Jesus, A Diamond in the Rough

Its a cliche to talk about diamonds having many facets. However, what we find in the gospel stories is Jesus like a diamond. Many faceted, shining brightly, with God's flame in the center. One of the ways this is evident is to read all the different gospel stories. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all present different views on who Jesus was as a man and as the Son of God.

In Matthew, Jesus is very much the Jewish Messiah. Jesus came to save the people of Israel, and was very focused on the reform of the Jewish synagogues and fulfillment of Jewish scriptures. In Mark, Jesus is the suffering servant Son of Man from Isaiah, fulfilling the scriptures, not just for the Jewish people, but also for the Gentiles. In John, Jesus is depicted much more as a divine presence in the world, very theological, very spiritual, and very in tune with the overarching story of the whole scriptures. In Luke, Jesus is deeply compassionate, focused on caring for the poor, the marginalized, the broken, and the oppressed. Liberation theology comes from the gospel of Luke. Right at the beginning you can see the differences in the emphases, Matthew starts his gospel with a genealogy tracing Jesus' ancestry back to Abraham, father of the Jewish people. Mark starts, and ends, his story in the middle, letting the reader understand that Jesus' story starts with the Hebrew scriptures, but continues on far after his tale is finished. John begins his story with a parallel to the beginning of Genesis, where Jesus is spoken as the Word of God, whereas, Luke traces Jesus' ancestry back to Adam, father of all people.

All of these perspectives are true. All of them teach us about who Jesus is and what his mission is in the world. As you read through the gospel of Luke, what facets of Jesus are you seeing anew? What are you seeing that you've never seen before? Every story shows us something new.