-The Journey to Jerusalem (9:51-19:27)

4-The Ministry in Jerusalem (19:28-24:53)

Chapter 1 Luke's Introduction to the Good News (1:1.4:13)

Prologue (1:1.4)

Luke's own introduction to the Gospel begins with a short prologue where the evangelist gives us an idea of how and why he wrote. He tells us that he studied all the traditions which had come down to him and that he set out to give an orderly account of the events concerning Jesus, so that his reader could clearly see the basis on which the Christian faith rests.

Reading Luke 1:1.4

We believe that Luke not only studied the written and oral traditions which had come down to him, but that he actually incorporated these into his Gospel. The theory which we have adopted in these chapters is that Luke used the Gospel according to Mark, making some minor changes and setting aside what he judged he did not need. Luke also had a second major source, one which contained mostly sayings of Jesus. (This second source or tradition was also used by Matthew. Mark either did not have, or chose not to use this source.) Luke had still other traditions which he alone records. Out of all this Luke produced a masterly work of his own, one which very beautifully expresses the faith of the Church.

Luke addresses someone called Theophilus (vs 3). This name means friend of God or dear to God. The name could be symbolic; it could also refer to an historical person. The name only occurs here and In Acts 1:1; we have no information about Theophilus except that he might have been an Important official for whom the title most excellent was fitting.

Who is Luke? The identity of the author of the Third Gospel cannot be established with complete certitude. Since the time of Saint Irenaeus (c. 185 AD), the evangelist has been identified with Luke, the companion of Paul (Col 4:14). There are no serious objections to this identification. As for the date of Luke's work of writing the Gospel, good arguments can be made for dates anywhere from 65 to 85 AD. For our purposes it is not necessary to be more precise.

Jesus, Son of God, Son of Mary (1:1 - 2:52)

These two chapters, usually called The Infancy Narrative, have a quality all their own, in many ways, unlike the rest of the Gospel. These chapters are an extraordinary ex-ample of art at the service of faith. Luke does with words and phrases what an artist does with brush and colour. Around the basic facts of the infancy of John the Baptist and of Jesus, Luke composes scenes of exceptional beauty and depth. He uses the colours of the Old Testament in order to let us see how it all comes to life when seen in the light of Christ. To appreciate these two chapters the reader has to know the Old Testament. Since our commentary has to be brief, we will not be able to expand on each allusion or reference to the Old Testament. We will, however, indicate the passages which Luke had in mind as he wrote.

Luke begins by placing us at the heart of the life of the People of God before the coming of Jesus - in Jerusalem, in the Temple. The whole People are