BibleProject - Luke Part Three: Good News for the Poor

Episode Date: December 14, 2016

In this episode, Tim and Jon discuss the first six chapters of the gospel of Luke. Luke stands out among the other gospels because it is all about Jesus’ message being first for the poor and outcasts. This made the religious leaders of the day mad, and Jesus’ ministry was totally revolutionary in a culture that was all about status and wealth. Luke’s gospel is constantly calling back to the Hebrew Scriptures, and it emphasizes, again and again, that Jesus is the Messiah that the prophets talked about. In the first part of the episode (02:01-11:10), the guys talk about the literary genius of the gospel of Luke. Luke’s account oozes with Old Testament allusions, and he did this so that his audience would see how connected Jesus is to Israel’s story and history. In the next part of the episode (11:41-19:28), the guys spend a lot of time talking about why Luke included the story of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River. The symbolism between Jesus’ baptism and the crossing of the children of Israel into the promised land is unmistakable! Jesus was making a bold statement. He was here to usher in a new age for Israel. In the next part of the episode (19:59-25:55), the guys continue to talk about the unique quality of Luke’s gospel. Even the structure of the book is different than the other gospels. Luke continues to use Old Testament imagery, specifically the exodus motif, so that his audience can’t ignore the connection between Jesus and Israel’s story. In the next part of the episode (26:25-42:14), Tim and Jon talk about Luke 4. This is the story of Jesus reading from Isaiah 61 proclaiming that he is the Messiah that the prophets talked about. This is another incredibly bold statement from Jesus. He goes on to describe this new age and his upside-down Kingdom that will mean freedom for the poor and oppressed. In the final part of the episode (42:44-56:08), the guys discuss the honor/shame culture of Israel during Jesus’ ministry. It was this context that made his ministry to the outcasts so scandalous. This is the main point of Luke’s gospel. In Jesus’ new Kingdom, God’s mercy rules, and no person is exalted above another. Video: This episode is designed to accompany our first two videos on the Gospel of Luke. You can view them on our youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OLezoUvOEQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k4GbvZUPuo References: Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels by Richard B. Hays Scripture References: Luke 1-6 Isaiah 40 Isaiah 61 Show Music: Defender Instrumental by Rosasharn Music Blue Skies by Unwritten Stories Flooded Meadows by Unwritten Stories

Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it in, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds, and please transcribe your question when you email it in. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the episode.

We've been talking through the gospel of Luke. In this episode, we're going to dig deep into the opening chapters of Luke's gospel, chapters 1 through 6. We're going to talk about into the opening chapters of Luke's Gospel, chapters 1 through 6. We're going to talk about the birth stories of Jesus and John the Baptist. We're going to see how these intimate stories were meant to show you that Jesus is connected to the hope of the Old Testament prophets. Instead of just saying, Jesus fulfills the prophetic predictions of the Old Testament. Luke tells these stories that it's just like ooze with all testament echoes and

resonance to show that the story of Jesus fulfilling the essence of this story of the Old Testament. We talk about how Luke is preparing you the reader to see how Jesus's mission is not what you think it would be. Luke's trying to help us see in this no-name teenage girl from Nazareth becoming the mother of the Messianic King, the essence of the whole thing, that when God's mercy shows up, nobody's get exalted to a place of honor. And that's a part of the pattern of how God has been working throughout Israel's story,

is the upside-downness of the kingdom. Then we talk about what happens when Jesus begins his ministry announcing God's coming reign. The kingdom of God is this reversal of values, and that it's Jesus creating this new space for the rich and the poor, but especially the poor because they usually on the out to be welcomed into God's mercy. We'll talk about what Jesus means when he says he's bringing freedom to the poor, how that's connected to the Jubilee, and we'll dig into why religious institutions

of the day didn't like him. Glad you're listening in, here we go. And there's no never correctness Now you are the children of the free ship contest Now it's time to rest Okay, so we've done the fly by overview of Luke Let's jump into each section The first section in Luke is chapters 1 and 2 You call it the introduction This is Jesus' birth story.

Luke begins his story with this very detailed, personal portrait of an elderly, priestly couple, he's serving it in Jerusalem. They've never been able to have kids. This old Jewish couple, they're righteous, they're so old. I should remind you of. And they've never been able couple, they're righteous. They should remind you of. And they've never been able to. Yeah, totally. And it just echoes every significant couple in the book of Genesis. It's very intentional. So it's intentionally making you recall Abraham. Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebecca.

They were unable to have kids, they were. Yeah, she was not able to have kids until a certain point in the story. Okay. Um, and then Jacob and Rachel. So yeah, so he ties you already in to this very Jewish story. It's great. And then Zechariah goes to serve in the Jerusalem temple and he's offering incense and he has this encounter with a majestic angelic being who says, you're going to have a kid and he's like, what?

No, it's impossible. You know, it's precisely like Abraham and Sarah's response, you know, in the book of Genesis. So you know, he goes mute and he can't talk until the child's born. It's a famous part of the story. Luke, chapters one and two are like a musical. It's famous part of the story. Luke, chapters one and two are like a musical. It's amazing. When John is born, he's filled with the Holy Spirit and he sings this poem that is just about five different

passages from Isaiah and three different songs put in a blender. Luke uses Zechariah's song to show that these events are not just replaying moments in Israel's history. They're bringing the whole story of the Old Testament to its culmination. So he says, he's praised the Lord God of Israel, he's come to his people, he's redeemed them. That's from the song of the scene, in Exodus, after the Exodus, through the sea. He's raised up a horn of salvation for us that saw him 148 in the house of a servant David, as he said through his holy prophets long ago, salvation from our

enemies, from the hands of those who hate us, to show mercy to our ancestors, to remember his covenant, he swore to Abraham, so we're thinking Genesis, all this. To rescue us from our enemies, this is Isaiah and Ezekiel, to enable us to serve him without fear and holiness and righteousness for all our days. And then he says about John, you'll be the prophet of the most high, you'll go on to prepare the way of the Lord, a threat from the Book of Malachi, to give his people knowledge of salvation for the forgiveness of their sins, Jeremiah 31, before the tender mercy of God by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven.

It's Malachi, chapter four, to shine on those living in darkness in the shadow of death. That's Isaiah, chapter nine, and to guide our feet into the path of peace. It's just this, it's amazing. I mean, I was happy when my son was born. You were spontaneously just quoting Old Testament Hebrew poetry in a string of credible.

Yeah, it's incredible. And then, you know, when Mary finds out that she's pregnant with the Messianic King, she has her own song. And so here, her song has all of these quotations from the song of Hannah into first Sam Yelch, chapter two, where she couldn't get pregnant. And then she goes to pray in the famous story. She goes to pray in the temple. Her song is really interesting.

It's called the Magnificat, that's how it begins in Latin. She says, my soul glorifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. And we go, yeah, it's very personal. It's a remarkable event. He's been mindful of the humble state. The literally she says, the poor state. Talked that away for a little later. Of the servant.

Or is it the word poor? Or the state, the humiliated state. So she's economically poor. You know, they live under the thumb of the Romans. Yeah, you know, that kind of thing. From now on, all generations will call me blessed. It's this reversal. She's this nobody who's now going to be the mother of the Messianic King. The mighty ones done great things for me, holiest his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation. So she's tying her experience of God's mercy

into the story of her people. And then she goes, he's performed mighty deeds with his arm. He scatters those who are proud in their innmost thoughts. And we're thinking, oh, well, suppose that's true. What does that have to do with you being pregnant? He's brought down rulers from their thrones. He lifts up the humble.

He's filled the hungry with good things. He sent the rich away empty. He's helped to serve in Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised. So here is, she's quote, echoing, Hannah's prayer, also Psalm 113, Luke's trying to help us see in this no-name, you know, teenage girl from Nazareth, becoming the mother of the Messianic king. Luke wants us to see in this the essence of the whole thing.

That when God's mercy shows up, nobody's get exalted to a place of honor. And that's a part of the pattern of how God has been working throughout Israel's story. It's the upside downness of the kingdom. David was a nobody out in the field. He gets exalted as king. And the Saul, like the big guy, he gets brother. And that's just the pattern that the childless couple becomes the family of Israel. So Luke's very interesting, instead of just saying, Jesus fulfills the prophetic predictions of the Old Testament. Luke tells these stories that's just like ooze with Old Testament echoes and resonance to show that the

story of Jesus, even before he was an adult, was already fulfilling the essence of the story of the Old Testament, and the literary quality is just beautiful. It's so epic. And this upside-downness, this reversal of bringing rulers down, but lifting up the humble, that's going to be the essence of what Lecchi lights of Jesus' kingdom of God announcement, of this reversal of values and reversal of status and Jesus exalting the poor. So he's setting the ground for that already in the first chapters. It's cool. These are very personal intimate stories that he begins with. Yeah. About, you know, this kind of this questioning of this couple,

and we've never been able to have sad. I have kids, and Mary's going to be this misunderstood teenager and her son's going to go on to become this controversial figure. Mm-hmm. It's what the angel tells her. So later when Mary brings Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem and he's dedicated, there's these two old prophets there who see him and they sing their own songs about Jesus. But then, Simi in the prophet, he says, this child is destined to cause the rising and falling of

many. That's what her song was about, right? The proud fall and the humblers exalted. So this child is going to cause a great reversal and upset in Israel. And he will be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts of many hearts are revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul, too. Yeah. I mean, if you got this promise about your own child, I don't know how I'd feel. You are yourself going to be torn in half by what your child becomes. He's he's talking to her. Sort of pierce your own soul too. Yeah, so this child is going to be

caused great upset in Israel. People are going to speak against him. It's gonna reveal people's. It's gonna reveal what's really inside of people's hearts when they encounter your son. And you yourself are gonna be conflicted about who your son is and what he's all about. It's ominous. It's totally, yeah, it's really powerful. So this is how Jesus is introduced to us.

We already can feel the conflict coming just in his rival. So that's the introduction. So we walk away from the introduction going. John's the Malachi, Isaiah predicted four runner of the Messianic king and Jesus. He's gonna fulfill the promise of Stabraham. He's gonna rescue the people so that they can serve God without fear. That's what Sekariah says. So now, as a literary, also as a literary design, these songs that the character sing in the opening, then set you up to expect Jesus and John

to do these things. So that was Luke 3, 1 and 2. And now let's talk about Luke 3. All of a sudden you turn the page, Luke 3, and just the grown-up are two key characters, John and Jesus, are grown men. And the way Luke's ordered things is really intentional. There's the baptism story. John goes to the place of Israel's roots, the Jordan River, where they cross to enter the land.

And he's having the people pass through the waters once again to renew their commitment to the God of Israel. So the symbolism is all loaded, that he's kickstarting the new covenant people. And it's like a new entry into the Promised Land again. That's surely what John was intended to do by choosing that spot. And was baptizing... Oh. Like where did this come from? Yeah, well, immersion, this kind of ritual immersion, was a temple practice already from Leviticus.

It was a symbolic purification. Yeah. It was marking your transition from a state of ritual impurity to a ritual purity. Okay. And in this period, it was also adopted into people's daily lives, not just whether or not you can go in and out of the temple, but people would do it before they would pray and they would immerse themselves in water.

Yeah, and then the Pharisees, this is a debate they have with Jesus, they would immerse their hands before eating every meal. So they took a practice from the temple and brought it into their homes too. And the Pharisees, this is a debate they have with Jesus, they would immerse their hands before eating every meal. So they took a practice from the temple and brought it into their homes too. But then John seems to have taken this existing practice and added a layer of meaning to the symbol by taking the baptism, not in these little pools, especially sacred pools in different places around the temple, but he goes down to the Jordan River

where the nation entered into the Promised Land. Which would be quite a hike. Yes, oh yeah. Yes, it's 20 miles and thousands of feet down to get down to Jordan. So, who's following John? I mean, who are these people who are gonna go take this 20 mile hike down this massive ravine to dunk

themselves in the Jordan River for some sort of spiritual exercise. Yeah. All the Gospel authors in Luke just says is that there were crowds coming to him and then made up in those crowds are Pharisees, religious leaders, tax collectors, Jewish soldiers, from Jerusalem. So you have a prophet down there preaching, and again, this is a culture attuned that's raised on these prophetic promises. So you have a figure going down who gives sermons every day that's just quoting from the prophets. He starts attracting attention, a renewal movement down by the Jordan River.

So people start going down to see him. Like the same reason why people go to like Tony Robbins like retreats. I mean like so what's an equivalent? Now this would be like, yeah, I'm thinking in terms of American culture, this would be like somebody, this would be like somebody going back to the, where's the harbor in Boston,

where's the tea party? Oh, the tea party. Yeah, this would be like that. Somebody going back to that harbor and dumping all these tea bags back in and say, we're starting over guys. If you wanna join me, if you wanna recapture the dream of the real American hope.

Got it. Come down. So there's a political aspect to this. Yeah, political, it's all mixed together. It's all mixed together. Political religion, it's all mixed. Because American politics doesn't have as much religion mixed up into it.

Well, a little bit. It depends on your interpretation of American history. Well sure, every someone going there and being like, we're going to reboot this and make this a real Christian nation. Correct, yeah, that would be it. And so come dedicate your life back to God and to America. Let's make this happen.

And you go back to an iconic symbolic location that brings back the memory of our roots as a people. That's what John the Baptist is doing. Okay. And people are like, yeah, I'm fed up with... I'm fed up with Rome. With Rome, with those compromised leaders in Jerusalem who keep striking deals with Rome.

They let soldiers go into the temple courts. People are eating pork and Jerusalem. There's a lot of Jews who don't even obey the Sabbath anymore. Yeah, like. And so there's a guy down to the Jordan River. He's starting a movement. Yeah. And I want to go check it out.

Yeah. And when you get there, you're like, yep, I'm in. I'm in on this. Yes. Go into the Jordan. And so I repent. I immerse myself and I repent for Israel's faithlessness and all the Compromise to the covenant and the failures that we keep making and that our people are making

I want to join the new Israel that God's gonna form when he shows up. Mm-hmm like he said he would. Mm-hmm That's I say 40 and Malachi. That's how Malachi 4 ends. That's how the prophets ends. I'm going to send a messenger That's how Malachi 4 ends. That's how the prophets ends. I'm going to send a messenger who will turn the hearts of the people back before the great coming day of the Lord. And so John says, yeah, the day's coming. So John's saying that day's coming, the Lord's coming, I'm preparing you. That's what he meant. I'm preparing the way for the Lord. That's that. Yes. Yeah. And then the narrative clearly is then presenting Jesus as the one who is the arrival of the Lord. Because it's all about John's written in the Book of Isaiah. So Luke quotes from the Book of Isaiah from chapter 40, a voice calling the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord, the God of Israel.

Every valley will be filled in. This is all from Isaiah 40. We don't have time to go there. And then Luke chapter three, verse six, all people will see God's salvation as the Hebrew word of salvation is Yeshua. It's Jesus' name. No.

Right there in Isaiah, for all people will see God's Yeshua and then John announces his message and then loads of them. What is the name of Jesus' name is salvation? Yes, yes, yes. It is. It's the standard Hebrew word for Yahweh saves. Yahweh brings salvation.

Is Yeshua? It will come in Hebrew name for... Yeah, it was really. The loaks. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Is that what Joshua means to you?

Yep. Yeah, Hoshua is a lengthened version and then the condensed version is Yeshua. So Jesus comes up and he comes and is fascinating. He just identifies himself with John's new Israel movement. And then he's marked out by the events of the baptism, which is the cloud descends, which is worth this is what happened on Mount Sinai. This is what happened when God's presence came over the temple. And then the Holy Spirit comes and hovers over in him in the form of a bird, which as we've talked about in the

Holy Spirit, that's Genesis 1 imagery. You have God communicating his love to the sun. This is my son whom I love with you. I'm well pleased his love to the son. This is my son who my love with you. I'm well pleased. And then the spirit is the one communicating this message of love from the father to the son. So God does show up. Again, think Luke. He's got the book of Acts in mind. He had, he's writing two Christians who believe that God, the God of Israel consists of God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. There's three in one vision of God. And it's introduced right here at the beginning of the story.

It doesn't say Trinity. He didn't have that word yet, but he's got the full three in one deal right there. music Matthew places the genealogy of Jesus at the beginning, the first. Luke places it right after the baptism, and it's this long genealogy with 77 generations traced. Convenient. And the last human figure is Adam. And then who's called the Son of God, which is precisely what Jesus was just announced at, at the baptism.

So it's kind of like he pushes pause on the story and gives you Jesus' lineage. Like so I made a claim right here. Let's just pause. This is legit. You know, it's all it goes all the way back and then he turns back checking. Then he turns the story back on. Yeah, it's really interesting. So there's more going on in Luke. Jesus goes into the wilderness and it's amazing. Now in the other gospels, the wilderness, this wilderness scene comes right after the baptism. Right, the same location.

The same location, but the significance of it seems to be closely related to Exodus and wilderness. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, so you can tell that Luke's put the genealogy there because he interrupts the sequence of the baptism and Jesus is testing in the wilderness. Whereas in Matthew and Mark, those are tightly linked stories with no interruption. And it's Exodus imagery because the passage through the water and then going into the wilderness for 40 days for Jesus, years for Israel. And there in the wilderness, Jesus is tested, which is precisely what happens to

Israel in the wilderness, but Jesus passes the test. Is that Luke's point of bringing this up? Yes, the wilderness story for sure, because the first question that the devil asks Jesus is, now if you are the son of God, so it's a red thread, here's my son, who my love, here's the genealogy to prove he's the son of God. Then Jesus goes into the wilderness, and the claim on the examination table is, now if you really are the son of God. And that's precisely what Israel was called before the Exodus. Exodus chapter 4 is called God's firstborn son.

So in the Exodus story, they go through the waters, which vindicates them as God's special son, so to speak, they go into the wilderness, and they rebel and fail the test as God's son. So Luke is using this motif twice. Yeah, the Gospel authors don't seem to have this overarching thing of mappings every story on to certain details in the Exodus. It's rather that the Exodus story provided them with this vocabulary of images and ideas

that they will pull on and use the language at different points in the story. One of my favorite New Testament scholars named Richard Hayes has devoted years and a number of books to how the gospel stories refer and connect Jesus to the Old Testament. And so he has a chapter, this is in his book, Reading Backwards. He has a whole chapter on Luke where he talks about Luke's most common way of linking Jesus to the Old Testament is what he calls implicit correspondence. So instead of explicit prediction for film, like Matthew, Luke, here's what he calls implicit correspondence. So instead of explicit prediction, fulfillment, like Matthew, Luke, here's what he says,

Luke's language and imagery repeatedly evoke fragmentary, old testament, passages, and connecting them to the story of Jesus. He has a cool analogy. He says, you might picture Luke's narrative technique in this way. It says, though, the primary action of Jesus and this his story is on center stage in front of the spotlight. But on a screen at the back of the stage, there's a kaleidoscopic series of

sepia-tone images that flash and move across the screen. And these are stories and phrases from Israel scriptures. The images can flash by sometimes almost unnoticed. It's just a word or two. However, if the viewer could freeze the story and pay careful attention, there are moments where the words and gestures of the characters on the main stage mirror what's happening on the shifting backdrop.

And at these moments, the viewer experiences a flash of insight as the live action connects to a scene from a much older story. It's not Luke's style to develop these insustained sequences. Notice how we talked earlier about how the Exodus motif appears here on the mountain. And then he goes here, but then the Exodus motif also appears in the baptism and then going into the desert for 40. So Luke's style, rather, is that almost as soon as we recognize one correspondence with an Old Testament story, the moment's past, and then a new Old Testament reference

is on the backdrop of the next story. So he's constantly creating illusions. Yes. Yes, the story keeps moving and it leaves us with a powerful sense of analogy between what God did in the past for Israel and what he's doing right now in the story of Jesus. Right. That's just a great description of the technique. That's cool.

So if you don't catch it, you won't see it. Right. But if you do, it deepens your appreciation of the story. You were just watching the play with the spotlight we're showing. And it might have been, you would enjoy it. But then if you start watching the play while watching that backdrop sequence of images, it's funny how it's Cpia tone, collect it. Yeah, I don't know why he said sepia.

So in the baptism story, it's got the people passing through the Jordan to go into the promised land, the Genesis one story of the Spirit over the waters, the Exodus story through the Red Sea, into the wilderness for 40, you know, and you're on your own. Oh wow. Yeah. And then the next thing Jesus does in Luke's portrait of his mission in Galilee is his inaugural sermon in Luke chapter 4. So Mark, it was just a short summary. Jesus went in the Galilee saying, Repent, the Kingdom of God is here. In Matthew, basically the same, repent,

the Kingdom of Heaven is here. But Luke has taken a story and kind of put it in front position as if it's the first sermon that Jesus gave, whether it actually is, we don't know. So here's the story in Luke chapter 4, it's just worth reading. Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. Luke mentions Jesus empowered by the Spirit more than any other gospel author, which of course, look at volume 2, book of Acts. News about him spread throughout the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues.

Everybody praised him. So it's just a week in the life of Jesus going about. He went to Nazareth, his hometown, where he'd been brought up. On the Sabbath, he went to the synagogue like his custom was and he stood up to read and the scroll of the prophet Yisyaahu, Isaiah, was handed to him. So unrolling it, he found the place where it was written, and he quotes from,

Isaiah 61, though he sprinkles a little Isaiah 58 in there too. The spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me. Anoint, he breath words, Mashaach. It's the verb from which the noun Mashiach comes, which is the word Messiah. Anointed one. He miscied me. He miscied me. To proclaim Bazar, good news. This is the word that becomes Yuangeleon and Greek, gospel. To proclaim gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down, everybody was staring

at him, literally the eyes of everyone are fastened on him. And he started by saying, today the scriptures fulfilled in your hearing. That's not a normal synagogue situation. No, normally it would be like, you know, this is what we're helping for. When will this figure come? And Jesus says, this is happening. It's happening. And this way says, all spoke well of him. People were amazed, stunned at the gracious words coming out of his mouth. But then they asked, wait, is this Joseph's son?

Mm-hmm. We know you. Oh, like we know this kid. Yeah. What? And then he starts to get into it with them, because then they start rejecting him. And like, who are you? You're just hometown kid.

So there's a lot going on in the story. Where, what chapter is this? Chapter four. Chapter four. So think baptism, genealogy, testing in the desert. This is it. This is it. This is how we kind of launch this image.

This is how we launch this ministry. And it's a really important poem from Isaiah 62, but he sprinkled in a little phrase from Isaiah 58, which is, we don't have time to talk about that, but it's really cool. But the key repeated words are highlighted here are freedom, this repeated twice, and the poor, because he's announcing good news for the poor specifically.

So when Luke wants you to think of Jesus, he wants you to think of a messianic figure, hope for by the prophets, he's bringing good news and freedom for the poor. The poor would be people who knew in that town and other towns that just didn't have a lot of cash. Right, so this is fascinating. The word poor in the Hebrew Bible refers more to difficult circumstances, which could be economic, but also being dishonored, a state of dishonor, or shamed, or being a social outsider. Like if you have a leprosy or something.

Yeah, yeah, leprosy. What Luke's doing here is he's setting the stage for all of the people Jesus is going to go reach out to and the stories to follow. So yeah, think of all the famous stories of the people Jesus did that. So blind people, lepers, women who had issues with their body that made them ritually impure, unable to go up into the temple, sick people, children, but then a tax collector, Levi, look, so he's not poor, he's killing it. But in terms of his standing in relationship to the community, he's shunned. He's now cast. He's now cast.

prostitutes. So Luke is. So what a better word an outcast. He's an outcast. prostitutes. So Luke is... So what a better word be outcasts than poor? Well, I've come back and forth. I don't know. The Greek word Tokas renders the Hebrew on knee. This is Joel Greene. I guess one of my favorite commentaries in the gospel of Luke. And he thinks this is key for Luke's depiction of Jesus' mission. He says, Jesus' mission is directed to the poor, Luke chapter 4. In the holistic sense of those who are for any number of reasons, relegated to positions outside the boundaries of God's people,

Jesus refuses to recognize those socially determined boundaries and asserts instead that these outsiders can now belong to God's family. That's what he draws out of this. So the poor is a big category that refers more to someone's status in their culture than just how much money they have. So Jesus is saying that's who his mission is directed to. Does that's how we use the word in English? We use it to refer to specifically your just income and your assets. Yeah, yeah, it's economic. Because you could be a poor outcast,

you could be a rich outcast. Yeah, so you can be a rich poor person and Luke, and Levi and then Zacchaeus. Later on in the book is another example of a wealthy. A wealthy poor person. Poor person. Yeah. It's interesting. It is interesting. So in the simmer of the mount when he says, blessed are the poor, and then another spot says poor spirit. Yes. Yeah. Well, it's an important difference. In Matthew, Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit, in Luke, he says, blessed are the poor in spirit, in Luke, he says, blessed are the poor.

So which again, fits into Luke's theme. When Jesus gives that teaching in Luke, he's already announced that his mission is to the poor. And so. So blessed are the outcasts. Blessed are those who, yeah,

have been on the outside margin of acceptable society because the God's grace and mercy in bringing the kingdom is coming to you first. So it's just the principle that people who are in economic or social difficulty are more aware of their need for help than people who are wealthy. I was just, if you have a lot of money. Money, but also if you're in the club. And then if you're in the club.

Yeah, if you're like socially accepted, even if you have a lot of cash. Yeah, you're way less likely to care about a profit coming through town saying God's gonna bring us deliverance and you're like, I don't know, be delivered from what? I'm doing great. But if you're blind in one eye and you can't work anymore, and you don't know what to do, and then a prophet comes to town,

and he's teaching about trusting God for provision. Don't worry about tomorrow. You have a new group of people to hang out with. They invite you to dinner and everybody shares everything in the name of Jesus. You feel accepted. Yeah, he gives you hope. Yep, these are the communities of Jesus. You know? You feel accepted. Yeah. He gives you hope.

Yeah. These are the communities that Jesus would leave behind, you know, in these towns when you would visit them. There are people who are discovering what it means to live in God's kingdom. He saw that as the kingdom of God. It was the, he said, the kingdom of God is arriving. And if you follow me and live by my teachings, you are living away in a way that's appropriate to how God rules the world.

So, Jesus' mission to the poor, really important part of Luke's portrayal, and it's connected to what for the poor. Good news and freedom is what happens in most of our English translations. And that word freedom, here you can see it, he repeats it. Oh, it sometimes gets translated release for the prisoners. Here it is, release. Or in some translations it's freedom for the prisoners. And this is really interesting.

It's from the Greek word a facist, which literally means to physically release. But in the passage he's quoting from Isaiah 61, it's the Hebrew word that referred to the release of slaves and the release of people from their debts in the Jubilee cycle, which was every 49 years. All debts would be canceled, all slaves freed, all land that was lost due to just bad fortune and the family had to sell it. It goes back to the original owners. So the Jubilee was this reenactment of the Exodus story

in Israel's economic system. Where? How's it related to Exodus? Slavery and debt. Oh, all the debt was canceled when they left Exodus? Or left to Egypt? Well, oh, rather the debt was viewed as a form of being enslaved. I see. And the land is in a form of being enslaved. I see.

And the land is in a form of enslavement because it's now belongs to somebody who's not, it's a original family heritage. So the Jubilee here, this is a Leviticus 25, huge, huge theme in Luke, is that the exodus slavery, the Egyptian slavery, and then the Jubilee echo. That's one of these things on the background of the screen here. So, so you have this understanding of this Jewish tradition where people were released from their obligations and the land that you might have lost. They brought back to you.

So there's this. The land that was assigned to your clan back when Joshua divided up the land. Bad year, you didn't have enough money. You had to sell the land and now it belongs to that family. So it's a pretty radical moment of getting back no matter how you got there, why you're in this position, just making it right, correcting it. Yes. So the Jubilee assumes there's an ideal and that ideal becomes Israel's first receiving of the promised land.

And all the try everyone sits under their own vine and fig tree. Yeah. All the families have their own piece of land to work. Nobody's indebted or enslaved to another. So there's an ideal where everyone's being produced. Free slavery in Egypt, where we're free. They're not slaves, they're productive on their own land. They don't owe each other debts. That's the ideal.

Yes. But what eventually happens is you make mistakes. You start oweing people debt. You have to give your land over. Or someone takes advantage of you. Someone takes advantage of you. Yeah. There's corruption.

And now you don't have land, you might be in debt, you actually might be serving another family now. And the year of sale. You had to sell your kid. Geez. Into a form of bond service and do another family because you can't afford to raise them. This is what happened.

Yeah. It was their culture. Is there evidence that this would actually happen the year of Jubilee? Would they actually practice it? Oh, that's fascinating. I actually need to do a little more homework on it. It's talked about a lot in second-time literature, but as far as records of it actually being

enforced, anywhere in the Old Testament history. It would take a lot to enforce it. It would, yeah. It doesn't mean it didn't happen. It just means the narratives that we have don't focus on it. It could have been communities here and there. They were like, we do it. Yeah. Yeah. But the power here is- This is every 49 years, right? Correct. The idea is every- And actually, smaller cycles are seven. It would happen of debts released, but in terms of the land and everything connected to the land, the promised land,

going back to its original pristine state, was the Jubilee year. So Jesus is out and he's saying, I am bringing that. The Kingdom of God is the time of Jubilee release for the poor, which means good news. And so he's not talking about like, hey, it's the 49th year guys. Like, this time for the Jubilee, he's saying, there's the spirit of the Jubilee is now coming for the poor. It's a new era.

Yes, and remember, he's quoting Isaiah 61. So Isaiah was the one who connected the Messiah's coming to an era of Jubilee. That it would be a Jubilee era. And Jesus is saying, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. What I'm doing, as I travel around Galilee, inviting all these, you know, all the wrong people into what I'm doing, this is the Jubilee. The slaves are being freed. People who know that they need help and need God's mercy and that their lives need to change.

They're going to get their chance. And Jesus is the one who goes out to them. It's a very populist message. It is. Yeah. One way to frame it. I mean, he opposed the existing institutions in Jerusalem. He thought they were corrupt.

And the popular religious... So you just... Yeah, the popular religious institutions of like the local synagogues, they had a mixed reception. Some people loved him, some people ran him out of town, thought it was crazy. And he's talking about just accepting everyone and sharing. Well, I mean, he calls people to repent and follow him, you know, so he's not just like, hey, you're cool. Live however you know. So he's not just like, hey, you're cool. Live however you want.

Yeah, he's calling people to a new way of life, but he's going first to the poor in that broader category. I see. Saying, listen, you know, life, as we know it isn't life, how God intended it here for God's people, and he called people to turn and follow him. Yeah, because he was calling people

to a very high level morality too, in like the sermon on the mountain. Yeah, I mean, Jewish traditional Jewish culture is already a very traditional moral culture. Uh-huh. So that's why his teachings focus specifically on not getting retribution, forgiveness, generosity, these kinds of things. But then also including the needy and including those of low social status. So there was already this high moral standard in Judaism, but there became this underbelly of the outcasts, the people who weren't really accepted. And Jesus was like, look, this is where Kim of God is going to begin. That's right. That's the specific theme Luke's focusing on.

So again, as we think about the video, this is crucial. If I have one, I'm thinking of everybody can see these four different videos one on each of the gospels. For Mark, it was the question, who and how, and what's he going to do. It's the paradox of the crucifix Messiah.

For Luke, it's this. It's this, that the kingdom of God is this reversal of values and that it's Jesus creating this new space for the rich and the poor, but especially the poor because they usually on the out to be welcomed into God's mercy and that what happens in Jerusalem and the cross is just the epitome of Jerusalem and the cross is just the epitome of the upside down where the exalted King becomes the poor criminal. Hanging from the cross. Yeah. Getting executed like a career.

But you can see there's this link that Jesus' kingdom announcement is hand in glove with what happens on the cross. It's the same basic idea, but here he's just living it his nose up to. Because they're in chapter 4, he's at a synagogue, he's handed the scroll by an assistant. I mean, that's all part of the religion. Yeah, this is hometown, this is hometown. Yeah, he's not rejecting Judaism. Right.

Something. He is bringing to fulfillment what he thinks is the true calling and hope of the Jewish people. He, more than he's claiming that he is bringing the hopes of their people to their God-intended fulfillment. So this isn't in Luke, I think it's Matthew, where he just rails on the Pharisees. Yeah, he has that in Luke. Yeah, it doesn't get a whole chapter.

But yeah, it comes near the end. Okay. But yeah, even in this section in Galilee in chapters three to nine, there are multiple stories where they don't like what Jesus is doing, they don't like the people is hanging out with, they don't like that he's having dinner parties with people who used to be prostitutes.

And because, and why don't they like it? Well, so you have someone who's presenting themselves as a prophet, as a leader, it's from the line of David, and he's hanging out with the wrong people, and he's saying that someone like Alivai, a tax collector, who essentially is a compromiser, he's a trader, he's going and sitting in a Roman tax booth, exacting taxes

on all these Jewish fishermen trying to go sell their fish. And Jesus just says, follow me to him one day. And the guy, he leaves that and follows Jesus, the stigma didn't stay at the tax booth. And the same with the prostitutes and other poor people. So it's about, it's this honor shame culture. We already have a difficult time understanding honor shame cultures from an American point of view, but your status in society is like a pecking order. So if you belong because of your life choices, family history, economic setting, to the of low status. It's inappropriate for Jesus to be saying. And these are God's new covenant family.

But they were Jews. They were. They were. They were part of the family. But for him to highlight them as like these are the where it's going to start. These are how starts. It's the, yeah, I use the word upside down. Maybe. Yeah, upside down. So like, I'm a religious leader, and in my mind, where it's starting, where the kingdom of God is gonna come is through my care for the traditions.

Yes. And it will come out of the synagogue, out of the rabbi leaders. Mm-hmm. And these are where God's will be together. And we'll be the ones that help. I see. Point us all towards where this needs to go.

And when a ruler comes, we'll be a part of that. Yeah. It'll all be part of the institution. We'll be on the same team. Yeah. Yeah, interesting. Yes. And so here comes the guy.

Yeah. They don't really feel on the same team with completely. Yeah. Yeah, interesting. Yes. And so here comes the guy. Yeah. They don't really feel on the same team with completely. Yes. Because he's not, he's ignoring many of the practices they find really important. Yeah, that's right. He has a different interpretation of what it means to rest on the Sabbath. That's huge, right there. Huge. Massive. Big identity marker. Yeah. Jewish people. Don't mess with that. And it's set them apart in the Roman world. Yeah. Because there wasn that and it set them apart in the Roman world Yeah, because there wasn't people didn't get weak ends. Yeah in the Roman workforce So there's that but then Jesus does things like we're hungry. There's grain in this field

All right Let's just eat here and there's a gins custom and that's against the traditional interpretation of don't work on this Sabbath and then he has a number of healings on the Sabbath. And they say, what? It wasn't life-threatening. Right. So why couldn't this wait till another day? Yeah.

But for Jesus, the Sabbath was about God's mercy and grace. So what better day for someone to that kind of thing? So there's that. So yeah, so. And then Jesus differed over ritual purity things that weren't in the Torah, but that were traditions that were formed by the Pharisees about hand-washing. And there Jesus would have debates and be like, what, listen, you're trying to stamp out

impurity from Israel because we live in near sacred space and we're the holy people. But he accused them of cleaning up Israel in the wrong place. That's just famous thing about, you don't get impure by something you eat. Really a provocative, because he's like, don't read Leviticus. Yeah, you do.

Yeah, you do. And he says, no, foods don't make you impure. It's what, not what goes into your mouth, what comes out of your mouth that renders you impure. So, he's fast and loose with Sabbath traditions. Sabbath. He's a little fast and loose with like kosher traditions, although he probably didn't break kosher. He's a kosher. And so that's threatening, right off the bat that's threatening.

Yes. And then this other layer of, so I try to understand it. So if I'm like a, I'm a religious leader, I'm looking at someone who's an outcast, who's poor. I'm supposed to take care of them. That's true. Right? Yeah, and they certainly were. Yeah, and so I'm not gonna be, I'm not gonna be that scandalized that Jesus would say,

hey God really cares about the poor. You'd be like, yeah, I have a poor sky. Yes, yes, that's true. So that doesn't seem that upside down to them. Yeah, I suppose what's upside down is that these are the kinds of people that Jesus chooses to spend most of his time with. These are the people that he notices and moves towards when he goes into a town. These are the people that he recruits as the leaders of his movement.

You just wouldn't do that. If you were building a movement, you would look for all the the powerful, you go to the authoritative wealthy, the Pharisees school down the street, you get them on board. You get the best Bible excerpts on board, you go get a priest or two, some Levites, right? Yeah. You build a, you're the, you say you're the Messiah, and you're bringing the King of the House. You build that kind of coalition. Right. And so he gets no name fisherman, tax collector, and a bunch of women. A number of women who aren't even supposed to be the disciples of the Church. Yeah.

And these are the people he says, blessed are you. The king of of God is yours. You're the winners. Is what he says. And it's, Jesus is very intentional about not just what he says, but how the shape of his movement and the people that he picked to be in his movement. That also communicated a message, just like forming a basketball team out of no-name players.

And then taking them to the Olympics. It's like that. Yeah. Saying, here's the real deal. Isn't that the plot of cool runnings, right? I don't know. I don't know. I guess the movie where the Jamaican Bob's led to here. So, but your point is, like a poor person,

like a poor beggar's blind. He's not being neglected and spit on by the Pharisees. They're, they're commit, they take care of him. Yeah, they're not like, get him out. We know like, and Jesus is the only person to ever be nice to him. You're like, hey guys, these are people too. Yeah, it's not like that. Yeah, they're not like, get him out. We know like, and Jesus is the only person to ever be nice to him. We're like, hey guys, these are people too. Yeah, it's not like that.

Yeah, okay. It's more that there is a symbolism, powerful symbolism, and Jesus picking, recruiting, moving specifically, and constantly towards. This is what he's remembered. So it's kind of like if I wanted to run for mayor in Portland, maybe, we'll see what this goes. And normally it's like, I gotta like hobnob

with everyone, people with deep pockets, get some money, get to know everyone in the government and like kind of build this coalition. And I get in through that door, through the people who are already in, the in group. This is how you get influenced around. Yeah. This is how I get influence around. Yeah.

This is how I'd also become like school president, right? Yeah. That's right. You get to know the people who could benefit you. Yes. You'll see all trying to benefit them. Popular kids, the like people who have some sort of authority. You want to get in with that coalition.

You wouldn't, I like the school. I meant for better right now. I've known nothing about local politics, but I went to high school. So like, so if I wanted to run for school president, that's what I wouldn't, but I wouldn't do, is like, go hang out with, the couple dudes who played Dungeons & Dragons

and always sit by themselves. And never show. The people who we at lunch at the way back by like the baseball bleachers. The guy who eat lunch at the way back by the baseball bleachers. The guy who couldn't get into the drama team because he was too weird. But then on a more serious note, there was those kids who always have reggae clothes.

You wonder maybe they live in the van with their family. Yeah. And then there's the girl who everyone makes fun of because she's thought of as promiscuous. Yeah. And just, yeah, I mean, I'm thinking of all these, the outcasts. The outcasts, yep.

Yeah, all these people are coming to my mind from high school, yeah. And then I'm trying to think of someone to be kind of like the tax collector. Like someone who like, no one really likes, because he's like always brown nosing with the principal or something. Yeah, he's like the hall monitor.

He's the hall monitor. On course. Yeah, he's always like, he's like, who are you late class? So early. And nobody likes him. Yeah, he's got a travel. Traitor. He's a traitor. So yeah, that whole dress. And so, Jesus egg Because everyone's got a trouble. Trader.

He's a traitor. So yeah, that whole drag tag. And so, Jesus, he's just hanging out with those people and he goes, you know what? We're going to take this. We're going to form an after-school club. And, and we're going to turn this school around. Yeah. This is what this school actually needs.

Is this group of people? This group of people. And we're going to live a radically different way caring about each other. Yeah, where we honor each other, we treat each other as more important than ourselves. And they're all like, and you're gonna become,

and Jesus, you're gonna become president of the school. And they're all excited. Yeah. Yeah, I suppose, yeah, let's just play it out. And then he would be like, yeah, but not in a way that you. Yeah, that's what I would think. And they're like going to the pep rally, where they think Jesus is gonna give his announcement

that he's running for school president, and instead he just, he like, He gets like jumped and beat up in the back hall. Totally. Yeah, I'm sent to the hospital. Yep, yeah. And then the clinch would be the moment where he's vindicated, you know,

whatever the equivalent is to the resurrection. Right, when it's in the total resurrection. It turns out he comes back from the hospital and you learn that he is actually the son of the superintendent of the entire school. And he's elevated as not just school president. that he is actually the son of the superintendent of the entire school. And he's elevated as not just school president, class president, but like super intended of the district. Right. Okay, you know, we're on to something here. No, we are. I think here's why I think many people don't know how to connect all the events of Jesus' story together, together as having all, as one unified thing,

making one unified statement. And so we have like radical revolutionary Jesus, and we kind of like Him. But then there's like traditionally moral Jesus, who's like, you know, talking about sex and divorce, and very, sounds very traditional. And then there's the Jesus who dies for my sins. And I think for many people, these are different Jesus' in our heads, and I like one,

I tend towards the other, I don't understand the death on the cross, it's weird. Or it's cool, it's how Jesus loved me. But it's unifying all these in one, as part of one statement, the upside down kingdom of God, where the reject are actually the ones of greatest honor. The God shows His love for the world precisely by turning its value system upside down. And the cross is the epitome of that, the king who's executed.

Yeah, so powerful. Now you are my shoulder, please get the best. Now it's time to go. Up next will be the final podcast episode we'll finish off the Gospel of Luke. And you'll see the first video that we made for this new mini series on Luke, release the week before Christmas. We're really excited about it and then throughout next year we'll release for more. It will be five part series going through the gospel of Luke fully animated. Please say hi to us. We're on Facebook at the Bible Project and on Twitter at Join Bible Proj. You can see all the videos that we make. They're

free on YouTube, YouTube.com slash the Bible Project. Thanks for listening in. If you enjoy this podcast, you can rate it on iTunes That's really helpful for our iTunes standings and you can share it with others Thanks for being a part of this Please leave all your man, just another quickness Now you are the shoulder of peace with the test Now it's time to mend you