Having
read the Gospel, I am inclined to look at the presentation of Jesus by Luke in
the following perspectives.
Jesus the ultimate meaning and the
restorer of Life: In the very first chapter itself, Luke
presents to us the hopelessness of the situation of Zechariah and Elizabeth,
who were childless (1:7). God intervenes and they have John the Baptist.
Elizabeth is granted a cure for her shame of being barren and praises God.
Hence Luke anticipates the in creating a right pre-knowledge of Jesus as one
who brings meaning to the lives of people. Jesus the incarnate Son of God
becomes the ultimate meaning. This is evident in Zacheus episode (Lk 19:1-10).
He was involved with the oppressive class winning the hatred of his own
community members. He was considered a sinner, estranged and isolated from the
group. This could mean that he could not meet people on a face to face level
relationship. He had to put distance between himself and others because of the
profession he chose and the means he used to thicken his pocket. In fact he was
fed up with his old self and wants to have a new meaning that drives his whole
life. Hence once he is invited by Jesus, he finds his meaning in Jesus. His
life and perspective towards it changes, he lives in a new relationship with
himself, with others and with God. Jesus restores the one who seeks.
The
son of the widow of Nain is restored to life (7:11-17), the woman suffering
from a hemorrhage, whom no one had been able to cure is healed (8: 43-48);
Jairus’ daughter is raised to life (8:49-56); healed a crippled woman
(13:10-13). Hence in almost all the curing miracles Jesus is presented as a
restorer of life, restoring men back to wholeness and freedom.
Jesus visits and Redeems:‘God
has visited his people’ (7:17). Jesus visits John the Baptist and his visit to
him made him leap for joy (1:44). The visit of Jesus always brings joy and
salvation. Besides, one is invited to live in awareness of having met the Lord
who affirms our identity as redeemed people. He visits the tax collectors and
sinners (15:1ff). He visits Zachaeus and tells him, “today salvation has come
to this house” (19:9). He forgives the sinful woman and assures her, ‘your sins
are forgiven’ and affirms her faith and commands her to go in peace (7:49-50).
In a sense He not only visits but stays for a while and takes everyone to the
threshold of redemption. He visits the saddened and disappointed disciples on their
way to Emmaus. He stays with them opens their eyes beyond their misery to a
realized meaningfulness in Jesus, especially in the breaking of the bread
(24:30-32).
Jesus: A Hermeneutical Key to
Understand a God who Self-explains: In the Emmaus episode, we
can identify a Jesus who self explains. In fact, he becomes the hermeneutical
key to understand the mysteries of God. The disciples did not understand the
enigma of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. He explains to the disciples
all that the prophets told about him (24:25), about the necessity of his
suffering so as to enter into glory (24:26), and then starting from Moses and
going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout
the scriptures that were about himself (24:27). The aspect of ‘journey’
connotes a gradual understanding of Jesus in the life of any disciple. We do
not exist in meaningless void but in expression, relationship and existential
contexts. Man being a rational animal makes sense of all that surrounds him because
he is primarily a relational being. Jesus exploits this capacity of man to
explain Himself. Only a God can explain himself. Hence Jesus (Emmanuel – God
with us) in being-with-us and our experience of him make his words intelligible.
Jesus then is the hermeneutical key to understand our role in the whole plan of
salvation.
A Praying Jesus: Luke
presents to us a Jesus who is always connected to his father. Jesus’ Baptism
took place in the context of prayer (3:21). A prayerful person is always filled
with the spirit of God. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit (4:1) and he was
able to assert his identity as the Son of God withstanding temptations. The
disciples are chosen in the context of spending whole night in prayer (6:12). Jesus
is transfigured before his disciples in the context of prayer (9:28). Jesus is an
epitome of Abba experience. He experienced the deep love of his father in
prayer. Jesus relates to God as ‘Father’ (Lk 10: 21-22). He teaches his
disciples to pray (11:1-4). He teaches them about the effectiveness of prayer
and promises the disciples that the heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him in prayer (11:13). He teaches through the example of the
Pharisee and the tax collector that prayer is not self assertion of what one
has done in verbatim but an honest admission of what one is (18:9-14). Jesus
teaches that prayer is a relationship with God, giving yourself to the Father
in humble surrender. This is manifested in Jesus at Gethsemane - ‘in his
anguish he prayed even more earnestly and his sweat fell to the ground like
great drops of blood’ (22:44).
Compassionate and Merciful: Jesus
has a preferential option for the marginalized, oppressed, the poor and the
outcast. For Jesus compassion is changing the situation. This is evident in the
event where Jesus restores to life the son the widow of Nain (7:11-17). In
Biblical understanding, the widow is a person who is left without a husband or
a son. In the case of the widow of Nain, she is without any support if her son dies.
Hence Jesus changes the situation by restoring him to life. Jesus himself
teaches his disciples to ‘be compassionate just as your Father is
compassionate’ (6:36). In compassion there is no judgment of the past or
present action of the individual but acceptance of the whole person. Jesus
allowed the sinful woman to anoint his feet and wipe his feet with her hair,
though the Pharisees condemned her (7:36ff). The parable of the prodigal son
(15:11-32) gives us the crux of the aspects of compassion. It is out of his
compassion that he brings wholeness to all the people suffering from all
infirmities. It was his compassion for the sinners that he dines with them and
accepts the scorn of his adversaries.
A Teacher Par-excellence: Jesus
makes use of the parables to teach a truth. Among his parables the most
striking one is the parable of the prodigal son (chap.15). This is the best
example of conversion (leaving the old rut of being and running towards the
father: restoration of relationship). The parable of the Good Samaritan
emphasizes the principle that hearing of the word should accompany action
(10:29-37). A rabbi was not allowed to associate with women according to the
accepted tradition of Jesus’ time but he went out this and associated with
women. He made them his disciples. We have Martha and Mary (10:38-42). Women
are made harbingers of his resurrection (24:10-11). A teacher leads his pupils
out of the misunderstood concepts and attitudes to a given phenomena to a
deeper clarity and living. There are many more aspects of Jesus which I could
pen in these pages, but the above portraits that I painted would suffice my
gradual understanding of the figure and mystery of JESUS OF NAZARETH.
