The other morning, I woke up thinking about our pastor
chats on the Gospel of Luke and how it presents us with the reality of Jesus.
We live in a day of “Virtual Reality” and “AI”. Virtual Reality (VR) is a
computer-generated environment with scenes and objects that appear to be real,
making the user feel they are immersed in their surroundings. You are deceived
into thinking something is real when it really doesn’t even exist at all. Artificial intelligence (AI) is now
commonplace and is even doing our thinking for us and replacing human
creativity and intelligence. It also can deceive us into an artificial world
where now we don’t know what is real and what is true!
Too many people today, including Christians, have never
experienced Jesus as a very real person, living in a very real time, in a very
real geographical location! He is just a story in a book for us to believe or
not to believe. Luke’s purpose and my purpose in studying the Gospel of Luke is
to encourage us to experience Jesus as a very real person who loves us, and is
present tense available to save us, and help us along life’s way!
Another reason I want to take the time to study the Gospel
of Luke is to focus on some “Good News”. The very word “Gospel” means Good
News. Today whenever we turn on the news it is anything but good. All you hear
and see is a world full of confusion, chaos, conflict, violence, strife, and
war. Most of our conversations with co-workers, family and friends are about
issues, problems, difficulties, about finances, health, and family problems.
Well, the Bible is the “Good News” Book!!!!
That’s what the Gospel of Luke is about, and that Good News
is about the person of Jesus Christ! Luke makes sure that his researched account
of Jesus’ birth, life, and death is both historically and spiritual
accurate! All the Gospels present Jesus
Christ is their own unique way for a specific purpose.
The Gospel of Matthew, was written primarily to the Jewish
world, emphasizes that Jesus was born the Messiah and presents the Lord Jesus
as the King of the Jews, and Redeemer. Numerous times Matthew repeats, “And
it was fulfilled…”. Proving that Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament
prophecies concerning His birth, His life, His death, and His resurrection.
The Gospel of Mark, written primarily for the Roman world,
emphasizes that Jesus was the Suffering Servant, prophesied in Isaiah 53. Jesus
humbled Himself and came to do the will of His Father and to reveal the amazing
love and grace of God. This is clearly seen in Jesus’ own words, “For
even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His
life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). There is no genealogy recorded in the
Gospel of Mark because a servant’s genealogy was insignificant and not worthy
of being recorded.
The Gospel of Luke, written primarily for the Greek world, presents
Jesus as the Son of Man. Luke focuses on Jesus’ humanity and
beautifully details the announcement of His incarnation and His birth
(Luke 1 and 2). Luke is the only Gospel that gives a glimpse into Jesus’
childhood years (Luke 2:40, Luke 2:42-43). The genealogy in Luke
begins with Joseph, as the husband of Mary, and traces Jesus’ ancestry through
Mary’s bloodline, from the line of David (making Jesus the biological heir to
the throne of David), and all the way back to the first man, Adam. Jesus is
presented to the Greeks as the “Perfect Man”.
The Gospel of John is the universal Gospel written for the
whole world. John presents Jesus as the Son of God. There is no genealogy mentioned
because Jesus is God from the beginning! (John 1:1-4). John shared the miracles
that Jesus did proving that Jesus is the Son of God so that we would believe
and have life in His name (John 20:30-31).
It is my prayer that as we study Luke, we will all embrace
the reality of Jesus Christ in every aspect of our daily lives! How real is Jesus
to you?
God bless!
