The Gospel according to Luke. In the first video we explored Luke's
portrayal of John the Baptist and Jesus as the fulfillment of the story of Israel and of God's promises told
in the Old Testament Scriptures. We then watched Jesus launches mission and bring the good news of God's
Kingdom to the poor among Israel: people of low social status
and also people who are outsiders. And Jesus taught that His Kingdom is upside down it's a reversal of all
of our common social values. This section culminated with Luke
showing us how Jesus was a new Moses about to bring a new
Exodus by His death in Jerusalem. And so we come to the large
center section of the book where Jesus leads His newly
formed Israel on a journey to Jerusalem. This part of the book consists
mainly of Jesus' teaching and parables given on the road to the
various people He encounters, mainly His growing group of disciples. And in this way Luke portrays
following Jesus as a journey. It's something you do where you
learn as you go along life's path so first Jesus invites His
disciples into His mission as He sends a wave of them to go
ahead of Him announcing God's Kingdom. So being a disciple right from the start it means: participating in Jesus'
Kingdom mission, making it your own. And as Jesus' disciples come back
He then starts to give various teachings about prayer, about trusting in God's provision. It's actually in these chapters
of Luke that Jesus talks more about money, possessions and generosity
than anywhere else in His teachings. If following Him is truly like being on the road, it should produce this minimalist
mentality creating a freedom from possessions that allows for radical generosity. Another key theme in these chapters
is Jesus continued mission to the poor so as He travels He keeps forming His new Israel and He encounters all these
people who are sick or blind. He meets Samaritans who are
ancient enemies of the Jewish people and famously Zacchaeus as Jewish man but
who heads up tax collection for the Romans. All of these social outsiders meet Jesus
and they're transformed by the encounter. And so they join His Kingdom community which Jesus describes as a great banquet party. He is here to seek and save the lost and so he's celebrating when
people discover the mercy of God, but not everybody at the party is happy. Luke includes multiple stories
of Jesus at banquets with Israel's leaders and these all become heated debates where Jesus confronts their pride and hypocrisy. And so these contrasting banquet
parties they're captured most memorably in Jesus parable of the prodigal son. So father had two sons and one foolishly
ran away and squandered His inheritance but he comes back eventually repentant. And his father forgives him and he
throws this huge party to celebrate: my son who was lost but now is found. But the older brother,
who never left his father, he's angry and he resents his father's
generosity to this undeserving son. In this famous parable Jesus is explaining
His whole Kingdom mission to these leaders. His parties represent God’s joyous welcome
of every kind of person into His family. The only entry requirement
is humility and repentance. And so it highlights
the tragedy of Israel's leaders who reject Jesus and His
upside-down Kingdom community. And this resistance to Jesus it ramps up. And He finally arrives in Jerusalem for Passover. as He nears the city He's weeping. His disciples are hailing
Him as the Messianic King but Israel's leaders are denouncing Him. And He knows that their
rejection of His Kingdom of peace is going to set Israel on a road of resistance and rebellion against the Roman Empire. It will bring the city's downfall. And it's that destruction
of Jerusalem that Jesus symbolically enacts as He storms into the temple
and He runs out the animal sellers, He brings the sacrificial system to a halt and He says that this place of worship has
become a den of rebels and will be destroyed. Now this act of course
generates a whole series of debates between Jesus and Israel's leaders all leading up to Jesus' prediction that the Roman armies
will one day surround the city. It will decimate it and the
temple all within a generation. With that Jesus retreat with His
disciples to celebrate the Passover meal. It's the annual symbolic meal
about Israel's liberation from slavery through the death of the Lamb. So Jesus turns the meal's bread and wine
into new symbols about this new Exodus: His broken body His shed blood will
bring liberation for Jesus's renewed Israel. After the meal Jesus is arrested
and He's examined before the Jewish leaders and then put on trial as one claiming to be king. and Luke emphasizes: Jesus is innocent. Pilate the Roman governor he claims that Jesus is innocent
three times before giving in. Even Herod the ruler of Galilee
finds nothing to accuse Jesus of. But the leaders finally compelled
Pilate to have Him crucified and so He is. But even in His painful death Jesus
embodies the love and the mercy of God He taught so much about. He offers God's forgiveness
to the soldiers as they crucify Him. And then when one of the criminals executed
alongside Jesus realizes who He actually is, he says: “Remember me when
you come in your Kingdom.” And Jesus' final words are
an offer of hope to a humiliated criminal: “Today you will be with me in paradise” And so with this last act
of generosity and kindness Jesus dies. His body is placed in a tomb and on the first day of the week
some of Jesus disciples come to the tomb only to find it empty. And there are two angelic figures
they're telling them that Jesus is alive that He's risen from the dead
and so they leave with their minds blown. and it's right here that Luke
tells one of his most beautiful stories: two of Jesus' disciples they're
leaving Jerusalem for a town called Emmaus and they're heartbroken over Jesus's death. And then suddenly Jesus is
there just walking alongside them but they don't recognize Him. He asked why they're so sad and they
go on to talk about all of their hopes that Jesus would have been the one
to redeem Israel but now He's dead. it was all for nothing. But then later as Jesus has a meal with these two He breaks bread for them just
as He did at the Passover meal and it's in that moment that they recognize Him. Then He disappears. Luke is telling the story to make
a powerful point about following Jesus. When Jesus' disciples impose their
agenda and their view of reality on Jesus He remains invisible and unknown to them. It's only when we submit ourselves
to the upside down Kingdom of Jesus that epitomized in His broken body
on the cross offered in self-giving love; it's only then that we
see and know the real Jesus. The book's concluding scene is yet another
meal as Jesus appears to His disciples and He explains to them from
the Old Testament Scriptures how this was all a part of God's plan
that the Messiah would become Israel's King by suffering and dying for their sins and conquering their evil with His resurrection life. And so now as Simeon
the Prophet promised back in chapter 2: Jesus' Kingdom will move outward from Israel so God's forgiveness can be announced to the nations and everyone invited to follow Jesus. But Jesus tells His disciples wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Spirit
to empower them for this new mission. And this of course keeps you reading
right into Luke's second volume, the book of Acts. But for now that's the Gospel according to Luke.