Thursday
Thursday
Luke, Part 2—Jesus the Savior of the World
Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Luke 24:47
Yesterday we considered Luke as a historian; today we shall see him as a theologian and evangelist. What is his message? It is that Jesus is the Savior of the world, reaching out to everybody irrespective of race, nationality, rank, age, or sex. So Luke deliberately places near the beginning of each of his volumes a statement of universality:
Luke 3:6—“All mankind [pasa sarx] will see God’s salvation.”
Acts 2:17—“I will pour out my Spirit on all people [pasa sarx].”
And throughout his Gospel he goes out of his way to show Jesus including those whom society often excludes.
Being a doctor, it is understandable that Luke should emphasize Jesus’s compassion for the sick and suffering. But he also cared for women and children, the poor and needy, tax collectors and sinners, and especially Samaritans and Gentiles. In each case Luke’s emphasis is stronger than that of the other evangelists.
Being a Gentile himself, Luke was a man of wide horizons. He never calls the waters of Galilee a sea, for he has himself sailed on the Great Sea (the Mediterranean), and by comparison he calls Galilee only a lake.
In the Acts Luke chronicles the three pioneer missionary journeys undertaken by his hero Paul, indicating the occasions when he was himself present as Paul’s companion. The Acts records a triumphal progression from Jerusalem, the capital of Jewry, to Rome, the capital of the world. Wherever they went they proclaimed salvation (comprising forgiveness and the Spirit) as available in Christ to all people. And Luke records the apostle Peter’s affirmation:
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
Acts 4:12
For further reading: Luke 24:44–49