This Evangelist writes as another witness of the same divine truths, joining in general testimony with those who had gone before him (1:1-4). But we shall find in him, as we do in them, something which gives his Gospel peculiarity and character, and which tells us that, though thus concurring with others in general testimony, the Spirit of revelation still has a special design by him.
But all this different service of the same Spirit, by the different Evangelists, is not incongruity, but only fullness and variety. The oil with which Aaron was anointed, and which was mystically the fullness and virtue that rests on our adorable Lord, was made up of different odors, myrrh, calamus, cassia, and cinnamon (Ex. 30); and it is the office of one Evangelist after another, to produce different parts in this rare and sweet compound of the sanctuary, to tell out different excellencies and perfections in Jesus the Christ of God. For what one could tell out all? Surely it was sufficient joy and honor for one servant, however favored with such new revelations, to trace even one of them. The saint has the sweet profit of all together; and in language prepared for him, can turn to the beloved, and say, " because of the savor of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth."
Now in the midst of this various service thus distributed among the Evangelists, we shall find, I judge, that St. Luke occupies his peculiar place, by presenting Jesus to us as " the man, Christ Jesus," or the anointed man. The Lord in St. Matthew, meets the Jew as their Messiah; in St. Mark he meets a needy world as the servant of that need; in St. John he meets the Church or heavenly family as the Son of the Father, to train them for their heavenly home; but here in St. Luke he meets the human family, to speak with them as the one anointed and only sanctioned Son of Man. Indeed Son of Man may be considered as characteristically His title here, and it is a title of very extensive meaning. It expresses man in his perfectness, or man according to God. It tells us, as it were, that man stands " a new thing" in Jesus; and that in Him we see all possible human or moral beauty. He stood, if I may so express it, before the eye of the Spirit, while He was moving the hand of the Apostle to draw that picture of perfection in the human soul, which we see in 1 Cor. 13 But not only is all this moral perfectness expressed by the title " Son of Man" applied to Jesus, but all His suffering and all His dignities are likewise connected with Him as such. As Son of Man, he was bumbled so as to wonder that God should have any respect to Him (Psa. 8), but as such He is also exalted to the right hand on high (Psa. 80). As such He had not where to lay His head (Luke 9:5858And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. (Luke 9:58)), but as such He also comes to the Ancient of Days to take the kingdom (Dan. 7:1313I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. (Daniel 7:13)). Judgment is committed to Him as such (John 513And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. (John 5:13)); He is Prophet, Priest, and King as such; Heir and Lord of all things; Head and Bridegroom of the Church, and more than tongue can tell. As Son of Man, He has power on earth to forgive sin (Matt. 9:66But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. (Matthew 9:6)); and is Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:2828Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. (Mark 2:28)), though as the same He lay three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt. 12:4040For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40)). He was the wearied Sower of the seed, and He will be the glorious Reaper of the harvest, as Son of Man. He was crucified and raised again as such; but all the while, as such, had His proper place in heaven (John 3:13,1413And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: (John 3:13‑14)). And by and bye, as the Son of Man, He will be the center of all things, heavenly and earthly, in the kingdom (John 1:5151And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. (John 1:51)). For it was in man that God had of old set His image; and when the first man, who was of the earth, had broken that image, the Son of God undertook to restore it; and thus to accomplish in man, the divine purpose by man, setting man in that place of honor and trust which God had of old provided for him.
Thus, this title or name of the Lord is an extensive one, ranging over and linking itself with His person, and with all His sorrow, and all His dignities too, save such, of course, as He owns in Himself, being " God over all blessed forever." As the Son of Man, therefore, He may be looked at in these three aspects. He is the anointed man,-the undefiled human temple raised at the beginning by the Holy Ghost, and then filled by Him (Luke 1:35;435And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)
35And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. (Luke 4:35). 1). He is the humbled man, who traveled in sorrow here, down to the death of the cross (Phil. 25Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; (Philippians 3:5)). He is the exalted man, crowned now with glory and honor, and by and bye to have all dominion (Heb. 217But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? (Hebrews 3:17)).
As the Son of Man, He deals with man; and in that action, I believe, our Evangelist specially presents Him to us. In this Gospel He converses with the human family; He knows man as a creature of certain faculties and passions, being Himself, all the while, the anointed man, the heavenly man, who came to exhibit man according to the mind of heaven, standing for the blessed God in the midst of the human family, who had deeply revolted from Him. He was the only fair untainted fruit of the human soil; and thus growing up in the midst, He exposes all beside.
This was His purpose, and that He might do this perfectly, and exhibit in Himself man according to God, and in all beside, man departed into evil, He is eminently in this Gospel the social one. He is most generally seen here in human intercourse and in places of resort, carrying thus the anointed man everywhere, to be found and read of all. And sweet indeed would it be, if the saints read the holy lesson better. In walking before the world, their path would be the purer, in walking together it would be more refined and elevated. Not that they would put on the mode and sanctioned order of the world, but they would gracefully wear " the things that are lovely and of good report." And that would be the holy adorning of their doctrine. It would be the saint in the power of that love which behaveth itself not unseemly, but which exhibits the virtue and the praise that suits anointed men after the pattern of Jesus.
As such pattern we have Him here in St. Luke. And there is beautiful order in the Gospels as they thus lie before us. The Lord had to enter the scene as to Israel, having a question with the people of His ancient election in the earth; but being refused by them, he takes His own most proper and undistracted paths, which in the Gospels, one after another, are still in order, each rising above the preceding one, and properly following it. For having tried the question with Israel in St. Matthew, he is the servant in Mark, the social Son of man in Luke, and the Son of God in St. John. He is first under as in service, then at our side in converse with us, and then above us in the solitudes of heaven. Being the rejected Heir of the Jewish vineyard in Matthew, He becomes the doer in Mark, waiting on our lower necessities, such as we have in common with other creatures, disease, infirmity, pain and want; the teacher in Luke, serving our higher necessities, such as are peculiar to us as human creatures, having human affections and faculties; the divine in John, forming for us heavenly associations as saints of God and children of the Father.
This, I judge, is the characteristic order of the four Gospels. And as in the previous notices of Mark and John, I have observed the fitness of the penman to the peculiar task assigned to each of them, so do I judge the same as to Luke. We hear of Him in the divine history as the companion of the Apostle of the Gentiles (Acts 16:1111Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; (Acts 16:11), Col. 4:22Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; (Colossians 4:2), Tim. 4, Philem. 1:1,241Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlaborer, (Philemon 1)
24Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlaborers. (Philemon 24)). He became associated in labor with one, whose ministry respected neither Jew nor Greek, but addressed itself to man as such. And indeed I believe that He Himself had been a Gentile. His name is of Gentile character, and He seems to be distinguished from brethren who were of the circumcision, as others have remarked, in Col. 4:1414Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. (Colossians 4:14).
And now having thus gathered the general intent of our Gospel, and the person of its penman, I would follow it in its order. I might feel naturally desirous to do this, from previous meditations on the other Gospels. But nothing less than the joy of the Lord in ourselves, and His praise in the thoughts and delights of his saints,-should lead a step onward, even in such holy paths as these. But surely it should be the common delight of all His saints to trace Him in all His goings. For where are we to have our eternal joys but in Him and with Him? What, beloved, is suited to our delights, if Jesus and His ways be not? What is there in any object to awaken joy, that we do not find in Him? What are those affections and sympathies, which either command or soothe our hearts, that are not known in Him 2 Is love needed to make us happy? if so, was ever love like His 2 If beauty can engage the sense, is it not to perfection in Jesus? If the treasures of the mind delight us in another, if richness and variousness of knowledge fill and refresh us, have we not all this in its fullness in the communicated mind of Christ? Indeed, beloved, we should challenge our hearts to find their joys in Him. For we are to know Him so forever. And learning the perfections and beauties of His blessed word, is one of the many helps which we have to advance in our souls this joy in the Lord. May this present meditation serve this end in us, beloved, through the Spirit, for the Lord's sake!