Christ in the Gospels of the Liturgical Year by Witherup Ronald D.; Witherup Ronald D.; Donahue John R
Author:Witherup, Ronald D.; Witherup, Ronald D.; Donahue, John R.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 4546199
Publisher: Liturgical Press
Published: 2012-02-19T16:00:00+00:00
In the course of considering the episodes one by one, we shall be sorely tempted to compare Luke to Mark in Episode 1 to observe the Lucan adaptations, and to compare Luke to John in Episode 3 since only these two Gospels share an Easter Sunday evening appearance of Jesus to the disciples gathered in Jerusalem. Nevertheless throughout this volume I have to read each Gospel as a unit without intrusive appeals to other Gospels for knowledge that the Gospel under consideration does not convey. This insistence allows us to hear the Gospel in a way that resembles how the first audience must have heard it since they scarcely had the comparative material supplied by the other Gospels. It also facilitates appreciation of the inner consistency of the Lucan Gospel, especially of how the resurrection chapter (24) echoes motifs in the chapters (1–2) dealing with the infancy.
EPISODE IN LUKE 24:1-12: VISITS TO THE EMPTY TOMB
Although Luke begins the account on the first day of the week (24:1), his opening picks up on a transitional sentence that concluded the burial. Luke told us not only that the Galilean women saw how Jesus’ body was laid in the tomb (23:55) but also that they went back to prepare spices and myrrh and then rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment (23:56).2 In reporting that, while Luke did not identify by name the women from Galilee, he made their good intentions amply clear. They did not assist in the burial because they had at hand no prepared spices, and their delay until Sunday was dictated by their obedience to the commandment of Sabbath rest. Luke’s story of Jesus’ birth was replete with references to how those involved were law-observant (1:6, 8-9; 2:21-25, 37, 39, 41-42), and that motif returns at his death. From the beginning to the end of Jesus’ life on earth, there was no break with the commandments that God had given to the people of Israel.3
The fact that the women come at the crack of dawn on the first day after the Sabbath with the spices they had prepared (24:1) catches their eagerness to render loving service. In describing the growing perplexity of these women when they reach and enter the tomb, Luke makes an elegant play on their finding what they did not expect (the tomb open, for the stone had been rolled back—Luke’s first mention of the stone!) and their not finding what they did expect (the body of the Lord Jesus). Fear is added to perplexity when suddenly there are standing alongside them two angelic men in dazzling apparel.4 At the beginning of the Gospel (Luke 2:9) an angel of the Lord was suddenly standing alongside the shepherds to explain the significance of what had happened at Bethlehem; at the end the same divine assistance is supplied to explain the significance of what had happened at the Place of the Skull (Calvary) and at the tomb. The birth of Jesus brought joy; the death brought sorrow; but both are manifestations of divine glory (see 24:26).
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