Arts, Christianity, Culture

Luke’s Gospel: A signpost for seekers

NEW TESTAMENT

IF Matthew is the Gospel for the Jews, Luke is the seeker’s Gospel. Written in stylish language, it is carefully researched and easy to read.

Luke, who was a doctor and a travelling companion of St Paul, has several special interests. He includes, not unnaturally, some helpful details about Jesus’ healings. He also shows how Jesus regarded women and the poor with special compassion at a time when they were usually seen as second-class citizens or outcasts.

At the other end of the scale, he has strong warnings for the rich. His chief concern, however, is to show that Jesus is the Saviour of the world, sent by God to rescue people from the kingdom of evil and darkness.

Luke alone tells the familiar parables of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan: he alone records the joyful conversion of the corrupt tax inspector Zacchaeus. And only Luke gives us real insight into Jesus’ birth and records the encounter of two ordinary people with the risen Jesus on the Emmaus road. It all makes the book user-friendly and faith-inspiring.

A narrative – God’s magnificent manifesto

Luke 1:46-55, 67-79

MATTHEW’S Gospel launches Jesus’ ministry with the revolutionary teaching of the Sermon on the Mount. Luke launches Jesus’ life with an equally revolutionary sound of music.

The two poems found here (Mary’s is more of a song, Zechariah’s more of a prophecy) speak theological volumes. They lay down the themes to which Luke will return time and again.

In both cases the praise is directed to God, not simply for what he has done for Mary and Zechariah personally. That is the nature of true worship: lifting us from the immediate to the eternal, from the personal to the corporate.

Mary’s song called the Magnificat, in some ways resembles that of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. Both their sons were to be special servants of God, but Hannah was married and unhappily childless.

Mary’s ‘humility’ was genuine in terms of her human poverty as well as her attitude of heart. She could offer only the poor person’s traditional sacrifice (2:24; Leviticus 12:8) and for some while she lived as a homeless refugee (2:7; Matthew 2:14).

But her God is not only holy, he is also merciful (v 50), an implicit acknowledgement that Mary considers herself tainted by original sin.

God’s holiness and righteousness are expressed by the way he turns the tables on the rich and powerful (vv 51-54), a constant Lucan theme. This is a prophetic declaration of righteousness which may have its spiritual dimension in terms of personal salvation, but which is far wider-reaching.

To that Zechariah also turns, in the prophecy known as the Benedictus. He sees his son’s birth as a stage in God’s purposes not just for himself and his wife, but for the nation. He focuses on forgiveness (v 77) but as a Jew this was never separated from God’s wider purposes (v 74).

Christians cannot separate the spiritual and personal message from the wider context of God’s plan for the world. John the Baptist called for a radical change in lifestyle, and neither he nor his cousin Jesus were afraid to confront the authorities with their unrighteousness. The Christian gospel is both personal and corporate.

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Britain, Government, Legal, Politics, Society

Society calls on UK Government to keep the Human Rights Act

BILL OF RIGHTS

MORE than 150 civil society groups have written to the UK Government urging a commitment to retaining the Human Rights Act and rule out its replacement by a British bill of rights.

The position of the prime minister in regard to the proposed legislation is in doubt but Dominic Raab, having been reappointed as justice secretary, appears adamant to push through the new laws. It had previously been shelved under Liz Truss’s leadership.

The British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) and 157 other organisations including Amnesty International UK, Human Rights Watch, Liberty, Child Poverty Action Group, End Violence Against Women Coalition, and Unison, have written to Rishi Sunak calling on him to abandon the plans to scrap the HRA once and for all.

The letter, which was written to coordinate with global human rights day – Saturday, 10 December – says they “write with heavy hearts that the UK government’s approach to our domestic law risks taking us further and further away from the legal protection of human rights”.

It continues: “Human rights laws are, necessarily, uncomfortable for governments because they set limits on the exercise of power, limits which are for the benefit of people.

“No UK government need fear this … [it] should embrace the fact that our Human Rights Act provides universal protections for everyone and ensures those with public power are accountable.”

The 1998 legislation incorporated into domestic law rights are set out in the European convention on human rights. The convention, which was ratified by 46 member states (including the UK), was intended to ensure governments could not dehumanise and abuse individuals’ rights.

Giving evidence to parliament’s justice committee, Mr Raab, who has also returned to the role of deputy prime minister, said the bill of rights would “restore some common sense to articulate a more UK-wide set of priorities for human rights and to curb some of the abuses of it”.

He also claimed it would protect victims and the public “perhaps more than was possible under the HRA,” for instance by boosting free speech.

But critics of the proposals have called it a “rights removal bill”. The BIHR specifically highlights several weaknesses and says it would:

. Fundamentally weaken the right to respect for private and family life.

. Remove the legal duty on courts and public bodies to interpret other laws compatibly with human rights, exposing people to the arbitrary use of laws with no checks.

. Limit access to justice by adding barriers to bringing a human rights case to court.

. Destroy the positive obligation on public bodies to take proactive steps to protect people from harm, including protecting domestic and child abuse survivors.

Sanchita Hosali, the chief executive of the BIHR, said: “Despite the rhetoric, even a cursory reading of the rights removal bill shows it does not create new rights or strengthen existing protections. It does the exact opposite, weakening people’s current rights and access to them.

“The rights removal bill is unprincipled, unevidenced, unworkable and unnecessary.”

BIHR said the signatories represented the interests of millions of people across the UK.

Other organisations that have put their names to the letter include Stonewall, the Muslim Council of Britain, Freedom from Torture, the Runnymede Trust, Rethink Mental Illness, Parkinson’s UK, and the Prison Reform Trust.

A spokesperson for the government said: “The government is committed to protecting human rights and will always continue to champion them internationally and at home.”

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Arts, Culture, Scotland

A slogan worth its place

SCOTTISH VILLAGE OF FINTRY

THE Scottish village of Fintry had an unofficial slogan. “Out of the world and into Fintry.”

As beautiful as the village is, we can be sure the slogan was referring to the peace, beauty and scenery – the things of God’s world – that surrounded it. While the “world” was the industrial mess we made.

Instead of the occasional holiday in nature’s tranquillity, wouldn’t it be better if we brought more of God’s world into ours?

THE sloping stone steps led to the riverside. It had been raining for two days. Rivulets gathered from every direction and gutters overflowed. For that day, the steps became a waterfall.

“Wow!” one observer exclaimed, looking for the best angle to take a photo.

“Ridiculous,” another was heard to say. “The council ought to clear the drains. Those folk with clogged-up gutters ought to be fined!”

It was the same scene and two different responses. A dramatic, unexpected waterfall, or a chance to complain? We choose how we perceive the world. We might at least choose a way that makes us happy and content – even when it’s raining!

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