Re-reading Luke’s gospel, it’s interesting to see how Luke presents the sonship of Jesus.
In my study of Joseph a couple of years ago I focussed on Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus as Joseph appears more there than in Luke. I considered the incident at the end of Luke 2 of Jesus being ‘lost’ in the Temple in some detail and looked at Luke’s genealogy of Jesus in conjunction with Matthew’s.
I was examining then how the gospels present Jesus as son of God and a son of Joseph, in the context of considering parallels with contemporary foster care.
Now, reading through the ‘Bible in One Year’, and also more slowly in a NT Greek reading group, I have come to the opening chapters of Luke’s gospel and have noticed something I wish I’d spotted before.
Luke’s genealogy opens with, “[Jesus] was the son (as was thought) of Joseph son Heli, son of…” (Luke 3.23) and this perception is something I examined previously.
What I did not notice is that in the immediately preceding verse Luke relates the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus after his baptism and a voice from heaven declaring, “You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.” So in the second half of this chapter Luke relates God declaring Jesus to be his son, the general perception that Jesus was Joseph’s son, and then a genealogy showing Jesus to be, ultimately, “… son of God” (3.38).
Looking back in Luke, we see the angel Gabriel telling Mary that her son “will be called Son of God” (1.35), as well as the Temple incident, as part of which Jesus refers to the Temple as “my Father’s house” (2.49).
Continuing forward into chapter 4, Luke relates the three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness, two of which the devil introduces with, “If you are the Son of God…” (4.3, 4.9).
After that Jesus goes to the synagogue in Nazareth and declares that his presence fulfils one of Isaiah’s great prophecies, causing much astonishment and offence. The people there ask, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” (4.22)
The second half of chapter 4 relates a number of healings performed by Jesus, including casting out demons, who proclaim, “You are the Son of God!” (4.41) Then Jesus departs to another area and there is something of a break in the narrative.
So the opening four chapters of Luke’s gospel show Jesus being referred to as Son of God by the angel Gabriel, the devil, demons, and the voice from heaven, presumably God’s voice.
On the other hand, the human beings involved, those in the Nazareth synagogue and the general populace to which Luke refers at the start of the genealogy, take Jesus to be Joseph’s son. Even Mary’s words at the end of chapter 2 (“your father and I…”) are ambiguous.
Luke introduces a new term in chapter 5 where, for the first of many times through his ministry, Jesus refers to himself as “son of man”. Jesus does refer to God as ‘Father’ a number of times, and teaches his disciples to pray to God as ‘Father’.
But the term “son of God” is never spoken by Jesus and appears only once more in this gospel. In the final hours of his life Jesus appears before the Jewish Council where he is asked, “Are you, then, the Son of God?” Jesus answers, “You say that I am” (22.70), which they take to be confirmation that Jesus does indeed claim to be the Son of God. At the very end of his life Jesus cries out, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
Luke’s gospel thus appears to present a picture of Jesus being known as son of God by supernatural beings, while human beings remain somewhat confused. For Luke, perhaps Jesus’ identity is clarified for human beings by the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost which he describes in Acts 2, after which Peter makes bold claims about the identity and person of Jesus.
Even so, in Acts the only appearance of the phrase “son of God” is on the lips of Paul after his supernatural revelation on the Damascus Road.
Perhaps we all need that supernatural revelation afresh at this Easter time.