LUKE.
We now come to Luke’s gospel. You notice his name does not occur in this book or in Acts. (You will find it used three times, viz.; in Colossians, Timothy and Philemon). He keeps himself in the background. I meet numbers of Christian workers who are ruined by getting their names up. We do not know whether Luke was a Jew or a Gentile.
The first we see of him is in Acts 16:10 “And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.” He did not claim to be an eye-witness to Christ’s ministry nor one of the seventy. Some think he was, but he does not claim it. It is supposed that his gospel is of Paul’s preaching, the same as Mark’s, was of Peter. It is also called the Gospel of the Gentiles, and is supposed to have been written when Paul was in Rome, about 27 years after Christ. One-third of this gospel is left out in the other gospels. It opens with a note of praise: “And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at His birth;” “And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God;” and closes the same way.
Canon Farrar has pointed out that we have a seven-fold gospel in Luke:
1. It is a gospel of praise and song. We find here the songs of Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon, the angels, and others. Some one has written beautifully of Simeon as follows: “What Simeon wanted to see was the Lord’s Christ. Unbelief would suggest to him, ‘Simeon you are an old man, your day is almost ended, the snow of age is upon your head, your eyes are growing dim, your brow is wrinkled, your limbs totter, and death is almost upon you: and where are the signs of His coming? You are resting, Simeon, upon imagination—it is all a delusion.’ ‘No,’ replied Simeon, ‘I shall not see death till I have seen the Lord’s Christ; I shall see Him before I die.’ I can imagine Simeon walking out one fine morning along one of the lovely vales of Palestine, meditating upon the great subject that filled his mind. Presently he meets a friend: ‘Peace be with you; have you heard the strange news? What news?’ replies Simeon. ‘Do you not know Zacharias the priest?’ ‘Yes, well.’ ‘According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense in the temple of the Lord, and the whole multitude of the people were praying without. It was the time of incense, and there appeared unto him an angel, standing on the right side of the altar, who told him that he should have a son, whose name should be called John; one who should be great in the sight of the Lord, who should go before the Messiah and make ready a people prepared for the Lord. The angel was Gabriel who stands in the presence of God, and because Zacharias believed not, he was struck dumb.’ ‘Oh,’ says Simeon, ‘that fulfills the prophecy of Malachi. This is the forerunner of the Messiah: this is the morning star: the day dawn is not for off: the Messiah is nigh at hand. Hallelujah! The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple!’ Time rolls on. I can imagine Simeon accosted again by one of his neighbors: ‘Well, Simeon, have you heard the news?’ ‘What news?’ ‘Why there’s a singular story in everybody’s mouth. A company of shepherds were watching their flocks by night on the plains of Bethlehem. It was the still hour of night, and darkness mantled the world. Suddenly a bright light shone around the shepherds, a light above the brightness of the midday sun. They looked up, and just above them was an angel who said to the terrified shepherds, Fear not, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people!’ ‘This is the Lord’s Christ,’ said Simeon, ‘and I shall not taste death till I have seen him.’ He said to himself, ‘They will bring the child to the Temple to present Him to the Lord.’
Away went Simeon, morning after morning, to see if he could get a glimpse of Jesus. Perhaps unbelief suggested to Simeon, ‘You had better stop at home this wet morning: you have been so often and have missed Him: you may venture to be absent this once.’ ‘No,’ said the Spirit, ‘go to the Temple.’ Simeon would no doubt select a good point of observation. See how intently he watches the door! He surveys the face of every child as one mother after another brings her infant to be presented. ‘No,’ he says, ‘That is not He.’ At length he sees the Virgin appear, and the Spirit tells him it is the long-expected Saviour. He grasps the child in his arms, presses him to his heart, blesses God and says: ‘Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word. For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.’”
2. It is a gospel of thanksgiving. They glorified God when Jesus healed the widow’s son at Nain, when the blind man received sight, etc.
3. It is a gospel of prayer. We learn that Christ prayed when he was baptised, and nearly every great event in His ministry was preceded by prayer. If you want to hear from Heaven you must seek it on your knees. There are two parables about prayer—the friend at midnight and the unjust judge.
4. Here is another thing that is made prominent, namely, the gospel of womanhood. Luke alone records many loving things Christ did for women. The richest jewel in Christ’s crown was what he did for women. A man tried to tell me that Mohammed had done more for women than Christ. I told him that if he had ever been in Mohammedan countries, he would be ashamed of himself for making such a remark. They care more for their donkeys than they do for their wives and mothers.
A man once said that when God created life He began at the lowest forms of animal life and came up until He got to man, then he was not quite satisfied and created a woman. She was lifted up the highest, and when she fell, she fell the lowest.
5. This is the gospel of the poor and humble. When I get a crowd of roughs on the street I generally teach from Luke. Here are the shepherds, the peasant, the incident of the rich man and Lazarus. This gospel tells us He found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me—to preach the gospel to the poor.” It is a dark day for a church when it gets out that they do not want the common people. Whitfield labored among the miners, and Wesley among the common people. If you want the poor, let it get out that you want them to come.
6. It is a gospel to the lost. The woman with the seven devils, the thief on the cross illustrate this. Also, the parables of the lost sheep, the lost piece of silver, and the lost son.
7. It is a gospel of tolerance.
“He that winneth souls is wise.” Do you want to win men? Do not drive or scold them. Do not try to tear down their prejudices before you begin to lead them to the truth. Some people think they have to tear down the scaffolding before they begin on the building. An old minister once invited a young brother to preach for him. The latter scolded the people, and when he got home, asked the old minister how he had done. He said he had an old cow, and when he wanted a good supply of milk, he fed the cow; he did not scold her.
Christ reached the publicans because nearly everything he said about them was in their favor. Look at the parable of the Pharisee and publican. Christ said the publican went down to his house justified rather than that proud Pharisee. How did He reach the Samaritans? Take the parable of the ten lepers. Only one returned to thank Him for the healing, and that was a Samaritan. Then there is the parable of the Good Samaritan. It has done more to stir people up to philanthropy and kindness to the poor than anything that has been said on this earth for six thousand years. Go into Samaria and you find that story has reached there first. Some man has been down to Jerusalem and heard it, and gone back home and told it all around; and they say “If that Prophet ever comes up here, we’ll give Him a hearty reception.” If you want to reach people that do not agree with you, do not take a club to knock them down and then try to pick them up. When Jesus Christ dealt with the erring and the sinners, He was as tender with them as a mother is with her sick child. A child once said to his mother, “Mamma, you never speak ill of any one. You would speak well of Satan.” “Well,” said the mother, “you might imitate his perseverance.”