Birth Narratives: Elizabeth

• Connects to Tanakh - Abraham and Sarah are equal to Elizabeth and Zachariah

• Elizabeth and Zachariah - Descendants of Aaron (Moses’ brother); elite Jews

• Mary & Elizabeth are Cousins - John the Baptist and Jesus are blood relatives

Birth Narratives: Mary

• Cana (rural area in Galilee) - Grew up in

• Betrothed to Joseph - Joseph is prominent in Mary’s pregnancy and Jesus’ early years but not really anywhere else

• Mark is Negative toward Mary - Mary is clueless to Jesus’ messiahship

• Luke’s Positive Portrayal - Very positive, special woman, chosen woman

• Pseudepigraphal Works - Followed Luke’s positive portrayal of Mary

  • Gospel of James - Written by Jesus’ brother

  • Gospel of Thomas - about the boyhood of Jesus

Birth Narratives: Annunciation

• Mary & Gabriel - Gabriel (one of two angels in the New Testament) warns Mary about Jesus

• Holy Spirit “Overshadows” Mary - Holy Spirit impregnates Mary

Birth Narratives: Mary and Elizabeth Meet

• John Represents Judaism - Elizabeth is carrying him miraculously just as women in the Old Testament had

• Jesus Presented as Something New - Mary is the first and only virgin birth

Birth Narratives: Magnificat

• Magnificat - Poem Mary Sings

• Magnificat - Early Christian Hymn

• Hannah’s Song - Connects to the Tanakh and Hannah’s barren birth

Birth Narratives: Critical Issues

• Late Tradition - mid 80s

• Only mentioned in Luke and Matthew - Why not mentioned in other and earlier places?

• Virgin Births in Other Cultures - Not the first time because other cultures; may have been gotten from other sources

• Theotokos - Barer of God, Mother of God

  • Perpetual Virginity - She never has sex with Joseph; brothers and sisters are actually cousins or children from Joseph’s previous marriage (Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran)

  • Sinlessness - Mary must be untainted for Jesus to be; Seen in pseudepigraphal texts (Gospel of James)

  • Immaculate Conception - Mary’s mother Ann was also overshadowed by the Holy Spirit

  • Ascension - Mary didn’t die, she ascended into Heaven

Birth Narrative

• Census - No record of this at this time; Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem (because David was born there so the Messiah would be too)

• Shepherds - outcasts and poor people in that society; Angel tells shepherds that Jesus (the Savior) has been born

• Contrast with Augustus - Caesar Augustus’ birth was sometimes connected to miracles so Luke uses it as a device showing the similarities but foiled

Transfiguration

• Eight days - resurrection

  • Seven days - creation; so eight is recreation

• Inner Circle - Peter, John, James

• “glory of God shined through his person” - Dazzling white robes

• Moses - Personification of the Law

• Elijah - Represents Prophets (because he was a standout prophet)

• Meaning of Transfiguration - Foreshadow of the resurrection

Long Journey to Jerusalem

• Literary Device - introduces Jesus’ teachings (Q and L)

Good Samaritan

• Context: Jesus and the Lawyer - What gives me eternal life?; shows legalism

• Loophole? - lawyer looks for one to get by the easiest way possible

• Reversal of roles - Samaritans typically bad, so Jesus shows them as good

• Spirit and Letter of the Law - the saved do not look for loopholes or a minimum, it’s a transformation

Martha & Mary

• Martha and Mary - Sisters of Lazarus

• Traditional Roles for Women in Culture vs. the Kingdom - Martha portrays traditional women working, Mary represents women in the kingdom sitting at the feet of Jesus

  • Women were not allowed to sit at the feet of rabbi at that time

Parables about the Lost

• Context - parables are meant to speak to all groups of people, the poor, tax collectors, and pharisees

• Lost Sheep - religious leaders (99), the sinners and tax collectors (1), shepherd does the illogical thing (a message of affirmation for the sinners and tax collectors having a place in Heaven)

• Lost Coin - God is portrayed as a woman finding the lost coin

• Lost (Prodigal) Son - goes against the practice of violently forcing your children to respect you; pigs were unclean so it was the lowest of low; Jewish leaders should not run, but the father did; No public affection, but the father kisses his son; older brother is the religious leaders; we’re called to be more like the father (accepting and joyful)

  • When you cover someone in the Bible - it means taking them in and caring for them

  • Placing a ring on their finger symbolizes - familial inheritance

  • Without shoes is without dignity, so - putting shoes on someone is restoring the dignity

  • Calves are meant for big meals, so - they mean a party

Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man

• Luke’s Negativity Toward the Wealthy - Rich man is not named (minor character), Lazarus is named (major character)

• Roles Reversed - Poor person is in Heaven and the rich man is in Hades

• Illustration of Beatitudes and Woes - those in misery on the world is bless in the afterlife; those in joy (rich) on the world will weep in the afterlife

• Difficulty for the Wealthy to Enter the Kingdom - “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle”; wealthy man did not notice Lazarus (did not sacrifice for the kingdom of God)

Passion Narrative

• Similar to Mark - though chronology is different and Jesus speaks on the cross

• Sayings on the Cross - Speaks to the men on crosses with him

  • Paradise - Luke 23:43

  • Forgiveness - Jesus practiced what he preached by forgiving the criminal (Luke 23:34)

• Soldier - changes line from Matthew and Mark

  • “Surely this man was innocent” - statement of injustice not Messiahship

  • Jesus as role model - Soldier did not view Jesus as the savior

  • Injustice - Soldier did not proclaim belief that Jesus was the savior

Postresurrection Appearances

• Women - A lot of women at the tomb and immediately report to the disciples

• Peter - runs back to find the tomb empty too

• Emmaus - where disciples are going and they did not recognize him when they saw him on the road, not until they did communion together

• Jerusalem - Luke’s disciples go here so the Jesus movement can begin with the Jews and spread throughout the rest of the world

• Ascension - End of Luke and Beginning of Acts and all the disciples worshipped (but in Matthew some doubted)