Transcript Document

The Gospel
Writers
The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John)
are the first four books of the New Testament.
All of them tell the story of Jesus’ life, even
though none of writers actually knew Jesus
when he was alive. These stories were written
many years after Jesus had died. Each Gospel
has a different way of telling what happened,
and what it all means.
Each Gospel tells the story of Jesus,
however they tell it in four different ways.
Each Gospel book has the name of a male
writer; so many people think that each
book’s author must have been a first
century man from Palestine who had that
name.
There are many different scholars who look
at who might have written the Gospels.
Some believe that men named Mark,
Matthew, Luke or John wrote the texts.
Others believe that each Gospel shows
writing from one main writer, and other
people added smaller parts to this.
The Gospel of
Luke
Luke’s Gospel is book one in a two-book
set. The book of Acts is the other book in
the New Testament that is said to be
written by Luke.
The author of Luke’s Gospel wanted to
write an account of Jesus’ life for his
readers.
At the start of the Gospel, Luke says who he is
writing for – a man called Theophilus:
So I made a careful study of everything and then
decided to write and tell you exactly what took
place. Honourable Theophilus (Luke 1: 3-4)
Luke was a Gentile, which meant he was
not Jewish, and so his audience was
probably Gentile as well.
The author of Luke wanted to show that
Jesus had loved and cared for the poor and
the weak.
There are 3 main groups of people that
Luke had Jesus meet in the Gospel
• the poor
• the outcast
• and women
The poor
In Luke’s Gospel Jesus made people think
about how the world worked where the
rich were important and the poor didn’t
matter. In the stories of Jesus, the rich are
challenged to give up this way of life.
An example is the story of Zacchaeus, who
was a rich and corrupt tax collector. In the
story Jesus meets with Zacchaeus and then
he asks for forgiveness and gives half of
what he owns to the poor.
The outcasts
In the Gospel of Luke Jesus met with many
people who were pushed away from
society.
In the Gospel of Luke the writer shows
Jesus mixing with people who were not
liked in his time:
• tax collectors - who were disliked
because they worked for the Roman
occupiers
• the Samaritans - a neighbouring country
• and lepers - who unclean, so were often
feared and kept out of the community.
Women
In Jesus’ day, women were seen as not being as
important as men. They weren’t allowed to
testify in court, and they did not usually go to
school.
Luke’s Gospel shows how Jesus treated
women differently, by teaching them,
including them, and treating women in
need with care and love.
There are many stories of women in the Gospel
of Luke, and Luke even begins his Gospel with
the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
The Acts of the Apostles
The Gospel of Luke was probably written between 80
and 90 C.E. and the Acts of the Apostles probably in
the decade following.
The Acts of the Apostles Acts tells the story of the
Early Christian church. The early chapters are set
in Jerusalem, and they describe the Day of
Pentecost (the coming of the Holy Spirit) and the
growth of the Church in Jerusalem. Under the
guidance of the Apostle Peter, the message of Jesus is
taken to the Gentile, or non-Jewish, communities.
The later chapters of Acts tell of Paul's conversion, his
mission in Asia Minor and the Aegean, and
finally his imprisonment in Rome.
One of the key stories found in the Acts of the
Apostles is the story of Pentecost.
The scripture story remembers the coming of
the Holy Spirit to the first disciples and begins
the Acts of the Apostles.
Read the scripture text in Acts 2: 1-13
The day of ‘Pentecost’(the fiftieth day) is the
name that was used by Greek-speaking Jews for
the harvest festival, which was also called the
‘Feast of Weeks’, or Shavuot. This festival
celebrated the end of the grain harvest. The fifty
days were counted from the day after the
Sabbath following the Passover and the eating
of the unleavened bread (Leviticus 23:15-16).
Shavuot also commemorates the anniversary of
the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses
and the Israelites at Mount Sinai.
In the Christian church, Pentecost is often called
the birthday of the Church, and the start of the
Church's mission to the world. Pentecost is
celebrated by many (but not all) Christians on
the Sunday 50 days after Easter.
The liturgical colour for Pentecost is red and at
this time in a church you may see designs in the
sacred space such as a symbol of a dove, and
also the flames in which the Holy Spirit came to
earth.
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