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LITTLE MAN, BIG STORY

Yes, friend, size does matter in our story today. We have a story about a little man, but what he did when he met Jesus turned out to be a very Biiiiiiig story!

We’re right in the middle of something here at Voice of Prophecy.

Two weeks ago, we began the series The Four Faces of Jesus. Each of the four Gospels presents a powerfully painted portrait of Jesus. At the beginning of this series, we read the words of the one of the best-known of the Church Fathers who said each of the four Gospel writers had a point of view that can be compared with the four Living Creatures that John the disciple described at God’s throne in Heaven.

Those creatures are a lion, king of the forest, an ox, the king of the field, an eagle king of the skies, and a man, king of all creation on earth, for when Adam and Eve were created, God told them they were to rule over all the creation on the earth He’d made. Augustine made the connection between these four creatures and the points of view of the four Gospel writers. And it’s true that Matthew’s Jesus can be compared with a kingly lion. And Mark’s Jesus is so frequently revealed in His complete humanness. Luke’s Jesus is our patient, faithful, burden bearer, like the ox that continuously carries the burdens of agricultural life. And John’s Jesus is like an eagle flying high in the heavens, with matchless sight of what goes on, in the earth far below. John is most concerned with us understanding that Jesus, now back in heaven on the throne, sees all that happens on earth, for He is verily God.

Thus far, we’ve looked at Matthew’s Jesus, and Mark’s Jesus. So today we open the Gospel of Luke where we’ll see an impressive portrait of our constant, tireless “burden bearer.” Jesus tenderly carries us in our griefs and sorrows. It reminds me of a verse from John Scriven’s hymn which you probably know:

What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer.

Well, what do we know about writer Luke? Actually, quite a lot! First, he’s the only non-Jewish author in the New Testament. And his Gentile orientation is obvious from the first chapter. Matthew’s genealogy begins with Abraham, and Mathew calls Jesus “the Son of Abraham,” a distinctly Jewish perspective. But “Gentile Luke’s” genealogy spins right by Abraham, back to creation, and calls Jesus “the Son of God.” That’s a very non-Jewish approach, from a great disciple who came from a non-Jewish family.

And he’s a very prolific writer. Luke and Paul wrote an almost identical amount of the New Testament. They were two of the best-educated people of that time, one a Sannhedrin-trained theologian, the other a doctor

While there are very few passages unique to Mark (his account is very similar to Matthew) Luke has many, many, many unique details! Let me name a few.

• Mary’s visit to Elizabeth
• The announcement of Jesus’ birth to the Shepherds
• Jesus’ circumcision (an interesting touch for a physician you’ll agree!)
• The wedding feast at Cana, with the wine that kept Palestinians healthy when water was not always safe to drink
• The interview with Nicodemus
• The Samaritan woman at the well
• The invalid healed at Bethesda
• The stories of the Good Samaritan, Zacchaeus, the Prodigal son
• The healing of a crippled woman
• The feast with a Pharisee
• The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
• The private interview with the some Greeks
• The rejection of Jesus by Jewish leadership
• The official hearing the night before the crucifixion before Gentile Herod Antipas

All these accounts are unique to Luke. How rich is the doctor’s Gospel!

And how important also that he notes the experiences of so many non-Jewish people in their relation with Jesus, and so many physical healings—obviously of great interest to a physician. And Luke goes out of his way to note 13 women not mentioned in the other Gospels. And he alone describes the group of women that traveled with Jesus on His itineraries—something the Jewish writers were quite happy to ignore because women were not worthy of such mention—especially as traveling companions. That might have been a milieu for scandal! But that didn’t phase Luke. So how much poorer would be our knowledge of Jesus if it were not for the doctor.

According to the Church Fathers, Luke came from Antioch, the capital of Syria, a city that had been beautified and greatly enlarged by Antiochus Epiphanes, a man still remembered by Jews as the most vicious of their ancient persecutors. So how remarkable that the city so long identified with this Satan-inspired persecutor, became the first city in the world where the followers of Jesus were called Christians! Yes, that happened in Luke’s hometown.

Which bring us to the way Luke paints his portrait of Jesus. We could rightly call on the metaphor of an ox or bullock to describe it. First, we know a bullock because of the key role it played in Jewish agriculture. But there’s more. This animal had always been part of the Jewish sacrificial system. So this puts us on alert to expect to read illustrations of Jesus as the One Who carries our sins and takes away our guilt so we can stand before God as if we’d never sinned. And in recognition of that orientation, only Luke’s Gospel opens with a reference to the Levitical priesthood and the temple in Jerusalem.

And that sets the stage for the opening verses of Luke’s other book, the book of Acts, where he describes Jesus ascending to heaven and the great celebration in heaven as Jesus sat down again on the throne as our High Priest. On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles in such a mighty way, it sounded like a mighty wind, and they saw tongues of fire flaming above the apostles’ heads, and they found they’d been given the ability to speak in other tongues or languages. And soon after, Peter preached, and 3,000 people, from many different language groups, gave their hearts to the Lord, were baptized and joined the Christian church on a single day.

Now here’s a most important point: all that happened in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, was to match the celebration in heaven of Jesus returning to His throne! Let me read that to you from Acts 2:32, 33, the New International Version.

God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. [He is now] Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

You see, Peter links the Pentecost experience on earth, with Jesus’ return to His throne in heaven. And John later describes that throne, and he wrote that he saw four living creatures at the throne—which is where we began today’s broadcast.

I hope that introduction to Dr. Luke is helpful to you. And now we’re ready to begin our week-long study in Luke’s Gospel. If you have a Bible handy, you might like to open it to Luke 19:10. Here we find a summary of the book of Luke. In one brief sentence it describes Jesus as our burden bearer.

“The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (19:10).

He could only save us by taking the burden of our sins on Himself at the cross. And that verse is set like a diamond in the heart of a story of a smiley, bumptious, short little man called Zacchaeus, a short little man with a very big story! Let’s read it, beginning in Luke 19: 1:

1Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." 6So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.' "
8But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
9Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (John 19:1-10, NIV)

I’m so glad he came to seek and to save me . . . and you! And tomorrow we’ll explore the story of the conversion of Zaccheus. Until then, God bless you.