the Jesus that Saint Luke shows us
Jesus, son of Mary
The Gospel of Luke is the one that most evokes the figure of Mary. Thus, of the 152 verses mentioning his name in the New Testament, 90 come from the Lucanian text. The numerous details of Jesus’ family life, which Luke alone recounts, led Eusebius of Caesarea (v. 340) to say that he is the “painter of the Virgin Mary”. Ancient tradition says that Luke directly painted the Virgin three times, opening the way to the tradition of oriental icons. Those of Vladimir and Smolensk, in Russia, and Czestochowa, in Poland, are also attributed to him.
A name that saves
In Jewish tradition, the divine Name was worshiped with awe, spoken on rare occasions and by priests chosen to do so. Because this Name is full of divine power and offers a form of intimacy between the Creator and his creature. “God, save me by your name,” sings the psalmist (Ps 54:3). Luke and the first Christians will shift this reverence to the “name of Jesus Christ”. In the Acts of the Apostles, invoking this name to manifest God’s work of salvation scandalized the Jews in the synagogues. But Christians will sing even more beautifully in their households: “Therefore God has exalted him: he has endowed him with the Name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow to heaven , on earth and in hell, and let every tongue proclaim: “Jesus Christ is Lord”” (Phil 2:9-11).
The man of prayer
Luke describes in a unique way the way in which Jesus articulates his work and his prayer. We see him praying during his baptism (Lk 3:21), but also before choosing his disciples (Lk 6:12). Further still, he prays with and for Peter (Lk 9:18), or during the Transfiguration (Lk 9:28). Even on the cross, his cry remains a prayer (Lk 23:34).
The Holy Spirit who fills Jesus
“Filled with the Holy Spirit. » The expression is very beautiful when Luke reports the way in which Jesus goes to the desert (Lk 4, 1. 14). Then he returns “in the power of the Spirit” (Lk 4:15) to Galilee. At the heart of his exaltation and his prayer to his Father, it is still “under the action of the Holy Spirit” that he acts (Lk 10:21). It is also this secret that he reveals to his disciples: the Holy Spirit is indeed the ultimate gift of God to each person (Lk 11:13).
