Luke is the story of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. It tells of his origin, life, teachings, ministry and miracles. It tells of his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to heaven. Consequently, Luke may be the most informative book in the Bible.
The Luke Series is a set of narrations based on the Bible’s book of Luke. Luke said that in writing his book that he investigated everything before writing Luke. His investigation included examining written materials and talking to eyewitnesses. This series is meant to imitate some of the stories Luke might have heard, as well as explore their meaning and importance. This series is true to the Bible, but fills in story lines based on history, geography, and imagination. Think of this series as being similar to a movie based on the book of Luke.
This series presumes that the author of Luke is Luke, a doctor who was a good friend and companion of Paul. That presumption sets the stage for Luke being able to correctly assess the veracity of the birth accounts of both John the Baptist and Jesus, and to understand their importance, both physically and spiritually. Don’t you imagine Luke, a doctor, was hesitant to write about miracles? But he believed in them to the point that he started his book with two miracle stories that could only be considered unlikely, if not outlandish.
We know almost nothing of Matthew’s life before or after he became a follower of Jesus. We know he was a tax collector in Capernaum when Jesus called him as a follower. He had a tax collecting booth and a house, and his friends included tax collectors and other people considered to be sinners. We know that Mark and Luke called him “Levi” and that he was an apostle. And most importantly, we know that Matthew heard Jesus’ call and left his booth immediately to follow him. That is virtually all we know directly about Matthew.
We don’t know Matthew’s hometown or how he was educated. We don’t know how long he knew Jesus before hearing and acting upon his call. We don’t know how well he got along with the other apostles or what he did after the death of Jesus.
From his writing of the book of Matthew, we can surmise he had an excellent knowledge of the Scriptures, and that he was focused on the Jews knowing about Jesus as the Son of God. We can surmise Matthew joined Jesus early in his ministry and wrote as an eyewitness to much of what Jesus said and did. We can deduce that Matthew knew several of the other apostles before Jesus came to the area, and also met Luke many years after the death of Jesus.
In Chapters 4 and 5, Luke insinuates that Jesus knew Simon Peter before he called him to follow him. It is possible Jesus would have known some of the other apostles before he called them.
In Chapter 5, Luke brings the Pharisees into the picture, and shows how they begin to oppose Jesus. It seems they are not quite sure what to do with someone who can so obviously do miracles and healings while not fitting their notion of “righteousness.” Jesus and his followers don’t even fast “appropriately” according to the rules of the Pharisees.
The healing of the man with leprosy and the paralyzed man have many facets. Jesus was the first to ever heal these types of maladies. Faith was involved with the healings. The healings led to the conclusion that Jesus could forgive sins, which meant he was God incarnate. No wonder the Pharisees were in a furious quandary about what to do with Jesus.
Luke – Troy Powell Theophilus – Michael Page Mary – Chana Keefer John the Baptist – Sam Austin Satan – Christian Heep James – Andy Axewell Matthew – James Hansen Prince Right Hand Man – Ben Hall Centurion – Werner Richmond Mary Magdalene – Trisha Zarate James the Apostle – Lynn Andrews John the Apostle – John Ferguson Pharisee – M. Serrano Martha – Monica Peña Crippled Woman – Patty Pell Gardener – Adam Cope Judas Iscariot – Grey Acuña Lazarus (The Beggar) – Jeff Swearingen Tenth Leper – Eduardo Vildasol Young Ruler – Matthew Allen Holmes Zacchaeus – Chad Cline Andrew – Oscar Seung Peter – Francis Fuselier Pilate – Matthew Roy
