Jesus in Luke-Acts
Luke-Acts presented Jesus as the Son of God, messiah of the people, articulator of God’s historical plan and of the deepest aspirations of the poor, the marginalized and the outcast of society, of the Temple and of the State. This prophetic character of Jesus unfolded in Salvation History as a conflictivity, as a sign of contradiction.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”.
(Luke 4,18)
The moment of the people’s acceptance of Jesus as the person referred to in the scroll of Isaiah was also the moment of their rejection of him (Luke 4,22).
The unfolding of this contradiction can be traced by the Lukan use of “TODAY”. This word appears 12 times in Luke’s gospel and in truly well-positioned strategic places.
2,11 proclaims the biological birth of the savior TODAY
3,22 announces the claim for the divine birth of Jesus TODAY
4,21 declares the fulfillment of the scriptures in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry TODAY
5,26 shows the acceptance of the great ministry of Jesus by the people TODAY
12,28 describes by comparison our human attitude in life relative to the primacy of God’s reign TODAY
13,32.33 details the consequences of the ministry in relation to earthly kingdoms TODAY
19,5.9 asserts that salvation is possible for a repentant sinner on earth TODAY
22,34.61 illustrates the possibility of denying Jesus in order to save oneself TODAY
23,43 offers the finality: salvation TODAY is also decisively a future reality
This is the Lukan outline of Salvation History, punctuated by episodes and sayings of resistance by the poor and woes upon the oppressors and ruling cities. It was for this salvation history that Jesus was portrayed to have assembled a group of Twelve, sending them to “preach(ing) the gospel and heal(ing) everywhere” (9,6b), “with the power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases” (9,1-2). The urgency and necessity of this Jesus’ mission NOW was again emphasized by the appointment of the Seventy or Seventy-two others, sent two by two, to prepare for his coming into every chosen village (10,1-12).
The structure of Lk 22, where the “second sending” is located, is remarkable when seen in light of the first sending in Lk 9. The second sending came after Judas’ conference of betrayal with the authorities and the preparation for the Passover meal. Then the Passover meal celebration itself ritualized the identity and mission of Jesus that would soon be fulfilled, followed by the dispute on “who is the greatest” and the role of Simon in these unfolding events. Then Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to prayer. Here the crowd would now execute the plot of Judas’ betrayal.
But more importantly, the second sending occurs in the Last Farewell of Jesus (Neyrey). And the valuable words of the dying man now included the provision that the Twelve bring with them this time a sword each, emphasizing the necessity to have one by selling a mantle just to buy it. This is so “that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was reckoned with the lawless’ (anomos, cf. Josephus, Guevarra) (Lk 22,37). When shown two swords, Jesus says: ‘it is enough’. Later, when the sword is actually used, in Lk 22,50, Jesus responds: Let it be up to this point!, and heals the ear of the slave of the high priest.
This has been a controversial text. Exegetes and biblical commentators are divided on whether this should be taken symbolically (like the heart of Mary being pierced with a sword) or historically (involvement in armed struggle). But it can be both, in a different sense, though: although Jesus in his time did not organize an armed force, yet he was only too willing to be identified with those who take up arms for a just cause, the anomoi, the bandidos (H. Hendrickx, Peace, Anyone?).
Finally, in Luke-Acts, the radical historical alternative of a just and compassionate society would be dramatized in the ideal socio-economic practices of a worshipping community. It was a community freed from power and egoism, from the pursuit of wealth-accumulation and hoarding for the future, from a class society built on the strength of the Roman Empire’s Pax Romana et Securitas and the Jewish Law and its prescriptions. Acts 2,44-47 and 4,34-37 emphasized the essential and fundamental lifestyle in this new community: they had all things in common, each giving from what one had, each receiving according to one’s need. This was the new egalitarian Christian society, inspired by belief in Jesus, and made alive by the breaking of the bread, the celebration of the Eucharist. Here lay the seed of a new prophetic community.
Jesus in John’s Gospel
John’s Gospel explicitly proclaims the prophetic identity of Jesus in a new key.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
(John 1,1-5. 10-14)
John took the incarnation of Jesus as the word of God very seriously. It was a participation of the Word in the wretched human condition, in the degradation of creation. The Word, the Light, the Truth, the Way and the Life – Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Son of the Living God – was the alternative historical Lamb of God. As the Jews celebrated their feasts and offered their sacrifices, so Jesus would also have his own unique and personalized alternative celebration with his followers (cf. John 5,1: Sabbath day; 7,2: Feast of the Tabernacles; 10,22: Feast of Dedication). While these alternative historical celebrations took place with his person as the center of sacrifice, the plot to kill him also unfolded (John 5,18; 7,1; 7,25.32; 10,31.39). With the last Passover feast coming into his life, the council now decisively set this murderous conspiracy into its full implementation (John 11,47-53).
Beginning with chapter 12, Jesus would gradually take over the plot from the hands of the conspirators, and with his self-awareness and royal dignity, declare himself a free man. He rendered judgment to the world (John 12,31; 16,11, cf. 3,19); he gathered the scattered children of Israel (John 12,32; cf. Is 2,2-5; Jer 31,10) and made the Cross his Royal Throne (John 12,13.32; 18,37; 19,19).
The tone of John’s presentation of the freedom and royal dignity of Jesus was placed within the framework of his singular obedience to the will of the Father who sent him, and of the Paraclete, the Spirit that he will send to the people in his absence. This framework finds its widest scope from ch. 13 all the way to ch. 20: in here John contextualized the institution of the priesthood in the washing of the disciples’ feet, the longest PRIESTLY prayer of Jesus in the last farewell of a dying man, and his untouchable royal self-offering on the cross. For the unique royal priesthood of Jesus is this: the victim is the offerer and servant at the same time. The Lamb of God is the Priest, and the Priest is the Lamb of God: victim, servant, offerer – all rolled into one! The prophet suffered the fate of the priest!
This prophetic priest/priestly prophet legacy of Jesus – to love as to lay down one’s life for others, for the event of the Reign of Jesus, the Christ (John 15) – was now shared with the people of God when, on the cross, he gave up (handed over) his Spirit (John 19,30).
