Mary in the Gospel of Luke: Part I: Introduction
Fr. J. Patrick Gaffney, SMM
General Introduction
L ast year, The Queen examined the portrait of Mary in the fourth gospel, John. With this issue, we begin the initial installment of a series of articles on Mary in the Gospel of Luke. These are Bible Study classes. We would, therefore, suggest:
- Read the articles with a Bible at your side. Look up the references, prayerfully reflect on the biblical texts cited in the articles.
- These are study articles, which means that they must be read and re-read much like a textbook.
- If at all possible, form a small Bible Study Group with friends and neighbors. Together study the articles, section by section. Share your questions and answers with each other. Reflect on the ramifications of your study. Ask such questions as: how does this article help me to understand the Bible? How does the article help me to understand the Spirit-painted portrait of Mary? What practical conclusions can we draw from our study in relation to our life in Christ? How does it change our understanding of Mary? How does it impact our understanding of the problems the world and individuals are facing?
4. If possible, ask one of the priests of the parish or someone versed in Catholic scripture studies to be the leader of the group.
5. Finally, if you have not thoroughly examined the articles on Mary in the gospel of John, make that series part of your group’s program. In the future, additional articles will be published on Mary in the other gospels.
LUKE’S REFERENCES OF MARY
There are several references to our Lady in the gospel of Luke. In addition to the many Marian citations in the Infancy Narrative (chapters 1 & 2), Mary is mentioned in 8:19-21, (as “mother”) and is also referred to in 11:27 by the anonymous woman in the crowd as “the womb which bore you and the breasts which nursed you.” Indirect references are made to Mary in the genealogy (3:23), indicating that Joseph is only the “supposed” father of Jesus and perhaps also in 4:16-30 narrating the rejection of Jesus at Nazareth. Finally, since Luke is also the author of the Acts of the Apostles, the final Lucan reference to Mary is AA 1:14 where we find our Lady in the upper room with the disciples of Jesus. No other evangelist has so many references to the mother of the eternal and incarnate Wisdom.
Before examining the individual texts concerning Mary, it is necessary to place them in the context of the entire gospel of Luke which, like the entire New Testament, is primarily about Jesus the Christ. Therefore, in this first article we pose the following questions: when and for whom did Luke write his gospel? What effect does the date and the audience of Luke have on his proclamation of the Good News?
Adoration of the Shepherds: 17th Century French Painters: Le Nain Brothers: 1640
Antoine, Louis and Mathieu Le Nain painted this masterpiece.
The gospel of Luke—like all the gospels—is, therefore, an inspired interpretation of the Jesus-event. If the words and deeds of Jesus are adapted and embellished it is only so that their saving truth may be better grasped by his Gentile audience.
WHEN DID LUKE WRITE HIS GOSPEL?
Luke stands a generation or two after the events narrated. There appears little doubt that when reading the inspired gospel of Luke, we are hearing the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ as it was preached around the year 85 AD. Notice that in his prologue (1:1-4), Luke relates his dependence on those who were “eyewitnesses” and “ministers of the word” and on “many” others who already had written descriptions of the Christ event. We must presume, then, that Luke is a second generation Christian. What substantiates this conclusion is the author’s very probable allusions to the 70 AD destruction of the city of Jerusalem it-self (cf, e.g., 19:43-44, 21:5, 21:20, and 13:35: “your house is abandoned,” referring to Jerusalem).
Moreover, Luke’s dependence on Mark is a generally accepted fact. Mark wrote his gospel around 68 AD. We must add a few years before the gospel is circulated. We therefore have to place the date of Luke’s gospel somewhere in the latter part of the first century. The best educated guess for the date of Luke’s gospel is around the middle of the 80’s.
TO WHOM DID LUKE WRITE HIS GOSPEL?
The audience that Luke envisages is not the Jews of Palestine. Rather, as we can presume from his elegant prologue dedication to a Greek named Theophilus, Luke is writing for a predominantly Gentile congregation. This is underscored by Luke’s clear intention to demonstrate through his gospel that the Good News of Jesus is for all people, not only Jews (e.g., cf Lk 2:32) and by his omission of sections of Mark’s gospel which would not be of interest to non-Jewish readers (cf Mk 9:11-13).
Luke also substitutes Greek names for Hebrew or Aramaic titles, e.g., Lord or teacher for rabbi (Lk 18:41; cf Mk 10:51; Lk 9:33; cf Mk 9:5), Skull for Golgotha (Lk 23:33; cf Mk 1515:22), etc. And his genealogy of Jesus (3:23-38) traced back to Adam (not only to Abraham as Matthew does, cf Mt 1:1-17) indicates his determination to show that Jesus is for all peoples. Luke’s gospel has been written for Gentile Christians who are living in Gentile territory.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE DATE AND AUDIENCE OF LUKE’S GOSPEL
This dating of Luke and the determination of his principal audience are important for our study of Mary in the gospel of Luke. It does mean that he is writing his gospel over 50 years after the events narrated. Christians have had time to reflect through the grace of the Holy Spirit. They reflect on the significance of Jesus for the entire world. The recounting of the Christ-event had to be adapted to a new audience: not Jewish Christians but Gentiles whose culture, thought-patterns are so different from Jesus’ contemporaries. His proclamation will be in their language and even more important, will be written in a way that they can understand, in terms which address their current needs.
Like any good teacher, Luke (and his sources before him) will adapt and edit the words and deeds of Jesus so that they may be clearly understood by his Gentile hearers. When you explain the gospel to a teenager, is it the identical way that you will explain it to a first-grader? Or to the elderly in a nursing home? We do not betray the gospel, but we do adapt it. At times we embellish it precisely so that the truth may be understood. We embellish it so it may be applied to the specific situation of the audience.
The gospel of Luke—like all the gospels—is, therefore, an inspired interpretation of the Jesus-event. If the words and deeds of Jesus are adapted and embellished it is only so that their saving truth may be better grasped by his Gentile audience.
CONCLUSION
The bottom line, then, is this. The gospel of Luke, written about 85 AD to Gentile Christians, proclaims the saving truth of Jesus’ words and deeds, adapting and editing them so that they can be clearly grasped by his audience. There is no betrayal of Jesus – or of Mary. The eyewitness sources of Luke, the careful oversight by the leaders of the Church, the worship of Jesus as Lord of all, the martyrdom of so many for the truth of the gospels, all militate against any question of a “creation” of the personality of Jesus or of Mary. When we prayerfully read the gospel of Luke, we are encountering the real Jesus, the real Mary.
Vol. #009
July – August 2021
