12. The Gospel of Joy
The word "gospel" means "good news" and in that sense, all the four gospels contain a joyful message. But there is one gospel that focuses on joy – we might almost say it is filled with joy – and that gospel is Luke. Joy may not be as noticeable as some of Luke's other themes, but it is a very real emphasis of his gospel, nonetheless. Luke begins and ends his account of the life of Jesus by focusing on joy, and between these two "bookends" he mentions joy more than any other gospel – in fact, more than any other book of the New Testament.
At the beginning of his gospel, Luke (alone) records two events in which great joy is evident. Luke gives us a "prequel" to his account by recording the birth story of John the Baptist – whose parents are told "He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth" (Luke 1:14). Luke notes that while still in Elizabeth's womb, John "leaped for joy" (Luke 1:44) at the sound of Mary's voice, and that even her neighbors and relatives shared her joy (Luke 1:58).
In the same way, in Luke's account of the nativity of Christ, joy is equally evident when the angel announces the birth of Jesus to the shepherds with the words: "I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people" (Luke 2:10). That "good news" was, of course, the beginning of the "gospel" – a message of potentially unparalleled joy for everyone ("for all the people") that through Jesus Christ those who were lost and doomed could now be saved.
Once we enter the body of Luke's gospel, we find multiple references to joy. Luke records Jesus' admonition that we find joy even in times of persecution (Luke 6:23), that those like the seed that fell on rocky ground only temporarily receive the word with joy (Luke 8:13), that the seventy–two Jesus sent out returned with joy (Luke 10:17), and that Jesus himself was full of joy through the Holy Spirit (Luke 10:21).
But it is the joy of the lost being found that underlies much of what the Evangelist writes. Joy is at the heart of the three parables he records regarding the shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep
(Luke 15:3–7), the woman who searches for a lost coin (Luke 15:8– 10), and the father who daily looked for the return of his lost son (Luke 15:11–32). Each of these parables ends with a joyful celebration: the shepherd invites everyone to rejoice with him, as does the woman when she finds her coin, and the father whose son had been lost has finally returned.
But while Matthew records, for example, some of the parable of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:12–14), Luke alone includes Jesus' words "I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety–nine righteous persons who do not need to repent" (Luke 15:7). In the same way, all four gospels record the miracles of Jesus, and the resurrected Jesus appearing to the disciples, but only Luke records the joy of the people at Jesus' works (Luke 19:37), and only Luke (Luke 24:41) and John (John 20:20) record the disciples' great joy at seeing their resurrected Lord.
When we look for it, we find joy throughout the third gospel. Given what we have seen of this continued focus, it is perhaps not surprising that Luke's account ends in exactly that way – with the words "Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy ..." (Luke 24:52).
If we want to read a gospel account that highlights the joy that Jesus and his disciples had, or we would simply like to read the Bible's most joy–filled book, we need look no further than Luke.
CONCLUSION: THE ENDURING VALUE OF LUKE
We have seen in this book that the Gospel of Luke contains a vast amount of material not found in any of the other gospel accounts. There is also a great deal of other unique material in Luke that we have not covered – such as many additional short sayings of Jesus. For example, Jesus' question "when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and even minor additions such as this add to the value of what Luke wrote.
We have also seen that the extra material that Luke was able to gather and present for us consists of far more than minor details omitted in the other gospels. This is evident in that Luke gives us much that we would not otherwise know about the life of Jesus, and a number of his teachings that would otherwise not have survived. As we said in the Introduction of this book, the unique material Luke provides often lies at the heart of our mental image of what Christianity is all about.
But even beyond the value of all the unique material Luke's account contains, the preceding chapters have shown that the way in which Luke skillfully arranged the facts he had gathered also helps us. For example, his pairing of stories of male and female disciples, and of rich and poor individuals, or the way he weaves his stories around the meals he describes, and the unique "sandwiches" found in his gospel, all teach additional lessons we can learn if we look for them.
We can also learn from aspects of Luke's gospel such as his unique focus on the other disciples of Jesus – the lesser known and the unknown people Jesus also interacted with during his ministry beyond the twelve apostles. These other individuals were often everyday people with lives like ours, and reading about them can give us both instruction and inspiration.
In all of these ways, and others, Luke offers us invaluable lessons we cannot find elsewhere in the New Testament. That is why so many Christians throughout history have agreed – the Gospel of Luke is an account that can richly reward repeated reading and continued application in our lives. May it do so in yours.
APPENDIX: UNIQUE MATERIAL IN LUKE
The following list gives seventy–two of the especially important passages that are uniquely found in the third gospel. There are many other smaller, and more minor passages that are not included in this list.
Dedication to Theophilus (1:1–4) The birth of John foretold (1:5–25) The birth of Jesus foretold (1:26–38) Mary visits Elizabeth (1:39–45) Song of Mary (the Magnificat) (1:46–56) Birth and naming of John (1:57–66) Song of Zechariah (1:67–80) Angels appear to shepherds (2:8–20) Circumcision and dedication of Jesus (2:21–24) Simeon's song and prophecy (2:25–35) Anna's thanksgiving (2:36–38) The missing Jesus is found in the temple (2:39–52) Date of John's ministry (3:1–2) Genealogy of Jesus traced from Adam (3:23–38) John's instructions to various groups (3:10–14) Jesus claims Isaiah's prophecy in his home synagogue (4:17–21) Faith of the Phoenician widow and Naaman the Syrian (4:25–30) "Physician heal yourself" (4:23) Miraculous catch of fish (5:1–11) The woes (6:24–26) Raising of widow of Nain's son (7:11–17) Woman anoints Jesus's feet, two debtors (7:36–50) The women who helped Jesus (8:1–3) Jesus talks with Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration (9:31–32) Rejection by Samaritans (9:51–56) The objection to following, to say farewell (9:61–62)
Sending out of seventy disciples (10:1–12) Return of the seventy disciples (10:17–20) Parable of the good Samaritan (10:25–37) At the home of Martha and Mary (10:38–42) Parable of the friend at midnight (11:5–8) True blessedness (11:27–28) True cleansing (11:37–41) Repent or perish (13:1–5) Parable of the barren fig tree (13:6–9) Healing of a woman with a spirit of infirmity (13:10–17) Who will be in the kingdom? (13:22–30) Reply to Herod (13:31–33) Healing of a man with dropsy (14:1–6) Regarding invitations to banquets and places of honor (14:7–14) Examples of counting the cost (14:28–33) Parable of the lost coin (15:8–10) Parable of the prodigal son (15:11–32) Parable of the unjust steward (16:1–9) Covetous hypocrisy of Pharisees (16:14–15) Parable of the rich man and Lazarus (16:19–31) Worthless slaves (17:7–10) Healing of ten lepers (17:11–19) Kingdom in midst of you (17:20–21) Example of judgement on Sodom, Lot's wife (17:28–32) Parable of the unjust judge (18:1–8) Parable of the Pharisee and the tax–collector (18:9–14) Story of Zacchaeus (19:1–10) Parable of the pounds (19:11–27) Lament over Jerusalem (19:39–44) Warning at end of Olivet discourse (21:34–36) Summary of time in Jerusalem (21:37–38) Jesus eats the Passover before suffering (22:15–16) The two swords (22:35–38) Accused of teaching not to pay tax to Caesar (23:2) Pilate's first declaration of Jesus' innocence (23:4–5) Jesus before Herod (23:6–12)
Pilate's second declaration of Jesus' innocence (23:13–16) Daughters of Jerusalem weep (23:27–31) The two criminals crucified with Jesus (23:39–43) Jesus' words on the cross "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" etc. (23:34–46) The centurion's witness (23:47–48) Women prepare spices, then rest on the Sabbath (23:56) Apostles do not believe the report of the resurrection (24:10–11) Jesus appears to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, teaches them how he fulfilled prophecies, and sits for a meal (24:13–49) The ascension of Jesus (24:50–53)
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