shepherds and angels
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Today’s Friday on Faith is about the Gospel of Luke.
Luke couldn’t have imagined Hollywood. But he wrote the story of Jesus as if it were a movie script. The most memorable scenes of faith are here.
Luke was intended to be read aloud among Christ’s followers, perhaps as they gathered to recall the Last Supper.
Luke paints the picture of the adoration of Madonna and Child, the theme of countless paintings and postage cards. The breaking of bread at the last supper, from Michelangelo’s’ painting to countless movie reenactments, is from Luke. The heavens opened after Jesus is baptized… that’s Like’s imagery. The calling of the fishermen and their miraculous catch… Luke. Wise men opening their treasure chests before the Christ-child… Luke. The transfiguration, heaven opened revealing Christ as the true son of God… that’s Luke, too.
The pictures that are embedded in our minds about our Christian faith are most likely from Luke. He intends to bewilder us.
And each Christmas, I come back to Luke for what I consider the most moving scene of the entire Bible. Sheppards, the low people, are in the field with their sheep in the middle of the night. An angel appears, and announces that the Messiah has come on this very night. A heavenly choir sings the good news. And they go and find Mary, and Joseph, and the babe in a manger. The low people are told that on one particular night everything changes. I imagine what that moment must have been like. And I am in awe.
Faith is not intended to be an intellectual exercise that fires only our minds. Faith must inspire. And that comes from Luke.
Chris Conley
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