The Gospel at Work

If modern news media had existed when Luke wrote this story, Herod’s dramatic death would have been splashed across every front page, and TV reporters would be camped outside the gates of the palace. For Luke, by contrast, the death of the tyrant is a mere prelude to an announcement about what really matters: “But the word of God continued to increase and spread” (24). None of the newspapers would have given this a paragraph on the back page. The reality, however, is that v. 24 is the news item that truly matters in the history of our world; tyrants come and go, but secretly, silently, the Word of the Lord increases and results in real change. 

As a member of a privileged minority, Luke here reveals his own understanding of the social implications of the Gospel, which must have come as a profound challenge to Theophilus, also a member of the elite. If he had wondered exactly what was meant when, early in Luke’s first volume, he had come across Mary’s prediction that the child she carried would scatter the proud and bring rulers down “from their thrones” (Luke 1:51,52), this narrative gave him a concrete and disturbing example! Luke leaves no doubt that the poor, starving people of Tyre and Sidon represent an all too common response to tyranny. While refusing to offer the powerful the adulation they crave, the followers of Jesus react with “a subversive refusal to bow before any other gods, save the true God” (William Willimon).

Luke’s use of literary skills to share the good news with his peers is an example for us today, but his manner in doing so reminds us of the radical nature of the Gospel and the real cost of following the Lord Jesus.

Who are the privileged members of your society? Pray that they might hear a true presentation of the Gospel and come to follow Jesus as Lord.