the 5 things to know that make the Gospel of Saint Luke open to the world

A story in two volumes

Probably written around the 70s to 80s AD. BC, the two stories attributed to Luke revolve around the Passion, the Resurrection and the Ascension of Christ. There is everything that happened before, recounted in the 24 chapters of his Gospel. And everything that happened afterwards, mentioned in 28 chapters in the Acts of the Apostles.

A mysterious recipient

In his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, Luke addresses a certain Theophilus, who sponsored his work. An important man, perhaps a high official of the Roman Empire, as the greeting of his “excellence” suggests (Lk 1:3).

The etymology of his first name, however, gives a universal character to the text, since it means both “he who is loved by God” and “he who loves God”.

The Holy Spirit as a link

At the end of the Gospel, before being taken to heaven, Jesus promises his disciples that they will receive a somewhat mysterious “power”. A promise recalled at the beginning of the book of Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1, 1-8) and which is finally fulfilled on the day of the Jewish festival of Pentecost (Acts 2, 4) through the gift of the Holy Spirit. A Spirit who makes the Apostles new prophets, capable of announcing in time and out of season the Good News of Christ.

Israel and the non-Jewish world

Throughout these two stories, these two worlds intersect and challenge each other. Luke goes to great lengths to show that Jesus has very deep roots in Judaism, multiplying biblical references in childhood stories, for example.

But a Judaism marked by this openness to the universal that the prophet Isaiah already announced. “All will see the salvation of God”, writes Luke at the beginning of his gospel (Lk 3:6) and at the end of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 28:28).

Numbers 12 and 72

Luke is the only evangelist to mention the sending on mission of the Twelve (Le 9, 1-6.10) and, later, that of 72 other disciples (Le 10, 1-20). Two figures which evoke the entire people of Israel, as well as all of humanity. Jesus himself opened the breach during his preaching in the synagogue of Nazareth, announcing that no one is a prophet in his country. (4, 28-30).