At the ending of this article in the last Bulletin, I began sharing with you what scholars say about the dating of both Luke’s Gospel and Acts. Some scholars feel that Acts must have been written while Paul was still alive and, therefore, because Luke’s Gospel is the first volume of this two-set work, the Gospel must have been written at an earlier date than the 60s. Mainstream scholars are not convinced by this argument for more than one reason. Even though Paul is the central character is Acts, the purpose of Acts was not to provide a biography of Paul but to narrate the spread of early Christianity from Jerusalem to Rome. Thus its ending is perfect – Paul is teaching in Rome. For it to have ended with Paul’s death – with words like, “and then they killed him” – would have been contrary to its purpose. Moreover, the author of Luke obviously used Mark. Given the consensus conclusion that Mark was written around 70, Luke-Acts must be later than 70.

The growing movement to date Luke and Acts in the early second century has more than one foundation. Some scholars argue that the author knew passages from the works of Josephus, a Jewish historian who wrote in the 90s, thus making Luke-Acts later than that. Though the evidence that the author did know the writings of Josephus is not completely persuasive, there is another reason for a date a decade or two later than Matthew, namely, both Luke and Acts emphasize the consistent rejection of Jesus by “the Jews.”

The rejection theme is announced in the gospel in the opening scene, the inaugural scene, of Jesus’ public activity in his hometown of Nazareth (4:16-30). Jesus’ fellow villagers react positively to his message until he refers to two prophets of the Old Testament whose activity extended to Gentiles – a widow and a leper. The scene anticipates the plan and theme of the two-volume work, which is the expansion of the Jesus movement from the Jewish homeland to the Gentile world.

What is striking is the reaction of Jesus’ townsfolk. When he mentions Gentiles favorably, they reject him and try to kill him. Jesus, of course, escapes and the Gospel says: “He passed through the midst of them and went on his way”. What is noteworthy is that Luke’s story of Jesus begins with rejection by those “in the synagogue.”

Pick up your New Testaments and see if you can find this “rejection” theme in both

Luke’s Gospel and Acts.