The Passion Narratives - Luke's Account

Up until this point, we have read what amounts to basically the same story. Both Matthew and Mark likely relied heavily on another source, called Q, for the raw material from which they would compose their Gospels. Consequently, though there are significant differences in style, audience, and focus, both Matthew and Mark share relatively the same material.

Luke, on the other hand, is using both Matthew and Mark for his source material, but only ends up adopting about half of it. The other half of his material is unique to the Lukan story. Pertinent to our discussion will be the following unique passages:

• 22: 31-32 - The Reason for Peter's Denial
• 22:35-38 - The Two Swords
• 23:6-12 - Jesus before Herod
• 23:13-16 - Pilate Declares Jesus Innocent
• 23:28-31, 34, 43, 46 - Sayings Associated with Jesus' Death
• 24:13-35 - Jesus' Appearance on the Road to Emmaus
• 24:36-49 - Jesus' Appearance to the Disciples
• 24:50-53 - The Ascension

Also, in terms of audience, Luke is the only author to identify an audience. He also is quite specific; the Gospel is address to "Theophilus". There are no Roman records of an authority by this name, so scholars have made two guesses as to who he could be:

1. A rich man who became Luke's patron, meaning he paid for Luke to research and write the Gospel, or,
2. Since "Theophilus" literally means "lover of God," it could be that the Gospel is addressed to "all those who love God"

What are your thoughts?

-Fryan