Saturday, November 10, 2012

PORTRAIT OF JESUS FROM THE GOSPEL OF LUKE: A PERSPECTIVAL UNDERSTANDING


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.