THE APOSTLE OF THE RECONCILIATION

A The acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18,19).

B Wondered at the gracious words (Luke 4:22).

A The unacceptable reference to the Gentiles (Luke 4:24-27).

B Filled with wrath (Luke 4:28,29).

A close parallel with this is found in Acts 22. When the people of Israel heard the apostle speak in the Hebrew

tongue, they gave him the more attention, and listened quietly through the narrative until he reached the word

Gentiles, when they cried, `Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live' (verse 22).

See chapter 3, page 43 for other parallels.

Here, then, in Luke's record we have a somewhat different purpose indicated from that suggested by Matthew.

These things have been selected with an object, and Luke provides from the commencement a line of teaching which

shall grow on and up to the glorious climax of the epistle to the Romans. Further evidence of the special character

of Luke's Gospel is found in the emphasis upon certain words.

3:12,13. Publicans come to be baptized.-`Exact no more than ... is appointed'.

A publican, Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom. Sequel: `I came not to call the righteous, but

sinners to repentance' (5:32).

A great company of publicans.

Why eat with publicans?

Publicans justified God. Central reference.

A wine bibber; a friend of publicans.

All the publicans.

B18:11,13. This publican; the publican. Sequel: The `sinner' justified `rather than the other' (18:14).

Zacchaeus, chief among publicans.-`The half I give ... if I have taken ... I restore' (19:8).

The central reference shows the publicans `justifying' God; while the one parable in the group shows God

`justifying' a publican. Luke alone uses this term in line with the great doctrine committed to the apostle Paul.

Matthew uses the word twice, but not in the same way. The references in Luke are, 7:29,35; 10:29; 16:15; 18:14.

The word occurs in the Acts in the opening sermon recorded of Paul (Acts 13:39). Peter never uses the expression.

It is much the same line of testimony that revolves around the words `rich' and `riches'. We will not set out all

the references, nor their structure; it will suffice to say that the central reference is Luke 16:19, the rich man of the

parable. There, in accord with the object of the Gospel, the outcast Lazarus enters into the blessed rest of Abraham's

bosom, whereas the rich man, who typified Israel, was tormented. Many of the parables of Luke have this same

note running through them. The prodigal son, for example, is contrasted with the elder brother who had remained

with the father; the good Samaritan, whose race was hated by the Jew, is brought within the sphere of blessing. Of

the ten lepers who were cleansed, one only returned to give thanks, and that one a Samaritan. The parable of the

Unjust Steward looks to Israel's failure and a change of dispensation (the word `stewardship' being the word

rendered in Ephesians and Colossians `dispensation'), and indicates that one great reason why Israel failed was the

service of Mammon - a bait spread before the Lord Himself in His temptation, but repudiated.

Another passage which indicates interest in the Gentile is found in Luke 21. This chapter is parallel with the

great prophetic chapter of Matthew 24. There is, however, an important addition to the prophecy given in Matthew,

which occupies verses 20-24. What subject will Luke bring specially into prominence which it was not the object of

Matthew to record?-`The times of the Gentiles'. Luke speaks of the time when Jerusalem shall be compassed with

armies and trodden down of the Gentiles, `until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled'. `The times of the Gentiles'

synchronize with the down-trodden state of Jerusalem. When Jerusalem at last realizes the time of her visitation and

is delivered, the times of the Gentiles will have been fulfilled, and the long deferred kingdom will have come.