The Synoptic Problem

One of the problems with choosing to work with the Gospel of Luke as the central topic of my phd is that I have to come to terms with the Synoptic Problem. For those who have not done any theological training or have just simply never heard of this before, this the area of scholarly debate which seeks to address the large quantities of material shared by Matthew, Mark and Luke. And it can be a minefield, especially when first encountered. As a result, I have been avoiding it as much as possible. However, now this is no longer possible. 

Palm Sunday

This Sunday just gone was Palm Sunday, the Sunday beginning the most important week in the church calendar: Holy Week. Easter has certainly come around fast this year (in part because it is still early in the year), with daylight savings here in New Zealand only just coming to an end of Easter Sunday. The Palm Sunday sermon at my church drew on Luke 19:28-40, when Jesus rides on a donkey into Jerusalem on a road covered in the cloaks of the people, to the joyful praise of his disciples. In short Jesus enters in as the Messiah of Israel. (This story is also found in Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11 and John 12:12-19).

A Blessing as a Curse?

There is a strange phenomenon in the Hebrew Old Testament, where blessing language is used to mean a curse. Okay, bear with me a moment, I know it sounds weird, but it is there in the text and it is this strange feature of a few passages of the Old Testament that I want to look at today. 

Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10)

This is one of the classic stories taught to kids in Sunday school about the sinner who repents upon meeting Jesus and shows great generosity by giving away most of his ill-gotten gains to the poor. It is often used as an illustration of how people can change when they meet Jesus.

But is that what is really going on in this story or is there another way it could be understood?

Zechariah the Priest (Luke 1-2)

Zechariah is the father of John the Baptist, the story of whose birth is connected with that of Jesus in Luke’s infancy narrative (Luke 1-2). Zechariah is described in Luke 1:5 as “a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah” (NRSV). Elizabeth, his wife, is described as being a descendent of Aaron (the original priest and brother of Moses). On this occasion it was the description of Zechariah as belonging “to the priestly order of Abijah” that got me thinking. There are parts of the Bible (usually in the Old Testament) that are very boring for the modern reader. One of these is the long genealogies which detail generations upon generations of Israelites, most of whom are never mentioned again. The most extensive are found in 1 Chronicles. I couldn’t help wondering whether these genealogies would enlighten who Abijah, the ancestor of Zechariah who gives his name to the order, was.