THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE
(Lesson 5 – Mar 4, 2025) Ch. 2: 1-52
2: 1-7 The
Birth of Jesus: Caesar Augustus (27 B.C. – A.D. 14) was
considered as “savior” and “god” decreed the enrollment of the whole empire,
non-citizens.
-
There were local registrations within various
provinces from time to time, under the Roman legate Quirinius.
-
Luke attests that both John the Baptist and
Jesus were born under Herod the Great (37 B. C., - 4 B. C).
For Luke’s theological
intention, Pax Romana Augusta is not
Augustus Caesar as the prince of the peace but Jesus of Bethlehem
V. 7: The Gk term “phatne” = “manger” also
“stable”. Another Gk term “kataluma” = “inn”
specially means “lodging” or “guestroom” with space for a dining area (this
term is employed in Lk 22:11), that he might reprove the glory of the world,
and condemn the vanities of this present life.
“firstborn son”: Roman, Greek, Coptic, Armenian, and other
ancient tradition, the phrase represents a title of honor (Gn 27; Ex13:2; Nm 3:12-13;
Dt 21:15-27) It does not imply that Mary had other children after Jesus. The
term adelfos (ἀδελφοί) excludes. JC
Mk 10:18 “And Jesus said unto him, “Why do you call me good?
There is none good but One, that is, God”.
Vv. 8-20: The announcement of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds is a blessing to the
lowly.
V. 11 Luke only uses the title “savior” for Jesus (Lk 1:69; 19:9; Acts 4:12;
Acts 5:31). Wordsworth gives up the
problem, and thinks that the Holy Spirit has concealed the knowledge of the year
and day of Christ’s birth and the duration of His ministry from the wise
and prudent to teach them humility
Gr word “Christos” = Hb word “masiah”
= En word Messiah – meaning “anointed one” to bring salvation to all humanity. Hb
word “Adonai” = Gk “kurios”
= En “Lord”
V. 14: “On earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” - the concept of peace
in Luke is more than the absence of war of the pax Augustus (Lk 2:14; 7:50;
8:48; 10:5-6) etc..
V. 21 – incorporation into the Jewish people through circumcision.
Vv.
22-40: The presentation of Jesus in the temple
V. 22: Purification ((Lev 12:2-8) – the woman who gives birth to a boy is
unable for forty days to touch anything sacred or to enter the temple area by
reason of her legal impurity. Mary fulfills the law by bringing the offering.
Num 3: 47-48: the firstborn son should be redeemed by the parents through
their payment of five shekels to a member of a priestly family. In this regard,
Luke does not speak.
V. 25: Awaiting the consolation of Israel: expectations of
faithful for God’s rule.
Vv. 29-32 Nunc dimittis: is the fourth and final hymn from the Lukan
infancy narratives and has traditionally been part of Compline or night office
in the Liturgy of the Hours.
V. 34: the schism motif runs throughout Luke’s Gospel.
V. 35: “and you yourself a sword will pierce” – her blessedness
as mother of the Lord will be challenged by her son who describes true
blessedness as “as hearing the word of God and observing it” (Lk 22:27-28;
8:20-21). Mary is elevated to the role of the model disciple. To love Jesus is to
suffer with him.
Vv. 36-38: Anna, daughter of Phanuel, has made her utterly dependent
on God’s goodness – spoke about the redemption of Jerusalem.
Vv. 39-40: Nazareth and Bethlehem: The evangelists composed stories that get Mary and
Joseph to Bethlehem and then back up to Nazareth.
Vv. 41-52: The boy Jesus in the Temple: Jesus returns with his parents to Nazareth,
and nothing is heard about him until he is an adult and begins his ministry.
The next time we read of Jesus in Jerusalem will be at his triumphal entry
(19:28-39), which leads to his death.
Vv. 41-42: Child Jesus was raised in the traditions of Israel. The infancy narrative
ends.
V. 49: “I must be in my Father’s house”: Jesus refers to God as his Father. His
divine sonship, obedience to his heavenly Father’s will, takes precedence over
his ties to his family.
The missing years
of Jesus from 12 -30 ????
LENTEN
SEASON
HISTORY
Ash Wednesday is a holy
day to begin the Lenten journey. It marks the beginning of 40 days of prayer,
penance, and almsgiving.
The Council of Nicaea in
325, “all the Churches agreed that Easter, the Christian Passover, should be
celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon (14 Nisan) after the
vernal equinox” (CCC No. 1170).
(1)
In the Early
Church
The word “Lent” means “springtime,”
was used (2 c.) to describe the period of individual fasting, almsgiving, and
prayer to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus.
In the first three
centuries, only catechumens observed two or three days to receive Baptism on
Easter Sunday.
(2)
40 Days of
Lent - the Holy Bible
-
Israel journeyed 40 years in the wilderness
-
Moses spent 40 days receiving the commandments
on Mount Sinai (Ex 24:18)
-
Noah was on the Ark waiting for the rains to
end for 40 days and 40 nights (Gn 7:4)
-
Elijah “walked forty days and forty nights to
the mount Horeb” (1 Kgs 19:8)
-
Jesus fasted 40 days in the desert to be
tempted by the devil (Mt 4:1-11)
-
In the forty days of Lent the Church unites
herself to the mystery of Jesus (CCC 540)
(3)
The Count of
the 40 Days
-
The Latin Church uses six weeks to identify
the Lenten period, excluding the Sundays, so there are only 36 fasting days.
-
In the early 7th C, St. Pope Gregory
the Great (590-604) resolved this situation by adding the Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday before the first Sunday of Lent. Thus, the Lenten 40-day
fast, or the Great Fast as it was known, would begin on a Wednesday.
-
Initially, people fasted all 40 days of Lent,
observing a little meal for survival.
- St. John Chrysostom (347-409) writes, “Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works! If you see a poor man, take pity on him! If you see an enemy, be reconciled to him! If you see a friend gaining honor, envy him not! If you see a handsome woman, pass her by!”
(4)
Ashes The Church uses ashes as an outward sign of grief, humility,
penance.
(a) The Old Testament
-
Job
repented: “Therefore, I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes”
(42:6).
-
Daniel “turned to the Lord God, to seek help,
in prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes” (Dn 9:3).
-
Jonah preached conversion and repentance to
the people of Nineveh: “That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled
ashes on their heads and tore their garments” (1 Mc 3:47).
(b) Abbot Aelfric (1000) England wrote: “We read in the books both in the Old Law and in the new that men who repented of their sins bestowed on themselves with ashes and clothed their bodies with sackcloth. Now let us do this little at the beginning of our Lent, that we strew ashes upon our heads, to signify that we ought to repent of our sins during the Lenten feast” (“Aelfric’s Lives of Saints,” 1881, p. 263).
(c)
This same rite of
distributing ashes on the Wednesday that begins Lent was recommended for
universal use by Pope Urban II at the Synod
of Benevento in 1091.
(d) Abbot Gueranger, O.S.B. (1800): “We are
entering, today, upon a long campaign of the warfare spoke of by the apostles:
forty days of battle, forty days of penance. We shall not turn cowards, if our
souls can but be impressed with the conviction that the battle and the penance
must be gone through. Let us listen to the eloquence of the solemn rite which
opens our Lent. Let us go whither our mother leads us, that is, to the scene of
the fall.”
The five precepts of the Catholic Church are (CCC
2041-2043)
1.
Attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of
obligation
2.
Fast and abstain on appointed days
3.
Confess sins at least once a year
4.
Receive Holy Communion at least once a year
5.
Contribute to the Church's support
“for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return.” (Gn 3:19)
