The bull of St Luke

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

THE PROLOGUE: Luke 1,1-4

We begin our reading of the Gospel of Luke with the opening four verses which are usually known as the Prologue. This is a notably formal statement where Luke tells us a great deal in a few words about his aims and purposes. It is therefore important that we understand what he is saying. It is also important that you have a go at this yourself though this is not the easiest beginning. You will then be better able to follow my response.

The only other Gospel to make a statement of its aims is that of John. His comment about his aims comes at the end of his story, a colophon as it is known. Have a look therefore at John 20,30-31.

I have drawn up a page with the Greek text and a range of translations of this Prologue taken from different Bibles. Some are more successful than others in their understanding of the evangelist's presentation. In itself, it is interesting to see the great variety offered by these translations for the same sentence. The differences between them show noticeably different understandings of what Luke is saying.
You will see that some translations divide these verses into two sentences. Further, you will notice that some have an opening word which has been omitted by others. You can also see how translations change from edition to edition. I have given the two versions of the New American Bible (which is the American Catholic Bible). The most august family of translation into English is the AV/RV/RSV/NRSV group. The Jerusalem Bible is the translation currently read at Mass in Britain and Ireland.

This Prologue is one sentence in the orginal Greek. Try to identify therefore the main clause and the subsidary clauses. That gives us a framework for identifying the key words which Luke is using. Then consider what we are told about the following:

Then I suggest you try to write out in your own words what Luke is saying in these verses, and include different ways of understanding what he is saying. All this ought to be somewhat longer than Luke's statement. Hopefully too it will raise questions in your mind and so prepare you for my response, my understanding of what the evangelist is saying.

Therefore, once you have made a good attempt at all this, have a look at my response.

The Sunday Gospel

The Prologue has an unusual place in the Sunday Gospels because it is used as an opening paragraph for the Gospel of the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time. There is nothing to suggest in the lectionary layout that there are then three chapters separating the first paragraph from the rest of the reading. This second part of the Gospel reading is the first part of Jesus preaching in the synagogue in Nazara his home town (Lk 4,14-21). We can leave therefore further comments about this Gospel until we come to chapter 4.

We now come to the opening scene of the Gospel story with the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist, 1,5-25.