Luke’s Story of Jesus as
Counter-Narrative
Reading Luke in Communion
 Luke story of Jesus was written not to
describe what happened in the past so
much as to motivate hearers to enact the
new age in the present
 In antiquity are texts are rhetorical, that is,
they were designed to change the attitudes
(μετανοια) and actions of those who heard
them
Living the Gospel of Luke
 Reading for transformation: the Gospels
envision a new future in an imperial world
after the destruction of Jerusalem
 We read Luke as history and so are
preoccupied with what really happened, but
Luke depicts Jesus as a prophet who
exemplifies the pattern of life for the new
age
Transformation
 Reading Luke in communion should always
lead to the question: How should we then
live?
 In the Gospel of Luke Jesus is depicted as
exemplar of a pattern of life that befits the
new age
The Priority of Practice
 The focus in Luke is not so much on Jesus’
identity (orthodoxy) as in shaping the
identity and practice of Jesus’ followers
(orthopraxis)
 The Gospel of Luke is designed to effect
transformation by inviting the audience to
align their convictions and actions with the
narrative’s vision of life
Identity and Practice
 Questions about how we should then live or what
we should do always raise questions about who
we are, and vice versa.
 We know that in the everyday the sense of a self,
and of a self identity is tied to mundane practices
in which people locate themselves by reference to
a routine of action and expectations about
themselves and others that remain relatively
stable in particular social settings.
Converging & Competing Stories
 Luke’s story of Jesus is interwoven with the
story of Israel
 Luke interprets the life, death, & resurrection of
Jesus in terms of Israel’s Scriptures
 Luke depiction of the words and deeds of
Jesus serve as a compass for Israel in a post70 world
 Luke’s story of Jesus is in competition with
imperial propaganda
Narrative and Identity
 Personal identity is expressed and shaped by
narratives
 Narrative identities are not stable entities
 An act of listening or reading is a possible
provocation to be and act differently
 Biblical texts distance and disorient us by drawing
us into an alternative narrative world and invite us
to contemplate our sense of belonging and
reorient our being in the world
Engaging Cultural Systems
 The tacit frame of reference of New
Testament texts is an imperial system that
kept most people beholden and
downtrodden
 Biblical texts envision an alternative way of
life predicated on counter-cultural and lifegiving values and practices
Truth as Praxis
 Christian faith does not offer a set of true or
false propositions about a non-textual
reality, but a form of life which has its own
language
 Gospel practices: healing, feeding,
forgiveness, hospitality, witness,
discernment, Sabbath, grace, gratitude,
etc. as practices
Intimations of Empire
 Luke sets the story of Jesus on the imperial stage
by naming the power brokers in the first chapters:
Herod, Augustus, Tiberis Caesar, Pontius Pilate
Annas & Caiaphas, and the Devil
 Luke’s story of Jesus reflects and challenges the
way the imperial world works
 In the Magnificant and throughout Luke issues of
power, status and social stratification are
paramount
“… a decree went out from Caesar
Augustus … (Luke 2:1)”
Augustan inscription from Priene (9 BCE)
“Since the Providence which has ordered all things
and is deeply interested in our life has set in most
perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled
with virtue [divine power] that he might benefit
mankind, sending him as savior … that he might
end war and arrange all things, and since he,
Caesar … surpassing all previous benefactors …
and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the
beginning for the world of the gospel that came
by reason of him.”
Jesus and the Restoration of Israel
 Luke tells the story of Jesus as a story of God
fulfilling promises of salvation for Israel and the
nations
 Covenant with Abraham (1:54-55, 72-75)
 Covenant with David (1:32-33)
 Isaiah’s vision of the nations (2:25-35)
 Salvation is defined in terms of the
“consolation”/restoration of Israel and deliverance
from its enemies to usher in the time of peace
Luke 1:67-78
Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit
and spoke this prophecy: "Blessed be the
Lord God of Israel, for God has looked
favorably on his people and redeemed
them. God has raised up a mighty savior
for us in the house of his servant David, …
that we would be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us…”
Luke’s Story of Jesus as a Story of
“Salvation”
 Salvation in OED: “The saving of the soul;
deliverance from sin and its consequences
and admission to eternal life, brought about
by Christ.”
 Luke uses terms for salvation more than
any NT text (sōteria, sōtēr & sōzō)
 How do we understand salvation?
Salvation in Biblical Judaism
 The Hebrew Bible and much post-biblical tradition employ the
Hebrew root ysh and the Greek verb and noun sōzō/sōtēria as
well as a number of other terms and metaphors, to denote a
range of divine activity that includes rescue from one’s
enemies, healing from illness, and deliverance from death, in
addition to forgiveness of sin and release from its
consequences. Much of that is defined as “salvation” does not
involve God saving anyone from anything. Rather, God is
bestowing on the covenant people the blessings they have
been promised, without any sense that they have hitherto
been deprived of these things (Dictionary of Judaism in the
Biblical Period)
Salvation in Luke
 The Gospel of Luke begs the question of what
salvation looks like on the ground as a present
reality (10:9, 23-24;17:20)
 The salvation word group also had currency in
Greco-Roman society. The emperor was referred
to as sōtēr and imperial propaganda often
depicted him and the empire as rescuing people
from the same things God’s people are rescued
from in the Bible, including sin.
 Salvation encompasses all nations/people and is
construed as the restoration of society
Salvation in Luke as Restoration of
Society
 For Luke’s audience of Jews and Gentiles
being “saved from our enemies” refers to
deliverance from the dehumanizing effects
of imperial society
 Luke graphically depicts how imperial
society works and sets against it the mercy
of God as it is embodied by Jesus
Performing the Gospel
 The Gospel of Luke is a counter-narrative
that re-present the story of Jesus as a way
of life his followers then and now are to
emulate
 Jesus proclaims and enacts the kingdom of
God as a vision of what it means to be
human in a world in which people are
oppressed and dehumanized.
Formation of Identity and Practice
 Luke serves to reshape the identity and practices
of those who follow Jesus
 Identity is covenantal and communal
 Priority of practice over belief:“every action is the
bearer and expression of more or less theoryladen beliefs and concepts; every piece of
theorizing and every expression of belief is a
political and moral action” (MacIntyre, After
Virtue).
Discussion:Redefining Salvation
 As a counter-narrative of salvation Luke
challenges the promises and patterns of imperial
society that demean and deform peoples’ lives
 Any serious engagement with and appropriation
of Luke must reckon with contemporary cultural
promises and patterns
 What are our cultural myths of salvation?
Pattern of Resistance & Release in Luke
3-4
 The Gospels were written to change the way
people think and act
 The Gospel of Luke invites hearers to
contemplate who they are and how they should
then live in the light of the teaching, ministry,
death & resurrection of Jesus
 Jesus’ baptism, testing & inaugural sermon
provide a pattern for living in the power of the
Spirit
John’s Baptism
 John’s baptism of repentance (3:3): the
imperial system isn’t working – time for
change!
 “bear fruits worthy of repentance”:
transformation through practice
 “he will baptize with the Holy Spirit: promise
of leader who empowers others
Jesus’ Baptism
 Jesus’ followers submit to John baptism
just as he did
 Just as Jesus is called “Son of the Most
High”, those who “love your enemies, do
good, and lend, expecting nothing in return”
are called “children of the Most High”
 Jesus’ baptism invokes our own baptismal
covenant
Testing in the Wilderness
 In 3:1-3 Luke introduces the brokers of the
imperial system and in 4:3-11 the devil is depicted
as the self-styled broker of the world’s kingdoms
 Like Israel, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the
wilderness where is covenant fidelity is tested
 The devil challenges Jesus to live according to
the values and practices of world that is not in
tune with God’s purposes
Power and Self-Interest
 Life is more than “bread”: Jesus resists using
power to feed himself and instead feeds others
(9:12-17)
 To you I give all this authority and their glory”:
Jesus resists using divine power for self
aggrandizement
 “He will give his angels charge over you”: Jesus
resists using power to save himself and instead
empowers others (23:35)
The Purpose of Spirit Power
 Jesus “returned in the power of the Spirit”:
he is strengthened by resisting the
devil/world
 Nazareth sermon on Isaiah 61 discloses
the purpose of Spirit power: to proclaim
good news to the poor, release to the
captives … to let the oppressed go free, to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”
4:18-19
Ministry of Release
 Luke 4:16-30 is Jesus’ mission statement
and describes his mission as one of
“releasing” people who are oppressed
 One of the most frequently used word
groups in Luke are words that mean set
free and “release”
Resistance & Release from the Imperial
System
 Throughout Luke Jesus is empowered by the Spirit to disturb
the equilibrium of the imperial system and release people who
are held captive by it
 Middle class people are frequently reminded of their
complicity in a system that oppresses others, but they are also
themselves oppressed by it
 It is time for middle class people to have honest conversations
about how they are “impoverished” and held captive by the
“system”
 What would it look and feel like us to engage in Jesus’
ministry of resistance and release in our own contexts?
Reading for Transformation:
Luke 5:1-11
 How do you account for Peter’s
transformation in this text?
 What happens to Peter that would cause
him to leave everything and follow Jesus?
 How does following Jesus benefit him or
improve the quality of his life?
How the World Works: the Galilean
Fishing Economy
Looking at the story of Simon Peter’s call in the context of
the Galilean fishing economy sheds some light on the
encounter between him and Jesus and suggests a more
practical explanation of the fact that “they left everything
and followed him”. The parables and metaphors, anecdotes
and social network of Jesus are heavily influenced by the
Sea of Galilee and its fish, fishing, fishermen, and fishing
villages. Fishers were part of a state-regulated eliteprofiting enterprise. The Galilean fishing economy was an
“embedded economy” (not a market economy)
characteristic of aristocratic empires in which most surplus
went to brokers and ruling elite.
Sin and Shame in Luke
 In Luke Jesus has a reputation for associate primarily
with “sinners and tax collectors”, i.e. people who have
no honor in Judaism and in society (5:29-32; 7:31-50;
15:1-2; 19:7).
 “Sinner” is a label attributed by someone or some
group that determines a person’s status vis-à-vis God
and the covenant community. “Sin” and “Sinner” are
always a matter of interpretation and cultural
conditioning, and labeling one a “Sinner” is a matter of
power and control.
Contemplating Divine Beneficence
 What are the systems we are embedded in and
how do they define and shape our lives?
 What is not “life-giving” about our way of life and
what changes might we make that would allow us
to live more in harmony with the Spirit?
 What would it mean for us to “put out into the
deep”? What are our fears and anxieties?
 What would “abundance” look like for us?
 What would we need to let go of or relinquish to
embrace new life?
Honor & Patronage as the Foundation of
Imperial Society
 Honor was the desideratum of antiquity and was
embedded in a system of reciprocal relationships
of mutual benefit between unequals known as
patronage.
 The patron obtained honor by means of the “gift”
(charis), which came with a variety of strings
attached.
 Patron-client relationships in which one individual
is dominant and the other subordinate and
dependent predominated in Greco-Roman
society.
Social Impact of Patronage
 The dominance of the elite also required the ritualized
performance of others’ submission on a day-to-day basis.
 The inculcation of negative shame, the social inverse of
honor, was one result of the repeated experience of social
inferiority among the large underclass.
 The social elevation of the elite came at the expense of the
non-elite, who were socialized into roles that took on the zerosum burdens of various grades of poverty, shame, impurity.
The resultant physical “weakness” of the poor was often read
as evidence of their “sinfulness” before God and human
patrons alike.
Luke 6:32-36
“… But love your enemies, and do
good, expecting nothing in return;
and your reward will be great, and
you will be children of the Most
High; for God is kind to the
ungrateful and the selfish. Be
merciful, even as your Father is
merciful.”
Challenging the Way the World Works:
Luke 6:27-36
 Jesus challenges foundational model of
reciprocity and power in Greco-Roman
society that keep people beholden and
submissive
 Jesus’ ministry of release (Lk 4) needs to
be understood in terms of the patronage
system that keeps people in a continual
state of debt and dispossession
Divine Generosity
 In Luke the new age is experienced as
God’s lavish self-expression, and Jesus is
proof of that generosity
 Imitatio Dei: From Luke’s perspective those
who enjoy the benefits conferred by the
Divine parent of Jesus are obligated to
reflect the character of the Supreme
Benefactor
Divine Generosity as the Basis of the
New Age
 In the Nazareth sermon, sermon on the plain (Lk
6) and throughout Luke Jesus challenges the way
imperial society works and outlines the new
values, commitments and practices of a new age
that reflects God’s character and purposes
 Jesus releases people from their captivity to the
system
 The Divine generosity he models is the basis for
new patterns of relationships
Reading Luke in Communion
 What does the text disclose about the way
the world works?
 How does Jesus challenge the system?
 What response or practice does the text
call for?
 How is Divine Generosity experienced and
embodied?
The Lord’s Prayer (Lk 11:2-4)
He said to them, "When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name. Your
kingdom come. Give us each day our
daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for
we ourselves forgive everyone indebted
to us. And do not bring us to the time of
trial."
The Practice of Divine Generosity
 Even as followers are encouraged to trust God’s
goodness and generosity for daily needs they are
expected to practice that same generosity by
releasing everyone indebted to them
 In Luke almsgiving is another type of exchange
predicated on Divine generosity that the basis of
his vision of a new society
 In Luke the practice of hospitality modeled by
Jesus is how the new age is actualized
Politics begins not when you organize to
defend an individual or particular or local
interest, but when you organize to
further the ‘general’ interest within which
your particular interest may be
represented … politics does not happen
when you act on behalf of your own
damaged good, but when you act,
without awareness, for the good of all –
this is to take the risk of the universal
interest (Gillian Rose)
“… Christian ethics is relentlessly
political, because it cannot be
adequately expressed in terms of
atomized rights invested in individuals or
groups, but looks beyond to the kind of
community in which free interaction for
the sake of each other is made possible”
(Rowan Williams)
Children of the Market or Wisdom?
“To what then will I compare the people of this generation,
and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the
marketplace and calling to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, and you did not
dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.’
For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking
no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man has
come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a
drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” (Luke
7:31-35)
The Market System
The All-Seeing Eye of Providence: “God has favored our undertaking”
“New Order of the Ages”
Market as Totalizing System that
Determines Value
The sacred order which structures
individual action is primarily represented in
the economic realm. Capitalism in not only
a system of production & exchange but
also of value creation. In this sacred order
the individual is sacred, and the
monetarized economy is the indicator of
social worth (Boli, “The Economic
Absorption of the Sacred”).
How the World Works
 The market system is a societywide coordination of human
activities not by central command but by mutual interactions in
the form of transactions. Like the state, the market system is a
method of controlling and coordinating people’s behavior. That
market participants see themselves as making free and
voluntary choices does not deny that they are controlled by
purchase and sales (Lindblom, The Market System)
 The meaning of life is full participation in the exchange
economy, as both producer of value and consumer of goods.
The purpose of life is full development of the individual, both
through value production and voluntary consumption (Boli,
“The Economic Absorption of the Sacred”)
The Persistence of Patronage
Patron-client relations, with one person dependent and behoven to
another, are one of the most diffuse in the modern world. In most modern
forms, in contrast to patronage in antiquity, the client rarely has rights or
powers, agreements are most often personal and informal. “Powerful
patrons are mostly middle-aged or elderly men, to whom other men and
women are often locked in hopeless dependency. Patron-client relations …
may inspire a devotion which knows neither limits, nor scruples nor
remorse. They are not, though, the stuff of which citizenship is made. The
dominant social values they foster are those of submissiveness and
gratitude, not of equality and mutual respect” (Paul Ginsborg, The Politics
of Everyday Life)
The Challenge of Grace
The moment the gift is infected with the
slightest hint of calculation, the moment it takes
account of knowledge or recognition, it falls
within the ambit of an economy: it exchanges, in
short it gives counterfeit money, since it gives in
exchange for payment. To want to be noticed
means wanting recognition and payment in
terms of calculable salary, in terms of thanks or
recompense (Derrida, The Gift of Death)
Loving without Reciprocity
“… reciprocity governs all commerce, even the carnal
sort. When, then, does the lover appear? Precisely
when, during the encounter, I suspend reciprocity, and
no longer economize, engaging myself without any
guarantee of assurance. The lover appears when one of
the actors in the exchange no longer poses prior
conditions, and loves without requiring to be loved, and
thus, in the figure of the gift, abolishes economy” (JeanLuc Marion, The Erotic Phenomenon)
Luke 7:36-50 Woman & Pharisee
“A certain creditor had two debtors: one
owed five hundred denarii, and the other
fifty. When they could not pay, he forgave
them both. Now which of them will love him
more?”
From “Self” to Communal Solidarity
Then he said to them all, “If any want to become my
followers, let them deny themselves and take up their
cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save
their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my
sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain
the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? (Luke
9:23-25)
“Profit” and “forfeit” stem from the world of commerce.
Radical self-denial leads to an emphasis on the
practice of
generosity in the context of community.
Relinquishing Attachments
As they were going along the road, someone said to him,
“I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to
him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests;
but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To
another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let
me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let
the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and
proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow
you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my
home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to
the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of
God.”(Luke 9:57-61)
Luke 11:37-44 The Practice of
Generosity
“But give for alms those things which are
within; and behold, everything is clean for
you.” (see 12;32-34)
Luke 12:13-21 The Rich Fool
“Take heed and beware of all
covetousness; for a person’s life does not
consist in the abundance of
possessions…. So is the one who lays up
treasure for himself and is not rich toward
God.”
Luke 14:15-24 The Great
Banquet
“And the master said to the servant, ‘Go
out to the highways and hedges, and
compel people to come in, that my house
may be filled’.”
Luke 16:1-13 The Dishonest
Steward
“The master commended the dishonest
steward for his shrewdness; for the sons of
this age are more shrewd in dealing with
their own generation than the sons of
light.”
Luke 16:19-31 Rich Man &
Lazarus
“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that
you in your lifetime received your good
things, and Lazarus in like manner evil
things; but now he is comforted here, and
you are in anguish.”
Luke 18:18-30 The Rich Ruler
“Jesus said to him, ‘One thing you still lack.
Sell all that you have and distribute to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven;
and come follow me’.”
Luke 191-10 Zachaeus
“Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give
to the poor; and if I have defrauded any
one of anything, I restore it fourfold.”
Jesus in Jerusalem
 “Triumphal Entry” - ruler in parable (19:1127) vs. the “king who comes in the name of
the Lord” (19:38)
 Parable of the Vineyard (20:9-18)
 On paying taxes to Caesar (20:20-26)
 The destruction of Jerusalem (21:20-38)
A Different Kind of Leader
A dispute also arose among them as to which one of
them was to be regarded as the greatest. But he said
to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them;
and those in authority over them are called
benefactors. But not so with you; rather the greatest
among you must become like the youngest, and the
leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the
one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it
not the one at the table? But I am among you as one
who serves. (Luke 22:24-27)