Era 11: Messianic Fulfillment

Introduction to Messianic Fulfillment:

• This era covers the Gospel of Luke

The Gospel of Luke

Author:

• St. Luke was not an Apostle but a missionary companion of St. Paul (cf. Col 4:14).

• The “beloved physician” is the only Gentile author in the New Testament and is also the author of the Acts of the Apostles, a continuation of his Gospel.

Date:

• Since the Acts of the Apostles closes while St. Paul is under house arrest in Rome awaiting trial, it can be concluded that it was completed no later than AD 62, and, likewise, the Gospel of St. Luke must have been composed before that time.

• St. Luke also makes no mention of the widespread persecutions of Christians that took place in Rome after AD 64, nor does he refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

• These events could not reasonably have escaped mention had St. Luke, such a careful chronicler, known of them at the time that he wrote his Gospel.

Audience:

• St. Luke addressed his Gospel to “Theophilus,” which means “beloved of God.”

• It is not clear whether this Theophilus was an individual or simply a fictitious figure used as a literary device to indicate all of God’s faithful.

• The skillful narrative appears written to appeal to both Gentile and Jewish converts, often using Greek instead of Hebrew or Aramaic terms and making more allusions to rather than direct citations of the Old Testament.

• It is a Gospel for all Christians, whether in Judea or Samaria or dispersed throughout the Roman Empire.

Main Themes:

• St. Luke’s account is arguably the most elegantly written of the four Gospels and contains many unique details, particularly in its infancy narrative of the Birth of Christ and of his cousin, St. John the Baptist (cf. 1:5-2:52).

• This Gospel is alone in describing the Annunciation, the Visitation, the prophecies of Sts. Simeon and Anna at the time of the Presentation of Christ, the finding of Christ in the Temple, and the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Zechariah.

• St. Luke is the sole Evangelist to report the parables of the Good Samaritan and of the Prodigal Son.

• St. Luke’s overriding theme is the catholicity of the Gospel message: Although Christ came to preach to the Jews first in fulfillment of the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament, his invitation to faith, repentance, and salvation extends to all people.

• Within this mission, Christ issued a special call to the least members of society: the marginalized, the poor, the oppressed, the sick, the unclean, and to all sinners.

• Amid the patriarchal society of his day, Christ elevated women.

• St. Luke records the reception of the Gospel by several women including Sts. Elizabeth, Mary Magdalene, and the sisters Mary and Martha (cf. 10:38-42).

• In particular, his highlighting of the person of the Blessed Virgin Mary inspires much of the Marian piety and theology that has developed since the earliest days of Christianity.

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)

• Welcome Jeff Cavins :)

• Oooh today’s episode has a SPONSOR!!

• THE HALLOW APP!!

• Seriously, I love this App

• Rosaries!!

• Chants!!

• Prayers!!

• Jonathan Roumie!!

• Bishop Robert Barron!!

• Fr. Mike!!

• THOUSANDS OF MEDITATIONS!!

• It literally feels like just yesterday we started all of this

• Here we are in the New Testament

• It is the FINAL GOSPEL of the four

• WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!

• What does Fr. Mike think of all of this?

• This has been an INCREDIBLE journey

• Every time Fr. Mike records or listens to an episode, he’s not just the “president, he’s also the client”

• He’s referring to the Hair Club For Men commercial from the 80s

• GEN X BABY!!! 😉

• Perhaps we can talk about Luke

• So Fr. Mike listens as well as reads

• Fr. Mike is so grateful for The Great Adventure Timeline created by Jeff Cavins

• Fr. Mike did undergrad in THEOLOGY then did 5 years in SEMINARY

• He spent 9 years total studying THEOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY, and SCRIPTURE

• When he went through the Great Adventure Timeline, that was the one class where he finally GOT IT

• OH MY GOSH!! THAT MAKES SENSE NOW!!

• All the little pieces he got from all the other classes and all these other schools made sense all of a sudden

• So the Gospel of Luke is the one Jeff Cavins uses for the Great Adventure Timeline

• It goes from the Gospel of Luke to Acts

• Not Mark, Matthew or John to Acts

• Here we are

• Finally, after all these days, all this time, we are back here where we get to see the FULFILLMENT OF EVERYTHING WE HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO UP UNTIL NOW

• RIGHT??

• The Great Adventure Study comes in an 8 PART VERSION as well as a 24 WEEK VERSION which is the long kind of journey through the ENTIRE BIBLE

• It’s a great thing to do AFTER Bible in a Year if you are looking to go DEEPER

• Start a group!

• Join a group!

• In the meantime, keep going through Bible in a Year again

• SOAK YOURSELF IN SCRIPTURE

• What’s happening WORLDWIDE with Catholics and the Bible is HISTORICAL

• Catholics are studying the Bible MORE THAN EVER

• Catholics are sharing Christ with people MORE THAN EVER

• It’s just a great time to be alive

• BUT LUKE!!!

• People always ask Jeff what his favorite Gospel is

• He says, “Matthew, until I come to Luke. You know, it’s probably Luke.”

• One of the reasons is that originally, Luke and Acts were ONE BOOK

• And then they were divided up for the purpose of keeping John as the FOURTH GOSPEL

• The SYNOPTIC GOSPELS are Matthew, Mark, and Luke

• They all seem to come from the same source with the same view

• Luke states his purpose in writing the Gospel very clearly at the beginning

• He wanted to compile a carefully researched history of the Life of Jesus

• So it’s like a biography, really, of Jesus

• He’s got the pedigree too

• Not only was he a PHYSICIAN

• He was a companion of St. Paul

• This is a good trivia question

• Who is the most prolific author of the New Testament?

• Jeopardy music playing….

• I would guess….PAUL?

• LUKE!!

• Is it really?

• St. Paul has more letters yes

• Back to Seminary, Fr. Mike!!

• So St. Paul has more BOOKS

• BUT…

• St. Luke has more CONTENT

• So it was originally one book

• It begins with St. Luke writing to someone named THEOPHILUS which means, “LOVED BY GOD”

• MOST EXCELLENT THEOPHILUS (Hey, who knew that St. Luke knew Bill and Ted? 😉)

• The question always comes up

• Who is Theophilus??

• Nobody knows but there are a lot of guesses

• Even the guess that the name THEOPHILUS is addressed to generic Christians

• People who Love God, this is to you

• So we don’t know who Theophilus is, so just read it as if it’s addressed to YOU

• WHICH IS A GREAT WAY TO READ THE BIBLE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!

• So…

• What makes this Gospel different from the others?

• It is part of the Synoptic Gospels

• BUT…

• There are some things that make it different

• For example, Luke REALLY focuses on JESUS THE MAN

• JESUS THE IDEAL MAN

• We know that He is GOD

• We know that He is MAN

• THE HYPOSTATIC UNION

• ONE PERSON

• TWO NATURES

• That HUMAN NATURE is really brought out in Luke

• The HUMANITY OF JESUS

• It talks about Jesus GROWING IN WISDOM

• It talks about Jesus GROWING IN STATURE

• It talks about Jesus GROWING IN FAVOR WITH GOD

• It talks about Jesus’ TEMPTATION

• Jesus PHYSICALLY TOUCHES a leper

• Sweat like DROPS OF BLOOD come from his head in Gethsemane

• He even EATS A MEAL after the Resurrection

• So there’s this real emphasis on the HUMANITY OF JESUS

• St. Luke was a GENTILE DOCTOR

• As a Gentile doctor, he seems to notice things that the other Gospel writers did not write about

• Like the OUTSIDERS

• THE GENTILES

• THE UNEXPECTED PERSON IN THE NARRATIVE

• Like Zacchaeus the Tax Collector

• The Good Samaritan

• The Prodigal Son

• So for those that feel like maybe you’re an outsider, Luke is a GOOD BOOK

• Luke will DRAW YOU IN and he will share with you the OUTSIDER’S VIEW and how they became a member of the HOUSEHOLD OF GOD

• St. Luke has SO MANY PARABLES

• There are parables in each of the Gospels

• BUT…

• There are unique parables in Luke that aren’t necessarily found in the other three Gospels

• There are TEN of them

• The Two Debtors in Ch 7

• The Friend at Midnight in Ch 11

• The Rich Fool

• Parable of Punishment

• Parable of Barren Trees

• Parable of Lost Coins

• Parable of Shrewd Managers

• Parable of Rich Man and Lazarus

• Parable of the Persistent Widow

• Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

• Impressive...most impressive

• It might be Ch 8 he even gives the meaning in why he is telling parables

• It is for the INSIDER

• It is for the people who are FOLLOWING HIM

• THEY are going to get it

• And to the people on the OUTSIDE it is a mystery

• Parables were a VERY POPULAR WAY for Rabbis to teach in the first century

• Parables draw everybody in to sit around to listen

• BUT…

• By the time he gets done, you’re going to feel like he is only talking to YOU

• Your next word is, “Why are you pointing me out here? You drew me in, you fooled me. You’re talking about me!”

• Is Jesus talking about you?

• Yes he is!

• A couple other POWERFUL things in the Gospel of Luke

• In Ch 1 we have one of the stories of the Visitation

• It’s really important when it comes to the Rosary

• BUT…

• Luke is MASTERFUL when he writes about the Visitation with Mary visiting Elizabeth

• He is showing you something on the surface...Mary visiting Elizabeth

• BUT…

• If you really look under the hood here, you will see that he is MIRRORING 2 Samuel Ch 6

• This is where David brings the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem for the FIRST TIME!!

• So you have almost IDENTICAL STATEMENTS in Ch 1

• Luke 1:39, “In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country…”

• 2 Samuel 6, “David arose and went to the hill country…”

• “The child leaped in her womb (John the Baptist)”

• “David leaped before the Ark of the Covenant…”

• Elizabeth says, “And why is this granted me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

• David says of the Ark, “How is it that the Ark of the Lord has come to me?”

• And the FOURTH PARALLEL is that she (Mary) stayed with Elizabeth for 3 months

• In 2 Samuel Ch 6 The ARK stayed at the house of Obed-Edom for 3 months

• So Luke is saying, “Guys!! She IS the New Ark of the Covenant. Out of her womb comes the Living Word, The Word Incarnate, and the Great High Priest.”

• The THREE THINGS that were in the Ark of the Covenant

• So St. Luke is MASTERFUL at this

• INCREDIBLE!!

• You don’t have to squint or cock your head to the side to see this

• This is a CLEAR FULFILLMENT of the Old Ark of the Old Covenant

• It is now FULFILLED in this NEW ARK of the NEW COVENANT

• IT IS INCREDIBLE!!

• YAY!!

• You’re in there

• Great job!!

• When you read the New Testament, ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND the Old Testament

• All of Scripture is CHRISTOCENTRIC

• BUT…

• When we really get down under the literal meaning of what the author wanted to say, we are looking for the ALLEGORICAL SENSE

• HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO JESUS AND HIS FAMILY?

• HIS MOTHER?

• HIS KINGDOM?

• This is one of the great examples of it

• In light of everything that is happening in the world right now, the Gospel of Luke more than the other Gospels, has such a tremendous emphasis on the role of WOMEN in the Bible

• The Blessed Virgin Mary

• Elizabeth

• Anna

• They’re PROMINENT FIGURES

• Mary Magdalene

• Joanna

• Susanna

• They’re mentioned as people who supported Jesus financially in his ministry

• There is such a role for women here

• Anna, the prophetess, upon seeing Jesus really becomes the first evangelist to shout out the GOOD NEWS of deliverance in his name

• She’s like a prophetess

• Women play such a great role in the Gospel of Luke

• So heartening and encouraging

• For those who accompanied him, or supplied for his needs, there are a number of women mentioned

• Not only that, but Luke is also interested in those who are on the FRINGES

• Just like Jesus was interested in those who were on the fringes

• Jesus was interested in going to those people who would not be normally comfortable or acceptable when it came to the normal religious practices

• It keeps coming back again and again

• If Jesus is the fulfillment

• And John the Baptist is a prophet

• But Jesus is definitely a PROPHET as well

• He is identified as a prophet

• He is going to have some PROPHET LIKE WORDS for people and he does

• We spent 90 days going through the prophets in Bible in a Year

• So we know what prophets sound like

• Sometimes they give encouraging words

• But they also give the words of truth that need to be spoken so that people can hear and repent

• Jesus offers those words here in the Gospel of Luke

• It’s GOOD FOR US TO HEAR

• Sometimes, we have our particular “version” of Jesus

• That “version” can agree with everything I agree with

• He doesn’t “Like” tht things that I don’t like

• He “likes” the things I do like

• As opposed to REALLY LISTENING TO THE REAL JESUS here in the Gospels

• All of us can say, at one time or another, that we were on the FRINGE

• On the OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

• Zacchaeus

• Good Samaritan

• Prodigal Son

• It is a place of HOPE

• For people who have sons and daughters who are far away from the Lord

• That’s probably one of the most popular questions

• “My son or daughter left the Church. What do I do?”

• Luke is a good Gospel because we have people who are like the son or daughter

• Zacchaeus or the Prodigal Son

• IN A MOMENT…

• THEIR LIVES CHANGED!!

• THEY CHANGED

• THEY RETURNED TO THE FATHER’S HOUSE

• THEY CAME AND HAD DINNER WITH JESUS!!

• THEY ENTERED THE DRAMA

• Like the Good Samaritan

• So be encouraged

• Another theme that really sticks out is the picture of JESUS IN PRAYER

• Jesus in prayer, more than in any of the other Gospels

• He prays at the beginning of his ministry in Ch 3 and its close in Ch 23

• He prays all night before selecting the Apostles

• He prays when he is exalted

• He prays when he is humiliated

• The Lord prays when he is confessed and Peter denies him

• You can go on and on

• As the result of this, in Ch 11 the disciples are begging him, “Teach us how to pray! We want to pray like you pray!”

• Take note of that and you too ask God, “TEACH ME TO PRAY!!”

• It’s always good to use the example of Jesus in prayer and adopt that into our own lives

• Even the example of the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray

• There are a bunch of students who maybe got this out of Scripture itself, when asked to lead in prayer one of the first things that come often out of their mouth is, “Come, Lord Jesus. Teach us how to pray.” or “Come Holy Spirit, teach us how to pray.”

• SO GOOD!!

• That instinct that asks, just like the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us how to pray.”

• Every time we begin prayer, it’s so powerful to be reminded that we are in that place of beginners

• In that place of learning and knowing that it is the HOLY SPIRIT who teaches us how to pray because we don’t pray as we ought

• Also PRAY FOR YOUR ENEMIES!!

• In Luke Ch 8 Jesus makes a statement that is really eye-opening

• “My family is comprised of those who hear my word and do it. These are my mother, my brothers, my sisters.”

• That is so powerful to know that we are drawn closer in a FAMILIAL way to Jesus by not only hearing his Word, but by DOING his Word

• If you want to get closer to Jesus then DO HIS WORD

• LISTEN TO HIS WORD

• It’s not just listening and doing

• BUT…

• IT IS MOVING CLOSER TO HIM

• How many people ask the question, “How do I feel closer to the Lord?”

• The answer is not just a feeling

• But, those who HEAR the Word and ACT on it ARE FAMILY

• REGARDLESS OF FEELING

• REGARDLESS OF EMOTION

• REGARDLESS OF ALL THOSE OTHER SUBJECTIVE FACTORS

• Objectively speaking…

• It’s just like in the Gospel of John, “If you love me, you’ll keep my Commandments.”

• DO WHAT I ASK YOU

• DO WHAT I SAY

• Then in Luke Ch 9 it even moves further down the road from family to DISCIPLESHIP

• The PRICE or the COST of discipleship

• That PRICE of not only being FAMILY but being a DISCIPLINED FOLLOWER of Him is that you have to PICK UP YOUR CROSS and FOLLOW HIM

• That is not 24-karat

• That is the CROSS

• How HE lived, YOU live

• How HE suffered YOU suffer

• The obstacles that HE faced, YOU are going to face

• How HE was treated, YOU are going to be treated that way as well

• For students at college, that is a great truth to take to heart

• Luke Ch 14, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

• He doubles down, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

• When Fr. Mike first read this as a teenager, it just struck him

• THREE THINGS

• DENY YOURSELF

• PICK UP YOUR CROSS

• FOLLOW JESUS

• This is what HAS to be part of MY life if I’m going to be a DISCIPLE OF JESUS

• Fr. Mike wasn’t necessarily overjoyed about it

• But at the same time it was very clear

• That gave him a lot of consolation

• DENY YOURSELF

• PICK UP YOUR CROSS

• FOLLOW ME

• The first two are important and obviously necessary

• BUT…

• The THIRD part

• FOLLOW ME

• To be WANTED BY THE LORD

• TO HEAR HIM SAY, “I WANT YOU TO FOLLOW ME.”

• It helps the first two become palatable or even capable of doing that

• If Jesus asks you or me, or our friends to FOLLOW HIM, maybe following anybody else on Instagram or anything else is not important

• I’ve got the one who I’m following here

• He’s my KING

• He’s my LORD

• Luke Ch 24 the Emmaus Road Experience

• It’s the ONLY GENTILE writer explaining the inner workings of the MASS

• The Liturgy of the Word

• The Liturgy of the Eucharist

• You have Cleopas and somebody else

• They are walking away from Jerusalem

• They don’t know that Jesus has risen from the dead

• Their heads are hung low

• By the way my friends, if your heads are hung low maybe you have not noticed that HE IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD

• HE IS LORD

• HE IS ON THE THRONE

• So they are walking away and then Jesus joins them

• So does God have a sense of humor?

• Yeah!

• “Hey, what are you guys talking about? Are you the only ones who don’t know?”

• “About what?”

• “About Jesus of Nazareth?”

• And then what does he do?

• He sits down and gives them the Bible Study of ALL Bible studies

• Luke Ch 24 is the CD set we wish we had

• He goes through the Old Testament and explains WHY the Son of Man had to SUFFER

• That’s interesting

• Of all the themes that he would spend that entire day teaching on, he teaches on SUFFERING

• Which goes back to Luke Ch 9 and the Cost of Discipleship

• So Jesus has a meal with them

• The breaking of the bread is the same as the Liturgy of the Eucharist and THEN their EYES ARE OPENED AND THEY SEE HIM

• That is SUCH A BEAUTIFUL MESSAGE FOR US TODAY

• In the EUCHARIST just like in Luke Ch 24 if you want your EYES OPENED GO TO MASS

• You want to see life how it REALLY IS?

• GO TO MASS!!

• Do you want to know the TRUTH?

• GO TO MASS!!

• It will TRANSFORM YOU like the couple that was walking the Road to Emmaus

• And then they returned to Jerusalem

• So everyone who is listening and if you are walking away, go back and meet Jesus in the Eucharist

• Every third summer there is this camp for junior high students

• They walk through Luke Ch 24

• The whole week is this journey with Cleopas and Mrs. Cleopas

• Maybe that’s who he was travelling with

• The person is unnamed after all

• But…

• We experience a brokenness in our lives

• We are DEJECTED

• They were so disappointed

• We had hoped he would be the one to redeem Israel

• We HAD hoped

• Not we ARE hoping

• Not we are GOING to hope

• But we USED to

• We HAD hoped

• Now there is hope no longer

• And Jesus has this incredible surprise for them

• It’s not merely the surprise of ONE TIME MEETING

• A ONE TIME being able to encounter and see him again

• It is this SURPRISE that they will RELIVE EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY

• EVERY SINGLE LORD’S DAY

• WHENEVER THEY ARE ENCOUNTERING THE MASS

• In our HOPELESSNESS

• In our BROKENNESS

• What does Jesus do?

• He shows up

• He breaks open the WORD

• Then the WORD is made FLESH and GIVEN TO US in the EUCHARIST

• Looking at the differences in the four Gospels

• Except for a little mention at the end of Mark, Luke is the Gospel that really brings us into that mystery of the Ascension of Jesus

• He goes into some detail there

• In fact, that is where Ascension got their name...there it is!!

• Right there!!

• The Ascension acts as a BRIDGE from the Gospels to Acts

• Because Luke originally wrote it all together and the Church split it in two

• Right from that chapter we launch right into Acts so it is seamless

• One day it is Luke Ch 24

• The next day it is Acts Ch 1

• SO GOOD!!

• We can keep our eyes and ears attuned to all these elements

• Women in the Gospel

• The Nativity

• So many nativity stories come from Luke

• The extra parables

• The extra teaching

• The high call for discipleship

• Ascension

• If we were going to have one way of listening DIFFERENTLY to Luke’s Gospel than we listen to the other three, what is one filter we need on our ears?

• Listen for THIS piece that is MORE emphasized in Luke’s Gospel?