Gospel of Luke
Fall 2006 Bible Study

Introduction

"St. Joan of Arc Bible Study is an open and growing group that meets for fellowship and to discuss the Bible and other faith-centered literature. Our informal study group draws from biblical scholarship, historical perspectives, current events and personal reflections. We welcome honor and respect the personal ideas and spiritual journeys of all who join us."

Greetings

As some of you may have noted, Cristina and Andrea and Margherita will be in town soon and we have changed the date of our potluck to accommodate their visit. So October 17 will be our potluck and this Tuesday the 10th we will discuss Luke 1 - 2:52.

And we welcomed two new journeyers. Welcome Luce and Lisa!

Tom Smith-Myott accepted our invitation to introduce to us the Gospel of Luke. As usual, it was enlightening and begs many questions that we can delve into throughout our study.

Maura was kind enough to keep us in the loop on the evenings happenings and her update is as follows...

The St. Joan's Bible Study group again convened on a warm Tuesday evening. New faces greeted the long time members as we sat down to listen to an interesting prelude to Luke by Tom Smith-Myott. Tom helped us put the books of Luke and Acts of the Apostles (which was written by the same author) into their historical time and place. He also helped us envision the community they were being written for. We discussed concepts such as high and low Christology (the divine and the human sides of Jesus), compassion, mysticism and table fellowship. Tom points out that through out Luke we will see Jesus ministering by calling all to the table of equals.

Tom's notes St. Joan of Arc Bible Study
Tom Smith-Myott
October 3, 2006
Gospel of Luke

  1. Context
    1. A Tale of Two Paradigms (borrowed from Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity [HarperSanFrancisco, 2003])
      1. "Earlier Paradigm"
        1. Sees the bible as a divine product with divine authority
        2. Interprets the bible literally-factually
        3. Bible functions as revelation of doctrine and morals
        4. Faith focuses on afterlife and what to believe or do to be saved
      2. "Emerging Paradigm"
        1. Bible is a human response to God
        2. Bible interpreted historically and metaphorically
        3. Bible focuses on meaning (metaphorical) and mediates the sacred (sacramental)
        4. Faith focuses on transformation of this life through a relationship with God
    2. Author
      1. "Luke" was probably written by an urban, educated Gentile Christian
        1. not very familiar with Palestine or Jewish customs
        2. but familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures; he may have been a "God- fearer", a Gentile drawn to and educated in Judaism
        3. able to write literary Greek, Semitic Greek (language of the Septuagint, the Greek Translation of the Hebrew bible), and Koine Greek (spoken language of the people)
        4. traditionally identified with Luke the Syrian from Antioch (see Colossians 4:14 & 2 Timothy 4:11)
      2. The gospel of Luke was probably written (1) around 85-90CE (2) for a largely Hellenistic Christian community (3) established by Paul (4) located in a large city
      3. Luke came out of a community trying to be faithful disciples of Jesus in a world shaped by Greek culture and Roman politics and economics
      4. Concerns
        1. External: persecution
        2. Internal
          • table fellowship - issue of hospitality and exclusion
          • sharing of resources - issue of wealth
          • exercise of leadership - issue of domination
          • reconciliation - issue of community conflict
      5. Gospel of Luke is part 1 of a 2-volume history of salvation meant to be read together - a "narrative account" (Luke 1:1)
        1. Gospel - account of what Jesus said and did (see Acts 1:1)
        2. Acts of the Apostles - account of what the apostles and early church said and did
      6. Sources of Gospel of Luke
        1. "Q" (collection of sayings and parables)
        2. "L" (material unique to Luke)
        3. "Mk" (Gospel of Mark)
    3. General Outline of Gospel of Luke
      • 1:1-4 - The Prologue
      • 1:5-2:52 - The Infancy Narrative
      • 3:1-4:13 - The Preparation for the Public Ministry of Jesus
      • 4:14-9:50 - The Galilean Ministry of Jesus
      • 9:51-19:27 - The Travel Narrative, Jesus' Journey to Jerusalem
      • 19:28-21:38 - The Ministry of Jesus in Jerusalem
      • 22:1-23:56a - The Passion Narrative
      • 23:56b-24:53 - The Resurrection Narrative
  2. Jesus in the Gospel of Luke
    1. Jesus "in the power of the Spirit": conceived (1:35), baptized (3:22), sent on mission (4:14), sends the church on mission (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:2)
      1. Jesus transformed by mystical experience
        1. at his baptism: "You are my beloved; I am delighted with you" (Luke 3:22)
        2. went to desert to wrestle with meaning of mystical vision: if you are a child of God, what do you do...?
        3. came out of desert proclaiming his mission = Jesus as prophet "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me...to bring good news to the poor...proclaim freedom...recovery of sight...liberate oppressed" (4:18, citing Isaiah 61:1-2; 58:6)
      2. Jesus insists that all are children of God and share in same vision
        1. thus equal
        2. called to share lives with one another
        3. called to same mission to world
      3. Jesus tried to get his insight across in table fellowship
        1. ten supper stories in Luke
        2. centered on the question: "Who is my neighbor?" (10:29) c) issue is not what you eat, but who you eat with
        3. Jesus called for "open commensality" (John Dominic Crossan's term) = eating at the same table as equals. No boundaries, no divisions, no distinctions, no exclusions. This is what Jesus was referring to when he said: "Whenever you do this, do this in memory of me."
        4. at table, Jesus heals, calls to conversion, forgives and leads to reconciliation, nourishes, challenges, calls disciples
        5. all summed up in the "Last Supper" (22:14-38)
    2. Jesus as the "compassion" of God
      1. "compassion" = literally "womb feeling" - to deeply feel with
      2. key verse: "Be compassionate (merciful), just as your Father is compassionate" (6:36)
      3. for Jesus, compassion was the central quality of God, and thus should be the central quality of the Christian community
      4. Jesus in Luke is especially tender and caring toward the poor, lowly, outcast, sinner, afflicted
    3. Jesus and Women
      1. 7:11-17 - raising of widow's son
      2. 7:36-50 - accepts woman seeking forgiveness
      3. 8:1-3 - women follow and minister to Jesus
      4. 10:38-42 - accepts the hospitality of Mary & Martha
      5. 23:49, 55 - women present at Jesus' crucifixion and burial
      6. 24:1-11 - women first to discover the empty tomb and proclaim the resurrection
  3. Conclusion

    All spiritual systems operate on the principle of moving from experience to reflection. This movement is meant to be transforming (or in more traditional language, meant to provide an opportunity for conversion).

    Andrew Harvey (The Way of Passion: A Celebration of Rumi) says that Rumi's poetry is initiatory, i.e., meant to transform the listener/reader. Rumi tries "to make the poems as subversive as possible, to stop us from putting them into any concept at all, so that as we read them, we become one with him and one with them. Then by becoming one with them and one with him, we become one with ourselves." Here's a couple examples:

    Lovers think they're looking for each other,
    But there's only one search: wandering
    this world is wandering that, both inside one
    transparent sky. In here
    there is no dogma and no heresy.

    The miracle of Jesus is himself, not what he said or did
    about the future. Forget the future.
    I'd worship someone who could do that.

    On the way you may want to look back, or not,
    but if you can say There's nothing ahead,
    there will be nothing there.

    Stretch your arms and take hold the cloth of your clothes
    with both hands. The cure for pain is in the pain.
    good and bad are mixed. If you don't have both,
    you don't belong with us.

    When one of us gets lost, is not here, he must be inside us.
    There's no place like that anywhere in the world.

    All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
    Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
    I have no idea.
    My soul is from elsewhere. I'm sure of that,
    and I intend to end up there.

    This drunkenness began in some other tavern.
    When I get back around to that place,
    I'll be completely sober. Meanwhile,
    I'm like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.
    The day is coming when I fly off,
    but who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?
    Who says words with my mouth?

    Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
    I cannot stop asking.
    If I could taste one sip of an answer,
    I could break out of this prison for drunks.
    I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.
    Whoever brought me here will have to take me home.

    This, exactly, is what Jesus in his teaching and the gospel writers were trying to do. Not to give us information and ideas about Jesus, but to invite and challenge us to become Jesus as incarnate divinity, not to provide historical information but to foster our transformation. The gospels are subversive, initiatory literature meant to transform us. This is the purpose of all sacred literature, the goal of all prophets and mystics.

All this and more before break And what a surprise we had at break, we forgot to assign treats!!!!! Could this be? A St. Joan's bible study without treats? Luckily Tom found the ever present box of St. Joan's cookies and all was not lost.

After break we had the best treat, readings of two Rumi poems. We then broke up into groups to discuss who we invited to our tables.

We have slightly changed our planned schedule. Next week, Oct 10 we will read Luke 1 - 2:52 (the prologue and infancy narratives).

The following week, Oct 17, will be the potluck.

Hanta Yo!
Rik Murray
(612) 872-8694

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