Today we begin with Gospels from Luke who was who had come close to Mary.

Wednesday, 9/4/13

For our daily Masses we have been following Matthew’s Gospel, but from today on we will follow Luke’s; so let me tell you how Luke came to write his Gospel. He was the only non-Jew writing a book of the Bible. He seemed to have been a physician who joined Paul twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

He began his Gospel by saying that he had read many account of the life of Jesus, and, wanting to write an orderly account for the people he knew, he checked with those who had known Jesus, and he borrowed, from all available accounts.

For what he wrote from Chapter Four through Nine, Luke borrowed from Mark’s account. In those chapters he wrote about the miracles performed by Jesus, and the Messianic prophesies fulfilled by Jesus. This reached a climax when Peter and the others told Jesus that they believed he was the Messiah.

Apart from those six chapters there are five others containing words of Jesus that are only recorded in his and Matthew’s Gospel. They both seemed to have used notes taken by an eye witness when Jesus was preaching.

To a great extent the remaining passages found only in Luke are the parables showing God’s mercy. The “Prodigal Son” and the “Good Samaritan” fit in there. As well, Luke is the only one who told us the story of Mary’s Annunciation and Visitation, along with the story of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple. Luke seemed to have been close to Mary and to Martha and Mary of Bethany. All in all, he thought highly of women. 

All the New Testament was written in Greek, and scholars of that language all say the Luke’s writings were the best in the New Testament. It is also man y people’s favorite.