Gospel of Luke

William Barclay

• Publisher: Saint Andrew Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780715208939
• eBook ISBN: 9780861537518
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christianity

New Testament Commentary on The Gospel of Luke by one of the world's best-loved Bible commentators, William Barclay. The Gospel of Luke has been called the loveliest book in the world. Compassionate and kind, Luke saw people as they truly were. A gospel of distinct characteristics, Luke is all-inclusive.

A HISTORIAN’S INTRODUCTION

LUKE

Luke 1:1–4

Since many have set their hands to the task of drawing up an account of the events which were completed among us, telling the story just as those who were the original eyewitnesses and who became the servants of the word handed it down to us, I too made up my mind to carry out a careful investigation of all things from the beginning, and to write to you, Theophilus, your excellency, an orderly account of them, so that you might have in your mind a full and reliable account of the things in which you have been instructed.

LUKE’S introduction is unique in the first three gospels because it is the only place where the author steps out upon the stage and uses the pronoun ‘I’. There are three things to note in this passage.

(1) It is the best bit of Greek in the New Testament. Luke uses here the very form of introduction which the great Greek historians all used. Herodotus begins, ‘These are the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus.’ A much later historian, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, tells us at the beginning of his history, ‘Before beginning to write I gathered information, partly from the lips of the most learned men with whom I came into contact, and partly from histories written by Romans of whom they spoke with praise.’ So Luke, as he began his story in the most sonorous Greek, followed the highest models he could find.

It is as if Luke said to himself, ‘I am writing the greatest story in the world and nothing but the best is good enough for it.’ Some of the ancient manuscripts are very beautiful productions, written in silver ink on purple vellum; and often the scribe, when he came to the name of God or of Jesus, wrote it in gold. The story is told of an old workman who, every Friday night, took the newest and shiniest coins out of his pay packet for Sunday’s offering in church. The historian, the scribe and the workman were all filled with the same idea – only the best is good enough for Jesus. They always gave their utmost for the highest.

(2) It is most significant that Luke was not satisfied with anyone else’s story of Christ. He must have his own. Real religion is never a secondhand thing. It is a personal discovery. Professor Arthur Gossip of Trinity College, Glasgow, used to say that the four gospels were important, but beyond them all came the gospel of personal experience. Luke had to rediscover Jesus Christ for himself.

(3) There is no passage of the Bible which sheds such a floodlight on the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture. No one would deny that the gospel of Luke is an inspired document; and yet Luke begins by affirming that it is the product of the most careful historical research. God’s inspiration does not come to those who sit with folded hands and lazy minds and only wait, but to those who think and seek and search. True inspiration comes when the searching mind joins with the revealing Spirit of God. The word of God is given, but it is given to those who search for it. ‘Search and you will find’ (Matthew 7:7).

A SON IS PROMISED

Luke 1:5–25

In the time of Herod, the king of Judaea, there was a priest called Zacharias, who belonged to the section of Abia. His wife was also a direct descendant of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth. Both of them were good people before God, for they walked blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. They had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both of them were far advanced in years. When he was acting as priest before God, when his section was on duty, in accordance with the custom of priestly duty, it fell to him by lot to go into the Temple of the Lord to burn the incense. The whole congregation of the people was praying outside at the hour when incense was offered. The angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zacharias saw him he was deeply moved and awe fell upon him. The angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you must call him by the name of John. You will have joy and exultation and many will rejoice at his birth. He will be great in God’s sight; he must not drink wine or strong drink and, even from the time he is in his mother’s womb, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many sons of Israel to the Lord their God; and he himself will go before his face in the spirit and the power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to get ready a people prepared for the Lord.’ Zacharias said to the angel, ‘How will I know that this is going to happen? For I am an old man and my wife is far advanced in years.’ ‘I am Gabriel,’ the angel answered, ‘who stands before God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And – look you – you will be silent and unable to speak until the day these things happen, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.’ The people were waiting for Zacharias and they were surprised that he was lingering so long in the Temple. When he came out he was not able to speak to them and they realized that he had seen a vision in the Temple. He kept making signs to them but he remained unable to speak. When the days of his time of service were completed he went away to his own home. After these days Elizabeth his wife conceived; and she hid herself for five months. ‘This is God’s doing for me,’ she said, ‘when he looked upon me to take away my shame among men.’

ZACHARIAS, the central character in this scene, was a priest. He belonged to the section of Abia. Every direct descendant of Aaron was automatically a priest. That meant that for all ordinary purposes there were far too many priests. They were therefore divided into twenty-four sections. Only at the Passover, at Pentecost and at the Feast of Tabernacles did all the priests serve. For the rest of the year each course served two periods of one week each. Priests who loved their work looked forward to that week of service above all things; it was the highlight of their lives.

A priest might marry only a woman of absolutely pure Jewish lineage. It was specially meritorious to marry a woman who was also a descendant of Aaron, as was Elizabeth, the wife of Zacharias.

There were as many as 20,000 priests altogether and so there were not far short of 1,000 in each section. Within the sections all the duties were allocated by lot. Every morning and evening sacrifice was made for the whole nation. A burnt offering of a male lamb, one year old, without spot or blemish was offered, together with a meat offering of flour and oil and a drink offering of wine. Before the morning sacrifice and after the evening sacrifice incense was burned on the altar of incense so that, as it were, the sacrifices might go up to God wrapped in an envelope of sweet-smelling incense. It was quite possible that many a priest would never have the privilege of burning incense all his life; but if the lot did fall on any priest, that day was the greatest day in all his life, the day he longed for and dreamed of. On this day the lot fell on Zacharias and he would be thrilled to the core of his being.

But in Zacharias’ life there was tragedy. He and Elizabeth were childless. The Jewish Rabbis said that seven people were excommunicated from God and the list began, ‘A Jew who has no wife, or a Jew who has a wife and who has no child.’ Childlessness was a valid ground for divorce. Not unnaturally Zacharias, even on his great day, was thinking of his personal and domestic tragedy and was praying about it. Then the wondrous vision came and the glad message that, even when hope was dead, a son would be born to him.

The incense was burned and the offering made in the inmost court of the Temple, the Court of the Priests. While the sacrifice was being made, the congregation thronged the next court, the Court of the Israelites. It was the privilege of the priest at the evening sacrifice to come to the rail between the two courts after the incense had been burned in order to bless the people. The people marvelled that Zacharias was so long delayed. When he came he could not speak and the people knew that he had seen a vision. So in a wordless daze of joy Zacharias finished his week’s duty and went home; and then the message of God came true and Elizabeth knew she was going to have a child.

One thing stands out here. It was in God’s house that God’s message came to Zacharias. We may often wish that a message from God would come to us. In George Bernard Shaw’s play, Saint Joan, Joan hears voices from God. The Dauphin is annoyed. ‘Oh, your voices, your voices,’ he said, ‘Why don’t the voices come to me? I am king not you.’ ‘They do come to you,’ said Joan, ‘but you do not hear them. You have not sat in the field in the evening listening for them. When the angelus rings you cross yourself and have done with it; but if you prayed from your heart, and listened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after they stop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do.’ Joan gave herself the chance to hear God’s voice. Zacharias was in the Temple waiting on God. God’s voice comes to those who listen for it – as Zacharias did – in God’s house.

GOD’S MESSAGE TO MARY

Luke 1:26–38

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a maiden who was betrothed to a man called Joseph, who belonged to the house of David. The maiden’s name was Mary. He came in to her and said, ‘Greetings, most favoured one. The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply moved at this word and wondered what a greeting like that could mean. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour in God’s sight. Look you – you will conceive and you will bear a son and you must call him by the name of Jesus. He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father; and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end to his kingdom.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be since I do not know a man?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the Spirit of the Most High will overshadow you, and so the child who will be born will be called holy, the Son of God, and – look you – Elizabeth, too, your kinswoman has also conceived in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who is called barren, because there is nothing which is impossible with God.’ Mary said, ‘I am the Lord’s servant. Whatever he says, I accept.’ And the angel went away from her.

MARY was betrothed to Joseph. Betrothal lasted for a year and was quite as binding as marriage. It could be dissolved only by divorce. Should the man to whom a girl was betrothed die, in the eyes of the law she was a widow. In the law there occurs the strange-sounding phrase, ‘a virgin who is a widow’.

In this passage we are face to face with one of the great controversial doctrines of the Christian faith – the virgin birth. The Church does not insist that we believe in this doctrine. Let us look at the reasons for and against believing in it, and then we may make our own decision.

There are two great reasons for accepting it.

(1) The literal meaning of this passage, and still more of Matthew 1:18–25, clearly is that Jesus was to be born of Mary without a human father.

(2) It is natural to argue that if Jesus was, as we believe, a very special person, he would have a special entry into the world.

Now let us look at the things which may make us wonder if the story of the virgin birth is to be taken as literally as all that.

(1) The genealogies of Jesus both in Luke and in Matthew (Luke 3:23–38; Matthew 1:1–17) trace the genealogy of Jesus through Joseph, which is strange if Joseph was not his real father.

(2) When Mary was looking for Jesus on the occasion that he lingered behind in the Temple, she said, ‘Your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety’ (Luke 2:48). The name father is definitely given by Mary to Joseph.

(3) Repeatedly Jesus is referred to as Joseph’s son (Matthew 13:55; John 6:42).

(4) The rest of the New Testament knows nothing of the virgin birth. True, in Galatians 4:4 Paul speaks of Jesus as ‘born of woman’. But this is the natural phrase for any human being (cf. Job 14:1, 15:14, 25:4).

But let us ask, ‘If we do not take the story of the virgin birth literally, how did it arise?’ The Jews had a saying that in the birth of every child there are three partners – the father, the mother and the Spirit of God. They believed that no child could ever be born without the Spirit. And it may well be that the New Testament stories of the birth of Jesus are lovely, poetical ways of saying that, even if he had a human father, the Holy Spirit of God was operative in his birth in a unique way.

In this matter we may make our own decision. It may be that we will desire to cling to the literal doctrine of the virgin birth; it may be that we will prefer to think of it as a beautiful way of stressing the presence of the Spirit of God in family life.

Mary’s submission is a very lovely thing. ‘Whatever God says, I accept.’ Mary had learned to forget the world’s commonest prayer – ‘Your will be changed’ – and to pray the world’s greatest prayer – ‘Your will be done.’

THE PARADOX OF BLESSEDNESS

Luke 1:39–45

In those days Mary arose and went eagerly to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and went into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting the babe leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she lifted up her voice with a great cry and said, ‘Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why has this been granted to me – that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For – look you – when the voice of your greeting came to my ears the babe in my womb leaped with exultation. Blessed is she who believed that the things spoken to her from the Lord would find their fulfilment.’

THIS is a kind of lyrical song on the blessedness of Mary. Nowhere can we better see the paradox of blessedness than in her life. To Mary was granted the blessedness of being the mother of the Son of God. Well might her heart be filled with a wondering, tremulous joy at so great a privilege. Yet that very blessedness was to be a sword to pierce her heart. It meant that some day she would see her son hanging on a cross.

To be chosen by God so often means at one and the same time a crown of joy and cross of sorrow. The piercing truth is that God does not choose a person for ease and comfort and selfish joy but for a task that will take all that head and heart and hand can bring to it. God chooses us in order to use us. When Joan of Arc knew that her time was short she prayed, ‘I shall only last a year; use me as you can.’ When that is realized, the sorrows and hardships that serving God may bring are not matters for lamentation; they are our glory, for all is suffered for God.

When Richard Cameron, the Covenanter, was caught by the dragoons they killed him. He had very beautiful hands and they cut them off and sent them to his father with a message asking if he recognized them. ‘They are my son’s,’ he said, ‘my own dear son’s. Good is the will of the Lord who can never wrong me or mine.’ The shadows of life were lit by the sense that they, too, were in the plan of God. A great Spanish saint prayed for his people, ‘May God deny you peace and give you glory.’ One great preacher said, ‘Jesus Christ came not to make life easy but to make men great.’

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication page
• Contents
• Series Foreword (by Ronnie Barclay)
• General Introduction (by William Barclay, 1975)
• General Foreword (by John Drane)
• Editor’s Preface (by Linda Foster)
• Introduction (by John Drane)
• Introduction to the Gospel of Luke
• A Historian’s Introduction (1:1–4)
• A Son is Promised (1:5–25)
• God’s Message to Mary (1:26–38)
• The Paradox of Blessedness (1:39–45)
• A Wondrous Hymn (1:46–56)
• His Name is John (1:57–66)
• A Father’s Joy (1:67–80)
• Journey to Bethlehem (2:1–7)
• Shepherds and Angels (2:8–20)
• The Ancient Ceremonies are Observed (2:21–4)
• A Dream Realized (2:25–35)
• A Lovely Old Age (2:36–40)
• The Dawning Realization (2:41–52)
• The Courier of the King (3:1–6)
• John’s Summons to Repentance (3:7–18)
• The Arrest of John (3:19–20)
• The Hour Strikes for Jesus (3:21–2)
• The Lineage of Jesus (3:23–38)
• The Battle with Temptation (4:1–13)
• The Galilaean Springtime (4:14–15)
• Without Honour in his Own Country (4:16–30)
• The Spirit of an Unclean Devil (4:31–7)
• A Miracle in a Cottage (4:38–9)
• The Insistent Crowds (4:40–4)
• The Conditions of a Miracle (5:1–11)
• Touching the Untouchable (5:12–15)
• The Opposition Intensifies (5:16–17)
• Forgiven and Healed (5:18–26)
• The Guest of an Outcast (5:27–32)
• The Happy Company (5:33–5)
• The New Idea (5:36–9)
• The Increasing Opposition (6:1–5)
• The Defiance of Jesus (6:6–11)
• Jesus Chooses the Twelve (6:12–19)
• The End of the World’s Values (6:20–6)
• The Golden Rule (6:27–38)
• Rules for Life and Living (6:39–46)
• The Only Sure Foundation (6:47–9)
• A Soldier’s Faith (7:1–10)
• The Compassion of Christ (7:11–17)
• The Final Proof (7:18–29)
• Human Perversity (7:30–5)
• A Sinner’s Love (7:36–50)
• On the Road (8:1–3)
• The Sower and the Seed (8:4–15)
• Laws for Life (8:16–18)
• True Kinship (8:19–21)
• Calm Amid the Storm (8:22–5)
• The Defeat of the Demons (8:26–39)
• An Only Child is Healed (8:40–2 and 49–56)
• Not Lost in the Crowd (8:43–8)
• Emissaries of the King (9:1–9)
• Food for the Hungry (9:10–17)
• The Great Discovery (9:18–22)
• The Conditions of Service (9:23–7)
• The Mountain Top of Glory (9:28–36)
• Coming Down from the Mount (9:37–45)
• True Greatness (9:46–8)
• Two Lessons in Tolerance (9:49–56)
• The Honesty of Jesus (9:57–62)
• Labourers for the Harvest (10:1–16)
• True Glory (10:17–20)
• The Unsurpassable Claim (10:21–4)
• Who is My Neighbour? (10:25–37)
• The Clash of Temperaments (10:38–42)
• Teach us to Pray (11:1–4)
• Ask and You will Receive (11:5–13)
• A Malicious Slander (11:14–23)
• The Peril of the Empty Soul (11:24–8)
• The Responsibility of Privilege (11:29–32)
• The Darkened Heart (11:33–6)
• The Worship of Details and the Neglect of the Things that Matter (11:37–44)
• The Sins of the Legalists (11:45–54)
• The Creed of Courage and of Trust (12:1–12)
• The Place of Material Possessions in Life (12:13–34)
• Be Prepared (12:35–48)
• The Coming of the Sword (12:49–53)
• While there is Still Time (12:54–9)
• Suffering and Sin (13:1–5)
• The Gospel of the Other Chance and the Threat of the Last Chance (13:6–9)
• Mercy More than Law (13:10–17)
• The Empire of Christ (13:18–19)
• The Leaven of the Kingdom (13:20–1)
• The Risk of being Shut Out (13:22–30)
• Courage and Tenderness (13:31–5)
• Under Hostile Scrutiny (14:1–6)
• The Necessity of Humility (14:7–11)
• Disinterested Charity (14:12–14)
• The King’s Banquet and the King’s Guests (14:15–24)
• On Counting the Cost (14:25–33)
• The Insipid Salt (14:34–5)
• The Shepherd’s Joy (15:1–7)
• The Coin a Woman Lost and Found (15:8–10)
• The Story of the Loving Father (15:11–32)
• A Bad Man’s Good Example (16:1–13)
• The Law which does not Change (16:14–18)
• The Punishment of the Man who Never Noticed (16:19–31)
• Laws of the Christian Life (17:1–10)
• The Rarity of Gratitude (17:11–19)
• The Signs of his Coming (17:20–37)
• Unwearied in Prayer (18:1–8)
• The Sin of Pride (18:9–14)
• The Master and the Children (18:15–17)
• The Man who would not Pay the Price (18:18–30)
• The Waiting Cross (18:31–4)
• The Man who would not be Silenced (18:35–43)
• The Guest of the Man whom Everyone Despised (19:1–10)
• The King’s Trust in his Servants (19:11–27)
• The Entry of the King (19:28–40)
• The Pity and the Anger of Jesus (19:41–8)
• By What Authority? (20:1–8)
• A Parable which was a Condemnation (20:9–18)
• Caesar and God (20:19–26)
• The Sadducees’ Question (20:27–40)
• The Warnings of Jesus (20:41–4)
• The Love of Worldly Honour (20:45–7)
• The Precious Gift (21:1–4)
• Tidings of Trouble (21:5–24)
• Watch! (21:25–37)
• And Satan Entered into Judas (22:1–6)
• The Last Meal Together (22:7–23)
• Strife among the Disciples of Christ (22:24–30)
• Peter’s Tragedy (22:31–8 and 54–62)
• Your Will be Done (22:39–46)
• The Traitor’s Kiss (22:47–53)
• Mocking and Scourging and Trial (22:63–71)
• Trial Before Pilate and Silence Before Herod (23:1–12)
• The Jews Blackmail Pilate (23:13–25)
• The Road to Calvary (23:26–31)
• There they Crucified him (23:32–8)
• The Promise of Paradise (23:39–43)
• The Long Day Closes (23:44–9)
• The Man who gave Jesus a Tomb (23:50–6)
• The Wrong Place to Look (24:1–12)
• The Sunset Road that Turned to Dawn (24:13–35)
• In the Upper Room (24:36–49)
• The Happy Ending (24:50–3)