#40daybible Dave Five (Luke 19:28-24:53)

So we come to the end of the first week of the 40 day read through the New Testament. Here's the link for today's reading, covering Luke 19:28-24:53, the rest of Luke. If you missed this week, read the whole Gospel of Luke this weekend to catch up. You can do it in a couple hours!

Some highlights of today's reading.

• This reading leads us to the cross and the resurrection of Jesus.
• The way Luke has edited Mark 13 (since most think Matthew and Luke started with Mark in preparing their gospels) suggests that Luke was written after the destruction of Jerusalem. See how much more vividly Luke 21:20 is than Mark 13:14? We would have already dated Luke after the destruction, given that it used Mark and Mark itself is probably late 60s or early 70s.
• Luke has some unique features during the Last Supper and is closest to Paul's wording (1 Corinthians 11). In particular, only these two mention that the wine, after supper, represents a "new" covenant (22:20). Luke mentions another cup before the bread too.
• Only Luke gives us Jesus telling the thief on the cross that he would be with Jesus in paradise. This is a rare testimony to the intermediate state in the New Testament--there really isn't much in the NT on what happens between our deaths and resurrection.
• Only Luke has the story of the men on the road to Emmaus after Jesus rose from the dead.
• In Luke, Jesus eats with his disciples after he rises from the dead, showing that he is not a ghost. I personally wonder if Luke is written around AD80, when Gnosticism was beginning to rise.
• Notice the sense of immediacy Luke gives in chapter 24, boom, boom, boom. You would never guess that, when we open up the next scroll of Acts, we would find that there were 40 days here.

My take-away

• Although it is a few verses before today's reading, here is my verse for today: "The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost" (19:10).