Luke draws upon the Old Testament

December 10, 2006 -- Second Sunday of Advent

By Fr. Michael Stubbs

	Fr. Mike Stubbs

The figure of John the Baptist appears in our churches during this time of the year as reliably as Santa Claus in the shopping malls. He always announces his baptism for repentance for the forgiveness of sins through the Sunday gospel reading, whether the lectionary takes it from Matthew, Mark or Luke. Since we have begun the year of Luke, we will hear from that gospel this Sunday, Lk 3:1-6.

A d v e n t
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All four gospels associate John the Baptist with a quotation from the prophet Isaiah, "the voice of one crying out in the desert 'Make straight the way of the Lord.'" (Isaiah 40:3) Luke alone goes on to supply a longer version of the quotation, "Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

Luke's gospel already had shown particular interest in John the Baptist by including a story about his birth, parallel to the story of Jesus' birth. That stands out as a unique feature of Luke's gospel. It enables Luke to compare and contrast the two.

In introducing the ministry of John the Baptist, Luke's gospel also goes a step further than the other gospels in another way. Luke presents John the Baptist with the words, "The word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert."

The phrase "the word of God came to..." appears frequently in the Old Testament to indicate the call of a prophet or the start of prophetic activity. For example, it occurs about 50 times in the book of the prophet Ezekiel.

Luke came from a Gentile background and was writing for a Gentile audience. At the same time, he shows a high degree of familiarity with the Old Testament and looks to it as a model to imitate in his writing. Consequently, he will sometimes draw upon the style of the Old Testament for his gospel. His use of the phrase "the word of God came to John ..." provides a good example.

Luke's decision to use that phrase in reference to John the Baptist also reflects his belief that John continued in the line of the Old Testament prophets. Only Luke, in contrast to the other gospels, uses that phrase. In fact, this is the only place in the entire New Testament where it appears.

Luke's emphasis upon John the Baptist's role as prophet introduces a theme that will continue throughout the gospel, namely, that of the prophet. Luke will also view Jesus as a prophet. Jesus in turn will pass on the prophetic ministry to his disciples.

In describing Jesus as a prophet, Luke is not denying Jesus' role as Messiah and as Son of God. He sees those three roles as compatible with one another, and even complementary.

We should realize that, two thousand years ago, the title of Messiah did not necessarily include the claim also to be Son of God. As Christians, we automatically link the two, but that was an innovation of Christianity. And in Luke, the three roles of prophet, Messiah and Son of God merge together in Jesus.

(Fr. Stubbs, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, has a master's degree in theology from Harvard.)