Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
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There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.
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These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.
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When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,
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Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
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Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time.
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When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph.
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Then Joseph
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bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body,
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wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.
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Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body
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was laid.
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When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
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And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
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They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”
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When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.
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As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.
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But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.
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But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”
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So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
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THE SHORTER ENDING OF MARK
[[And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterward Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.
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THE LONGER ENDING OF MARK
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[[Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.
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She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping.
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But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
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After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country.
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And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
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Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he up braided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.
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And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news
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to the whole creation.
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The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned.
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And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
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they will pick up snakes in their hands,
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and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
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So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
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And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.
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THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE
NAME, AUTHORSHIP, AND SOURCES
The Gospel according to Luke, also known as the Third Gospel, and the book of Acts are traditionally ascribed to Luke, a physician who accompanied Paul on his missions (Col 4.14; 2 Tim 4.11; Philem 1.24). Neither the Gospel nor Acts, however, claims Lukan authorship, and sufficient distinctions between the portrait of Paul provided in his authentic epistles and his depiction in Acts call into question the author’s personal familiarity with the apostle.
Whoever composed the Gospel was not an eyewitness (1.2); the author, henceforth “Luke,” not only utilized earlier sources but also sought to correct them (1.1–4). These sources likely included Mark’s Gospel (although not Mk 6.45–8.26; 9.41–10.12); a written text today called Q (from the German word for “source,”
Quelle
), reconstructed from materials common to the Gospels of Luke and Matthew and comprising mostly sayings material such as the beatitudes (Mt 5.3–11||Lk 6.20–23) and the “Lord’s Prayer” (Mt 6.9–13||Lk 11.2–4); independent material called L for Luke’s special source (e.g., Lk 1–2); and the author’s own commentary. Luke also shares some common material with John, such as stories about Jesus’ friends Mary and Martha (Lk 10.38–42||Jn 11–12) and the notice that Satan possessed Judas Iscariot (Lk 22.3||Jn 13.2).
STYLE, CONTENTS, AND STRUCTURE
Luke’s style ranges from the elegant Greek of the prologue (1.1–4 comprise a single Greek sentence) to an evocation of the Septuagint in the first two chapters. By casting the nativity stories of John the Baptist and Jesus in the cadences of Israel’s Scriptures, the Gospel suggests continuity between ancient Israel and the Christian story.
The narrative follows that of the other canonical Gospels, but it is distinguished by the “travel” account (9.51–18.14) inserted into the Markan scheme (contrast Mk 9.41–10.12). Here Luke includes some of the most familiar of Jesus’ teachings, including the parable of the good Samaritan (10.29–37) and the parable of the prodigal son (15.11–32). Distinct as well are Luke’s nativity stories, with their focus on John the Baptist and the virgin Mary, and resurrection and ascension accounts.
INTERPRETATION AND READING GUIDE
The Gospel has been traditionally seen as interested in society’s “marginal”: women, children, the sick, the poor, tax collectors and sinners, and Gentiles. This configuration begs the question, “marginal to what?” Luke’s Gospel instead reveals that (Jewish) women had freedom of travel (1.39; 8.2–3; 23.27,55–56) and access to their own funds (7.37; 8.3; 15.8; 21.2); undertook patronage roles (8.1–3); owned homes (10.38; see also Acts 12.12); and appeared in synagogues (13.10–17) and the Temple (2.22,36–37,41–50). Children, of utmost value in Jewish culture, appear in the care of parents and caregivers who so love them that they seek Jesus’ healing and blessing. The sick, who should not be confused with the ritually impure, are often presented as embedded in caring social networks. Most people in antiquity were poor, and the Jewish system, starting with the Tanakh, mandated communal responsibility for their care. To regard Jesus, appropriately, as caring for women, children, the sick and the poor, embeds him within Judaism rather than separates him from it.
The Lukan Jesus does have a particular interest in associating with “tax collectors and sinners.” Rather than seen as suspect because of laxity in halakhic observance, they are people who have removed themselves from community welfare. Tax collectors, for example, work for the Roman government. Finally, Gentiles—including Rome’s representatives—are hardly marginal. Luke instead depicts them as welcome within the Jewish community (see 7.1–11).
The Gospel’s presentation of Jews and Judaism is complex. On the one hand, especially in the first two chapters, it solidly locates Jesus within a vibrant Jewish environment of faithful Jews engaged in faithful Jewish practice. The Gospel opens with the priest Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, receiving divine revelation in the Jerusalem Temple; Joseph and Mary visit the Temple to dedicate their son and to celebrate the Passover. Luke even describes the circumcisions of both John and Jesus. On the other hand, Luke depicts the synagogue as a place of violence (4.28–29), details Israel’s continual failures while highlighting the fidelity of Gentiles and Samaritans (e.g., 7.9; 17.16–18), and engages in scathing caricatures of Pharisees (see “Pharisees in Luke,” p.
110
) and chief priests. The harsh rhetoric resembles that of the biblical prophets and the Qumran writings (Dead Sea Scrolls); the distinction is, however, that Jesus’ criticisms against his fellow Jews are now embedded in a text directed primarily to Gentiles. Nor does Luke know, or presume readers know, Jewish customs: Jewish practices are defined (e.g., 22.1) and sometimes erroneously presented (e.g., 2.22). Thus the consensus view is that the author is a Gentile writing to a primarily Gentile audience, sometime in the late first or early second century. Indeed, some scholars suggest that the first two chapters are additions, created in the early second century and designed not to foreground the practice of Judaism, but to counter the arguments of Marcion, a Christian teacher who promoted the idea that the God of the Old Testament was not the one revealed by Jesus (the stereotype of the “Old Testament God of wrath” vs. the “New Testament God of love” is a recrudescence of the Marcionite heresy).
Luke’s view of Jews and Judaism is also complicated by the relationship of the Gospel to Luke’s second volume. Acts of the Apostles depicts the beginnings of the church as firmly within Judaism, with Jesus’ followers in the Temple and as being well regarded by their Jewish neighbors. Yet Acts accuses “the entire house of Israel” (2.36) with crucifying Jesus and having “killed the Author of life” (3.14–15); the text ends not in Jerusalem but in Rome, with Paul announcing that the Jews will “never understand” (28.26), but that the Gentiles “will listen” (28.28). One plausible reading of the two volumes is that Luke depicts Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s plan and the church as the true heirs of Moses and the Prophets, while presenting non-Christian Jews as hypocritical, intolerant, and violent. Readers should attend to the tension between Luke’s depiction of Jesus the Jew and of Jesus’ early followers as observant Jews, and Luke’s presentation of those Jews who did not become Christian as having fallen short of God’s intentions and thus, ultimately, having become foes of Jesus himself and of his followers.
Amy-Jill Levine
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Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us,
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just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,
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I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first,
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to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
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so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.
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In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
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Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord.
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But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.
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Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty,
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he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense.
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Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside.
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Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
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When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him.
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But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.
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You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,
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for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
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He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
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With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
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Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.”
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The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.
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But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”