The four Gospels form the heart of what most Christians would agree are the foundation of their faith, each telling the story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Son of God, and what these events meant for all people who came to believe the gospel as Truth. Yet each gospel varies in how its authors choose to frame and emphasize the various components of the story and its protagonist. Luke, the third of the Synoptic Gospels, was written earlier, as an attempt to formulate and compile the narrative along with a documentation of Jesus’ teachings, miracles, and life in order to illustrate to its reader what Jesus meant when he said that the reign of God was being fulfilled. In contrast, John was written later than the other three, forming a more concise and organized narrative which using recurring themes and imagery to emphasize the Life-giving power of Jesus’ mission on earth.
This essay will explore the meaning of the life of Jesus by comparing the Gospels of Luke and John in three parts. First, the introduction and Jesus’ arrival “on the scene” and how each gospel presents Him to the reader. Secondly, the body of the Gospel and how both books structure Jesus’ works, teachings, and discord through recurring themes. Finally, the concluding of the gospel and how they frame his death, resurrection, and reappearance to his followers. The gospels of Luke and John use different styles, structure. and themes to emphasize the greater nuances of the larger Gospel message that the kingdom of God is at hand, yet remain true to the central idea of Jesus the Messiah and son of God, having come to usher in a new age and offer salvation to all who chose to believe.
Introducing the Reader to Jesus as Human and Divine
To understand the importance of the “Good News”[1] of Jesus, Luke and John begin with identifying the bearer of that news: the Messiah. Yet from the beginning the two Gospels could not be more different in how they contextualize and frame their protagonist, and therefore also in how they present the reign of God.
Luke approaches his Gospel and portrayal of Jesus by emphasizing his humanness. The reader doesn’t meet Jesus until his social context is fully established. Luke identifies locations,[2] rulers and authorities around him,[3] and even gives Jesus’ genealogy.[4] All this emphasizes a singular theme: Jesus came to people: poor, messy, confused, imperfect, humanity, who do not welcome their Messiah. Further, these are people living their everyday lives. Zacharias is performing a once in a lifetime sacrifice in the temple, while his wife waits at home.[5] Gabriel visits a young woman who is engaged and probably preoccupied with her wedding plans.[6] Her fiancé is a carpenter, scrounging up a living to support his future spouse.[7] The angels appear to herdsman, “keeping watch over their flock” in the middle of the night,[8] and Jesus is finally born tucked away in a corner of an overcrowded Bethlehem during a nation-wide census.[9]
Luke is riddled with this nonsensical details, which all highlight a singular theme: This is raw humanity -dirty, busy, preoccupied, scrounging, and desperate for grace- into which It’s Creator is born -a crying, poor, and dependent infant. In just a tiny speck of the world, the reign of God begins to grow.
Luke, however, also establishes suspense through an Old Testament trope of expectation with the bareness and virginity of Mary and Elizabeth. Quickly, the reader comes to understand that the baby(s) are not ordinary, through Mary’s prophetic song:
“He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
And lifted up the lowly;
He has filled the hungry with good things,
And sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel
[...] according to the promise he made to our ancestors [...]”[10]
This prophecy later mirrors John’s words in chapter three: “ [...] every mountain and hill shall be made low.”[11] We learn that Jesus is bringing equality and re-establishing the social orders to fulfil everyday needs. Mary and John-the-Baptist proclaim the heart of the Jesus’ mission and message to earth, even if they do not fully understand what that means yet. In the wilderness, we finally meet Jesus’ character in an epic but deeply symbolic trial with Satan in the wilderness. The exchange is brief, but the three trials target the three human expectations of a ruler. Can the ruler provide enough for his citizens? Can the ruler enforce his authority and extract allegiance from his people? And finally, can the ruler prove his power and control?[12] The answer, shockingly, is no: this is not the kingdom nor the stereotype that Jesus will fulfil. Luke’s introduces Jesus’ character as a small and ordinary human, alongside expectation of what will grow from these small beginnings.
John on the other hand does not situate or contextualize Jesus and bypasses the entire birth account, and instead begins by introducing a spiritualized Jesus which he will maintain throughout. He does not discuss Jesus or his reign in the human way of Luke. Instead, John emphasized as theme of the Son’s direct and maintained connection to the Father, even while human: “In the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God [...] and the Word became flesh.”[13] Luke works from the bottom up: Christ born for the poor; A mustard seed expanding out from a little infant in backwater galilee, growing into a large ministry where thousands gather to be filled with bread and words of hope. John, on the other hand, develops his Kingdom theology from the top down: “In [Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.”[14] John meets Luke halfway: a desperate people reaching up in belief, and a loving God reaching down through his son to offer a light in the darkness. Where Luke emphasizes the humanity of Jesus, John emphasizes humanity recognizing God in Jesus.
John does this in his Gospel through a theme of recurring naming, where Jesus is recognized and self-proclaimed through various “I am” statements. In the first few Chapters of John, the twelve are gathered together as each identifies Jesus by various titles of recognition -Son of God, Lamb of God, Rabbi, “him about whom [...] the prophets wrote,” Messiah[15]- all these titles tie to John’s opening theme of the Word, where Jesus calls these disciples to come be enlightened by the Truth of this radical new reign of God.
Subject Matter: Structure and Themes of Luke and John
This leads into how both gospels structure their story to highlight their differing approaches to illustrating the reign of God. John is structurally far more organised than Luke, where each healing/narrative piece is paired directly with a spiritual teaching on the themes introduced in John’s introduction; namely, life, light, and sight.
The audience of John were people starving both physically in their poverty, but also spiritually. Chapter six depicts the famous feeding of the five thousand, a story documented in all four gospels, and after physically satiating an entire crowd, Jesus speaks of spiritual food: “I am the bread of life.”[16] Later he expounds on this saying, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven [...] and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”[17] Not only is the teaching a return of the “I am” or naming theme of the introduction, but bread as a life-giving source is paired with the message of salvation. The reign of Christ meets all needs -physical and spiritual as it gives life.
Food is not the only way John highlights the life-giving quality of God reign, as john also explore life through death and the resurrective power of God. Lazarus and his sister are some of the few characters to appear that humanize the character of Jesus in the Gospel of John. These sisters send word to him that “he whom you love is ill.”[18] When Lazarus dies, Jesus’ response is profound: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.”[19] This entire story block is placed deliberately after Jesus escapes arrest -the light not being overcome by darkness- and followed immediately by a teaching of life, where Jesus states the famous words, “I am the resurrection and the life.”[20] The return of self-naming emphasized that the miracle of Lazarus’ resurrection is to connect God downwards with this earthly and human condition.
Another thematic recurrence in John is light and darkness, depicted through blindness and the restoration of sight. In John, darkness is all those around Jesus who are blind to what he is showing the people of the kingdom. Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the dark, and Jesus shines light or knowledge into the Pharisee’s blindness or lack of understanding: “All who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light so that their deeds may not be exposed.”[21] Later, after several attempts to frame Jesus (darkness pressing in), he declares, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but have the light of life.”[22] And finally, chapter nine discusses the miracle of the blind man. This figure is met with hostility from the Pharisees. These spiritual figures who should have been shining lights for the people, instead play the role of darkness, as they harass the man once his sight is restored and eventually “they [drive] him out.”[23] Jesus who has stated that he is light, finds the man and asks if he believes, telling him “You have seen him.”[24] The man simply says, “Lord, I believe.”[25] This entire exchange is the good new in miniature, as Jesus reaches down to the man lost in darkness and restores his sight, while the man reaches up and believes his salvation.
Alternatively, Luke cannot contrast John more thoroughly when it comes to structural composition in presenting the life of Christ and the message of the kingdom. Luke is organized chronologically, rather than thematically, making it a whirlwind of teachings, parables, healings, and exorcisms. He starts small: “Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee.”[26] The spread of the kingdom in localized towns is characterized by Jesus bypassing cultural taboos. He heals a withered hand on the sabbath, touches and heals an unclean leaper-breaking Jewish purity laws, and recruits a tax collector, Levi.[27] All this sets up the reader for the sermon that follows, a redacted form of the Beatitudes found in Matthew. Under his reign, Jesus states that the poor, hungry, and grieving are blessed. This is what his reign looks like, and these are the citizens of this kingdom.
However, this kingdom is not understood. John the Baptist asks, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”[28] John is confused by this unconventional. Understanding of the God’s reign, and Jesus answers, paralleling John’s theme of sight: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard.”[29] Indeed, what we see is the growth of Gods reign as Jesus’ ministry spreads. Unlike John, Luke is filled with parables designed to demonstrate what the kingdom of God is to these confused people: a kingdom growing out of the smallest seed, the work of the poor Sower, and a tiny piece of yeast.[30] The parables reach those willing to hear and understand, coming from the darkness into the light.[31] Like the seed, the ministry expands towards Jerusalem[32] as it escalates with even more exorcisms, healings, and teachings, and expands through the sending out of seventy followers to imitate in the spread of this message. Luke emphasizes a human Jesus, reaching individuals directly and personally in a number that grows.
Concluding the Gospel: Crucifixion and Resurrection
Finally, the crucifixion is the apex of both John and Luke’s Gospels. Without surprise, both maintain their themes to highlight the significance of this event. Luke thoroughly describes the Passover scene and the garden, where we uncomfortably watch everything seemingly fall apart: Judas is a traitor, the disciples are falling asleep, Jesus is crying and sweating in fear, and the disciples turn to violence to defend Jesus.[33] The man who cared for every individual, who was born into this culture and these people is now mocked, abandoned, and killed by them. Humanity at large is rejecting this radical new reign and rejecting their loving and caring king. But Luke goes on. His resurrection sequence starts much like his introduction -very ordinary and human. Two men returning home in Emmaus; returning to their old lives before they ever heard of kingdoms and light, and saw the poor lifted up, because their king is dead. Yet Jesus simply joins them on the road, explains to them the signs of his ministry, and disappears once they sit down to eat an ordinary meal.
John entirely skips the events of the Passover, instead including a long final sermon by Jesus. Thematic darkness presses in as the illegal trial takes place in the middle of the night, but is also emphasized through the character of Peter. Peter is the disciples renamed in John’s introduction and also the one who in turn names Christ after the transfiguration, saying “You have the words of eternal Life. We have come to believe and know you are the Holy One of God.”[34] yet here at the end, Peter draws a sword- imitating the death of the World- to defend Jesus, and then proceeds to betray Jesus three times[35]- each individual betrayal separated by a burst of dialogue in the trial. There is a sense that Peter, the Pharisees, and the people are all growing blind- the light is disappearing, and no one is left to correctly recognize God. Yet, John specifies that “it was still dark” as the woman come to the tomb and discover it is empty.[36] One pictures the beginnings of dawn -as the woman sprint home, and the sunrise streaming over the sky when John and Peter reach the tomb,[37] and the early morning sun fully risen as Mary Magdalene speaks to a resurrected Jesus first.[38] It is light not overcome. It is the reign of God completed, or rather, now fully in motion, because sight floods back, int eh final image of doubting Thomas saying, “My Lord and my God.”
Luke ends with Jesus telling the disciples, “You are witnesses.”[39] The word implies that they are co-conspirators in Jesus’ grand plan, evangelists to this reigning of God. There is also a call to continue his earthy, muddy, and messy journey, “beginning from Jerusalem,”[40] out into the greater world. John on the other hand choses to be as direct in his conclusion as he was with his introduction. He tells the disciples- those present then, and the witnesses reading today, “These are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”[41] This is the reign of God in full: Life. Life through allegiance to the son of God and through an imitation of what has been witnessed in Jesus. Luke and John could not be more stylistically, or structurally different, but they both turn to the reader and hold them accountable, asking what role they will now play in the reign of God.
[1] Luke 1:19 NRSV [2] Luke 1:26, 39; 2:22 [3] Luke 2:1; 3:1 [4] Luke 3:23-38 [5] Luke 1:9 [6] Luke 1:26-27 [7] Luke 2:4-5 [8] Luke 2:8 [9] Luke 2:1-7 [10] Luke 1: 52-55 [11] Luke 3:5 [12] Luke 4: 1-13 [13] John 1:1, 14 [14] John 1:4-5 [15] John 1:34, 36, 38, 41, 45 [16] John 6:35 [17] John 6:51 [18] John 11:3 [19] John 11:11 [20] John 11:25 [21] John 3:20 [22] John 8:12 [23] John 9:34-35 [24] John 9:37 [25] John 9:38 [26] Luke 4:14 [27] Luke 6:6-10; 5:13; 5:27-28 [28] Luke 7:20 [29] Luke 7:22 [30] Luke 13:19; 8:5; 13:21 [31]Luke 9:10 [32] Luke 10:1 [33] Luke 22:1-6; 22:45-46; 22:44; 22:49-50; [34] John 6:68-69 [35] John 18:17, 25-27 [36] John 20:1 [37] John 20: 3-8 [38] John 20:15-16 [39] Luke 24:48 [40] Luke 24:47 [41] John 20:31
Comments