The Gospel of Luke

by Pablo T. Gadenz

  OT: Gen 35:17–19, 21; Exod 13:2; 1 Sam 16:1–13; Isa 1:3; 7:14; 9:1–6; 40:9; 52:7; Mic 4:8; 5:1–4

  NT: Matt 1:21; 2:1, 4–6; Luke 1:27, 32; 19:38; Acts 2:36; 5:37; Heb 1:6

  Catechism: birth of Jesus, 423, 515, 525; angels, 333; shepherds, 486, 563, 724–25; Messiah, 437; Lord, 448; reflecting in the heart, 94

  Lectionary: Luke 2:1–14: Christmas Mass during the Night; Luke 2:15–20: Christmas Mass at Dawn; Luke 2:16–21: Mary, Mother of God

  [2:1]

  As he does two other times (1:5; 3:1–2), Luke first situates events in their historical context (vv. 1–2). There has been much debate about how to understand his brief description here in relation to other available historical information. However, some recent studies have helped to clarify the issues.

  The reference to Caesar Augustus introduces the delicate political situation that began in 63 BC when the Roman general Pompey invaded Jerusalem, leading to Roman control of the land of Israel. On the one hand, Rome represents a threat: Jesus will be put to death by the Roman prefect, Pontius Pilate. On the other, Rome represents an opportunity: Luke ends Acts with Paul proclaiming the gospel in Rome “without hindrance” (Acts 28:31). In all cases, however, it is not Roman might that determines the course of events, but rather God’s plan coming to fulfillment. As already seen, that plan involves a great reversal between “the rulers” and “the lowly” (Luke 1:52).

  Caesar’s decree that all should be enrolled refers to a census or registration, presumably taken for tax purposes.1 The whole world means the Roman Empire, which would have been covered by various local censuses in Roman provinces and territories spread over a period of time. In the land of Israel, Herod collected taxes (e.g., to support his building projects) and, as a client-king of Rome, likely paid a percentage of the revenue to the emperor. A tax census seems to have been carried out toward the end of his reign, since Josephus mentions tax information for each region of Herod’s kingdom when discussing its division among his sons after his death.2

  BIBLICAL BACKGROUND

  Caesar Augustus

  Following the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, his grandnephew Octavian came to power as his adopted heir and assumed his name. In 31 BC, Octavian consolidated his rule with a victory at Actium over his rival Antony, and in 27 BC the Roman senate gave him the title Augustus (“revered” or “venerable”). His reign, until his death in AD 14, ushered in the long period of relative peace known as the Pax Romana. After Julius Caesar was declared a god by the Roman senate in 42 BC, Augustus referred to himself as “son of a god” (divi filius). He was hailed, for instance, in the calendar inscription from Priene (modern western Turkey) in 9 BC, as a “god” and “savior” who “established peace” and whose birth brought “good tidings” (noun euangelion).a

  The reversal being worked by God (Luke 1:52) now emerges. The real “good news” (2:10; verb euangelizō) is the birth of an infant in a small village of an obscure province of the empire. Jesus is the true “Son of God” (1:35) and “savior” (2:11) who ushers in an era of God’s “peace” (2:14). St. Ambrose perceptively comments, using Psalm 24: “For ‘the earth is the Lord’s,’ and not Augustus’.”b

  a. Quoted in Kazuhiko Yamazaki-Ransom, The Roman Empire in Luke’s Narrative (London: T&T Clark, 2010), 82–83.

  b. Ambrose, Exposition of the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke 2.37, trans. Theodosia Tomkinson (Etna, CA: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 1998), 58.

  [2:2]

  The enrollment apparently occurred when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Josephus refers to a census conducted in Judea for tax purposes by the newly appointed Roman legate in the province of Syria, P. Sulpicius Quirinius, but this occurred later, in AD 6 or 7, after the Romans had deposed Herod’s son Archelaus.3 Luke is also familiar with this memorable census, as in Acts he mentions the revolt against it led by Judas the Galilean (Acts 5:37). Therefore, Luke’s reference to Quirinius here seems intended to distinguish the enrollment at the time of Jesus’ birth from the more well-known census some years later. However, it is difficult to explain what role Quirinius would have had in this earlier enrollment. Some have suggested that Quirinius was legate in Syria twice or that he earlier served in another administrative capacity.

  A better approach is to reconsider the translation. The Greek word prōtē, translated first, can also mean “before” or “earlier” (see John 1:15, 30; Acts 1:1 NJB), so that the whole phrase is rendered: “This enrollment was before Quirinius was governor of Syria.” Such a translation is already found in the Luke commentary by the great French Catholic biblical scholar M.-J. Lagrange in the early twentieth century, is currently given as an option in several Bible versions, and is well explained by various scholars.4 In this reading, Luke clarifies that the census around the time of the birth of Christ was not the more well-known one under Quirinius that led to a revolt, but rather an earlier registration before the death of Herod, with which Jesus’ family “peaceably complied.”5

  [2:3–5]

  The reason for enrolling in one’s own town could be to register property, as there is some evidence of such a practice, even for women.6 Alternatively, the census may have been conducted according to Jewish custom, allowing for return to one’s native city (see Ezra 2). Since Joseph is of the house and family of David (see Luke 1:27), he goes up from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea, about six miles south of Jerusalem. Luke thus indicates that through the actions of Caesar Augustus, God arranged for the prophecy of Micah to be fulfilled: “But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathah / least among the clans of Judah, / From you shall come forth for me / one who is to be ruler in Israel” (Mic 5:1; see Matt 2:4–6).

  Figure 3. The traditional birth site of Jesus under the Church of the Nativity. [© Baker Publishing Group]

  Though Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth is rather different from Matthew’s, the two nonetheless agree in placing it in Bethlehem. Moreover, writing about AD 150, St. Justin Martyr, a native of Neapolis (modern Nablus) in Palestine, refers to a local tradition not found in either Gospel specifying that Jesus was born in a cave in Bethlehem.7 As St. Jerome explains, the Romans unwittingly helped preserve this local tradition. Following the suppression of the Bar-Kokhba revolt under the emperor Hadrian in AD 135, the Romans erected pagan shrines at sites associated with Jewish and Christian veneration, such as the temple mount and Golgotha, while at the Bethlehem cave they planted a pagan grove dedicated to the god Adonis-Tammuz.8 After the emperor Constantine embraced Christianity in the fourth century, the pagan shrine was taken down and the Church of the Nativity was built over the complex of caves.9

  Bethlehem is the city of David, recalling how Samuel anointed the young David from among the sons of Jesse of Bethlehem (1 Sam 16:1–13). The connection reinforces Jesus’ identity as son of David (Luke 1:32, 69). However, Jerusalem is called “the city of David” in the Old Testament (see 2 Sam 5:7, 9; 1 Kings 2:10). Jesus is thus associated with David’s humble beginnings in Bethlehem rather than with his military might in Jerusalem. God’s great reversal is again revealed.

  Mary is with child but is described, as before (Luke 1:27), as Joseph’s betrothed. This word again highlights the virginal conception of Jesus (see Matt 1:24–25).

  [2:6–7]

  The phrase while they were there indicates that Joseph and Mary have arrived in Bethlehem. Luke does not specify when during the last six months of Mary’s pregnancy the trip there took place. Since Joseph is of David’s family, it is possible that they are staying with extended family. The phrase the time came (literally, “the days were completed”) and similar expressions are frequently repeated in these first two chapters (Luke 1:23, 57; 2:21–22). They mark human events and also the fulfillment of God’s plan through those events.

  Mary gives birth to her firstborn son, the one whom the angels worship (see Heb 1:6). The term “firstborn” expresses the rights of inheritance, as when Esau laments that he has lost the birthright and the blessing associated with b
eing firstborn (Gen 27:36; see Deut 21:15–17). The firstborn in Israel had a sacred status (Exod 13:2; Num 3:13), and so the term here sets the stage for Jesus’ presentation in the temple (Luke 2:23). It does not imply that Mary had other children.

  Mary wrapped him in swaddling clothes, meaning the customary strips of cloth that provide warmth and also restrict movement of limbs, helping infants sleep. This detail again shows the humble beginnings of Jesus as son of David, as there is a similar description of David’s son, Solomon, in the book of Wisdom: “In swaddling clothes and with constant care I was nurtured” (Wis 7:4). Mary also laid him in a manger, a feeding trough for animals. There may be an allusion here to the prophet Isaiah: “An ox knows its owner, / and an ass, its master’s manger; / But Israel does not know, / my people has not understood” (Isa 1:3). These two details—the swaddling clothes and the manger—will be the sign given to the shepherds by the angel (Luke 2:12, 16). They may also be a sign looking forward to Jesus’ death, when his body will be “wrapped . . . in a linen shroud, and laid . . . in a rock-hewn tomb” (23:53 RSV).

  LIVING TRADITION

  The Birth of Jesus

  According to Church Fathers such as Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius, and Epiphanius, Jesus was born during the forty-first or forty-second year of the reign of Caesar Augustus—that is, in 3 or 2 BC.a This patristic view is in tension with the modern consensus that places Herod’s death in 4 BC, with Jesus’ birth shortly before it. However, some recent proposals date Herod’s death to 1 BC or AD 1 (see the sidebar, “King Herod and Herod the Tetrarch,” p. 36). The patristic view is also consistent with Luke’s statement that Jesus is about thirty years old (3:23) during the fifteenth year (AD 28–29) of the reign of Tiberius Caesar (3:1). It finds expression in the optional chant from the Roman Martyrology before the Christmas Midnight Mass: “In the forty-second year in the reign of Caesar Octavian Augustus, the whole world being at peace, Jesus Christ . . . was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judah, and was made man: The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.”b

  a. Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, 288–91.

  b. The Roman Missal (Totowa, NJ: Catholic Book Publishing, 2011), 1295.

  The birth occurs where the animals are kept because there was no room for them in the inn. The Greek word katalyma, traditionally translated “inn,” can indeed refer to a place of lodging for travelers (Exod 4:24 LXX). In Luke, however, the word appears only one other time, describing the “guest room” where Jesus eats the Last Supper (Luke 22:11; also Mark 14:14). Luke uses a different word, pandocheion, for the “inn” in the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:34). Joseph and Mary may be staying in a Bethlehem home of Joseph’s kin, but since the “guest room” is otherwise occupied, the birth takes place where the animals are kept at night, perhaps inside or attached to the house (see 13:15).10 There is evidence that the caves under the Church of the Nativity were used as stables in the first century,11 and houses were often built in front of such caves.

  All these details of Jesus’ birth help to show how the Son of God “emptied himself” (Phil 2:7) in assuming a human nature.

  [2:8]

  Next, the news of Jesus’ birth is announced to shepherds (Luke 2:8–14), people of lowly status in society but nonetheless positively regarded in Scripture, where even “the LORD” is a shepherd (Ps 23:1). The proximity to Jerusalem suggests that sheep from the region of Bethlehem were destined to be sacrificed in the temple.12 One day, Jesus will similarly be “like a sheep . . . led to the slaughter” (Acts 8:32, citing Isa 53:7). The presence of shepherds in Bethlehem also recalls David the shepherd (1 Sam 16:11) and the promise of a new shepherd like him (Ezek 34:23). Jesus the son of David will be that shepherd, who goes in search of the lost sheep (see Luke 15:4–7; 19:10).

  The shepherds were keeping the night watch over their flock. They were like “those who sit in darkness” (1:79; see Isa 9:1). The Lord’s light, however, was about to “shine” on them (1:79), announcing that “a child is born to us, a son is given to us” (Isa 9:5).

  [2:9]

  For the third time (see Luke 1:11, 26), the angel of the Lord appears, but there is also something additional: the glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds. In the Old Testament, the “glory of the LORD” is the manifestation of his presence—for example, as a fire or cloud (Exod 24:16–17)—especially in the tabernacle and later the temple (Exod 40:34–35; 1 Kings 8:10–11). Here, the glory appears not in the temple but in a field on account of Jesus’ birth nearby. As a result, the shepherds are struck with great fear—the typical human reaction to a heavenly visitation (Luke 1:12).

  [2:10]

  There follows the angel’s message, beginning with the familiar word of assurance—Do not be afraid! (1:13, 30)—and marked by great joy (1:14). The angel’s mission is to proclaim . . . good news (verb euangelizō, as in 1:19). The proclamation of the good news—that is, the gospel—will be the focal point of Jesus’ own ministry13 in fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah (Isa 40:9; 52:7; 61:1 LXX). Here, there is a contrast with Roman proclamations of good news issued, for instance, to honor the emperor or celebrate a military victory. The good news is for all the people: God’s “people Israel” and “all the peoples” of every nation (Luke 2:31–32).

  [2:11]

  The message of Jesus’ birth regards something happening today. Indeed, Luke frequently reminds readers that God’s salvation is available “today” (4:21; 5:26; 19:5, 9; 23:43). Three titles are given to Jesus by the angel. First, Jesus (rather than Caesar Augustus) is the true savior. His very name means “†YHWH saves” (see Matt 1:21), and his mission is to bring salvation (Luke 1:69, 71; 2:30; 19:9–10). Second, Jesus, who is born in the city of David (2:4), is the long-awaited Jewish Messiah (Greek christos)14 in the line of David (see 1:32–33). Third, as already indicated by Elizabeth (1:43), Jesus is Lord. The use of the titles “Savior” and “Lord” for Jesus—titles also used for God (1:46–47)—points Luke’s readers to the divinity of Jesus, the “Son of God” (1:35).

  [2:12]

  Before the shepherds can ask any questions (like Zechariah and Mary), they are given a sign, and indeed one more humble than even their own lowly status: an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

  [2:13–14]

  Unlike the previous two angelic appearances, here the angel is suddenly joined by a multitude of the heavenly host, the army of angelic beings who stand to the Lord’s right and left and worship him (1 Kings 22:19; Neh 9:6). They are praising God in the words of the third Lukan canticle, the Gloria. This short canticle consists of two parallel phrases: Glory to God in heaven above and on earth peace “among people” (NET). In the Benedictus, Zechariah had prophesied concerning the gift of “peace” (Luke 1:79). Now, it is given, not on account of the emperor with his Pax Romana, but on account of Jesus. Receiving this peace are those on whom his favor rests, meaning people “of favor” or “of good will”—namely, those receiving God’s favor.15

  [2:15–18]

  The shepherds’ visit (2:15–20) is the third part of the passage. They go in haste, just as Mary did when given her sign (1:39). Indeed, people respond with hurried excitement to a divine encounter, as Zacchaeus will also do when he meets Jesus (19:5–6). The shepherds find Mary and Joseph, and the sign they were looking for, the infant lying in the manger. As people were amazed at the events surrounding John’s birth (1:63), so too all those hearing the shepherds’ message are amazed.

  [2:19]

  Mary kept all these things—namely, the things and words (1:38, 65; 2:15, 17) recounted thus far. She was reflecting on them in her heart. Luke will essentially repeat this statement at the end of the chapter (2:51). These verses suggest that Mary is ultimately Luke’s source for these events.16

  [2:20]

  The events of Christmas night conclude with the shepherds doing what the angels did before them (vv. 13–14), glorifying and praising God.

&n
bsp; Reflection and Application (2:1–20)

  Jesus’ birth and the Eucharist. We celebrate the mystery of Jesus’ birth every year at Christmas, but in a sense we can do so in every celebration of Mass. St. Gregory the Great is one of many saints who mention that since Bethlehem in Hebrew means “house of bread,” it is a fitting birthplace for Jesus, who in the Eucharist becomes our “living bread” (John 6:51).17 He also indicates that the manger points to the Eucharist, which St. Cyril of Alexandria also explains: Jesus is “placed like fodder in a manger. . . . By now approaching the manger, even his own table, we find no longer fodder, but the bread from heaven, which is the body of life.”18

  The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (2:21–40)

  21When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

  22When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, 23just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,” 24and to offer the sacrifice of “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.

  25Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the holy Spirit was upon him. 26It had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord. 27He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, 28he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: