Name: SarahPL
Reference: Luke 22:36
Quote: Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take [it], and likewise [his] scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Time: 04:18:00 PM
Dear Luke, After a quick read we have deceided that while we do want to publish we think you should come in sometime next week to go over a few things. Why you have so much to say about peace - you reference it about 14 times, and yet here your main character is inciting his followers to bear arms. You need to work on consistency a bit more, but it is still a good read. See you next week.
Name: SarahPL
Reference: Luke 22:36
Quote: Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take [it], and likewise [his] scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Time: 04:13:34 PM
Dear Luke,
Name: Pam L.
Reference: Luke 13:31
Quote: At that very hour some Pharisees came, and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you."
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Time: 03:16:43 PM
The story line has consistently been that the Pharisees are bad but now they come and offer you a helpful warning.
Name: Burt D Williams
Reference: Luke 3:4
Quote: As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Time: 01:00:05 PM
Dear "Luke",your rendition of this passage from Isaiah, although interesting, is a bit confusing. It is nice the way that you have adapted it to fit the character of John, but let's please quote it properly. You have reworded an entire phrase, which changes its meaning (make straight in the desert a highway for our God Isa. 40:3b). Your message would still be intact, if you used the original though.
Name: Genise K
Reference: Luke 2:43-45
Quote: "the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the company they went a day's journey, and they sought him...and when they did not find him they returned to Jerusalem."
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Time: 10:09:20 AM
Dear Luke, As a parent I question why you would portray that an entire days journey passed without the parents noting their child was missing. It would seem more apropriate that they accounted for all their possessions, including their child, at the beginning of the journey. Perhaps the story could have been told that they were ready to leave and could not find their child so the journey was delayed by a day........
Name: Audrey
Reference: Luke 24:13
Quote: That very day two of them were going to a village names Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Time: 09:15:01 AM
That very day Cleopas and his wife, Anna, were going... The text shows the editing that has happened. If Cleopas'name was known, then his companion's name was probably also part of the text. What other information has been lost because of this editing?
Name: Cathie
Reference: Luke 11:24-26
Quote: "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest; and finding none he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first."
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Time: 08:45:41 AM
Dear Luke, It seems to me that this passage is unnecessarily obscure. I get that you do not want to spoon-feed these people. As your editor, with concerns about circulation, it won't matter if your book is not read. I suggest clarifying passages such as this somewhat so that the reader does not get lost. Sincerely, Josephine editor in chief.
Name: Patricia
Reference: Lk 5:39
Quote: And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, 'The old is good.'
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Time: 08:27:16 AM
This ending sentence to Jesus' parable of old wine in new wineskins is not found in either Matthew or Mark, who otherwise have very similar passages. It adds nothing to the parable, and, in fact, obscures its lesson. It sounds very much like a separate saying of Jesus that just got stuck onto this passage so that it wouldn't be wasted. Hit the delete key, Luke!
Name: Dina Lattanzi
Reference: Lk 9:52-56
Quote: The disciples ask if they should call down fire from heaven on a town that did not welcome Jesus, and Jesus "turned and rebuked them."
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Time: 08:18:37 AM
it is not clear here whether Jesus is rebuking the townspeople that rejected him, or his disciples for suggesting punishment for the town. If the former, this is inconsistent with Jesus's subsequent treatment of towns (10:10-16) that do not receive him.
Name: Gail
Reference: Luke 24:51
Quote: While he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven.
Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Time: 11:49:26 PM
Just when did this happen? Chapter 24 describes several event. How much time passes? In your next book, Acts, you mention 40 days. Could you confirm that here?
Name:
Reference:
Quote:
Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Time: 11:45:58 PM
Name: Clare
Reference: Lk. 4: 16-30
Quote: Jesus reads and speaks in the synagogue in Nazareth. Those in attendance initially “all speak well of him”
(Lk. 4:22). But within moments, after Jesus’ random, unconnected statements about prophets, widows, and lepers, the people in the synagogue turn on him and “were filled with wrath”
(Lk. 4:28).
Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Time: 11:09:08 PM
Luke starts us out with a positive story about Jesus’ teachings in the synagogue. But the quick staccato references to the prophets, widows, and lepers neither promotes Jesus’ ministry in the synagogue in Nazareth, nor among (at least some) modern day readers. Luke reports the hearers were “filled with wrath.” While my reaction is not one of wrath, I am left questioning what is going on here? What is the point of this tirade?
Name: TPB
Reference: Luke 12:15
Quote: And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Time: 08:51:46 PM
Dear Luke, Clearly Jesus taught that God will provide and that folks should not be concerned about owning material possessions, but I suggest caution in advising against the acquisition of everything temporal. Our sales and marketing department reminds me that we are in the bookselling business and unless folks buy the first edition we will never be able to justify printing a second.
Name: Cindy
Reference: Luke 10:18
Quote: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven."
Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Time: 08:26:20 PM
I'm not sure of the time line here. The sentence prior tells about the seventy coming back - recent past - and reporting how the demons were subject to them. The sentence following tells about the authority Jesus' followers are given, and that nothing shall - future tense - hurt them. But Jesus' words about Satan falling from heaven doesn't seem to fit with the general understanding that God is in heaven and Satan is from, well, somewhere else. True, the story is that Satan did fall from heaven, but that was way before this. Is this saying just made more vague to become a pep talk for the workers? Or is it alluding to some other story that some readers might not know about? I'd like to see some clarification here.
Name: Barb Sagat
Reference: Luke 11
Quote: Take your pick!
Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Time: 08:15:49 PM
Luke- Please work on your structure in this collection of stories. We start with your Jesus teaching us to pray, then we hear about a man who is not getting any bread, then demons appear, and Jesus is attacing a poor a woman who attempts to say a nice thing about his mother. After that, there's a huge croud asking for special signs (The demons weren't enough?), Jesus is angry again, someone is lighting a candle under the bed and eating with dirty hands! Could you uplease explain why all of these stories are important, and what they have to do with each other? Please- connect the dots, and help us not to get lost!
Name: Eric G
Reference: Luke 16:18 (see Mark 10:12)
Quote: Mark: "And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."; Luke: "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery."
Date: Monday, November 14, 2005
Time: 11:21:32 PM
CommentDear "Luke": We keep running across minor discrepancies in Gospel accounts. This whole remarriage thing confuses us. Your account suggests that the husband commits adultery whereby Mark's account suggests it is the woman who is the adulteress. Please clarify. Oh - and not that it matters to us - but several of these types of passages have us wondering...might you be a woman yourself??
DT: Luke tells much of Jesus' infancy through the eyes of Mary.
Name: Mair
Reference: Lk13:18-21
Quote: "... the kingdom of God...is like a mustard seed...is like leaven which a woman hid in three measures of flour..."
Date: Monday, November 14, 2005
Time: 11:34:56 AM
Something is very off here- Jesus just finishes admonishing the ruler of the synagogue- the
people are
rejoicing at all the glorious things that were done and these descriptions of the kingdom without anyone asking him are placed here. If you take them out the story goes on fine- "He went on his way..." Somehow this metaphor of what the kingdom of God is really like seems more important than in its position here. I wonder if Luke didn't understand it either.
Name: Terah Ames
Reference: Luke 4:17, 5:12, 6:12, 8:1 for example
Quote: Introductions to events without specific facts
Date: Monday, November 14, 2005
Time: 08:06:25 AM
Many events in this gospel are referenced with specific points in time, prominent leaders, places, etc. These passages begin without such references and therefore their credibility is not as strong as other passages as they seem more like hearsay.
Name: Poppy Arford
Reference: Luke 10:1-12
Quote: Verse in question (10:12) I tell you it shall be more tolerable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
Date: Sunday, November 13, 2005
Time: 09:14:35 PM
Dear Luke,
As an officer of the publishing house I am writing to express our concern with the threatening tone of chapter 10 verse 12. While we are pleased with "The Mission of the Seventy-Two" passage as a whole, and very supportive of the teachings of Jesus Christ, we do not feel it is necessary to shame and frighten those who are not yet believers by aligning them with the likes of Sodom. We very much prefer the tone of "The Mission of the Twelve" discourse offered in Chapter 9 verse 1-6, where you discourage an inhospitable response without the
ensuing threat of justified destruction. In light of the current state of
religious intolerance coupled with the daily threats of violence I am writing to notify you that we have delete verse 10:12 from your
manuscript.
Sincerely,
Editor-in-Chief of Religious Manuscripts
DT: Nothing more helpful in theology than a good sense of humor.
Name: Zareen
Reference: Luke 7.31-35
Quote: "To what shall I compare the men of this generation, and what they are like?"
Date: Sunday, November 13, 2005
Time: 03:17:27 PM
The style of this paragraph is a little rough compared to some of Luke's. Maybe a little choppy. I guess I would prefer more of a flow to the writing here. Mentioning John the Baptist and all with more compassion?
Name: Dave
Reference: Lk 9:54-56
Quote: And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.
Date: Saturday, November 12, 2005
Time: 06:12:48 PM
After the Samaritan town refuses to receive Jesus, the disciples are inspired to want to destroy the town. However, in a passage just a little earlier (Lk 9:5), Jesus instructs the disciples regarding mission about this very issue saying "And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as testimony against them". The disciples did not learn the lesson well as there is no instruction by Jesus to destroy a house or town if they are not received.
Name: Laura
Reference: Luke 12:5,-7
Quote: But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I tell you , fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Date: Saturday, November 12, 2005
Time: 02:01:07 PM
To fear, to not fear? That is the question! Maybe if it were clear who it was who has the power to "cast into hell" after he kills, I might be able to suggest how better to word this. Maybe "be watchful" for one who has the power to "cast into hell" but still, "Fear not..."
Name: Amy
Reference: Luke 4:23
Quote: ...what we have heard you did at Capernaum...
Date: Friday, November 11, 2005
Time: 03:51:47 PM
CommentWhat did Jesus do in Capernaum? Unless it was left out of the story, he hasn't even been there yet.
DT: Good observation. Rearranging the stories from Mark, he misses the reference. In Mark Jesus goes to Capernaum before preaching once more in Nazareth.
Name: Sarah Shepley
Reference: Lk.9:50;11:23
Quote: 9:50-"But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him; for he that is not against you is for you." 11:23-He who is not with me is against
me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.
Date: Friday, November 11, 2005
Time: 03:26:55 PM
In these two passages, It seems to me that Luke presents Jesus saying two contrasting statements. The former a renouncement of intolerance, the latter an indication of the necessity of following Jesus' values and ministry. How would I propose an editorial change to Luke? Perhaps I would suggest him to write" Find the place in him that is benevolent and speak to it. The benevolence of intention that reflects my values as those who come from Him."
Name: Judy Clark
Reference: Luke 9:51-53
Quote: ...but the people would not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.
Date: Friday, November 11, 2005
Time: 01:50:45 PM
I think Luke could have made this a little more clear. Does it mean Jesus was just passing through and wanted nothing to do with the people of the area? Why wouldn't they receive him? I would like a little more information.
Name: Rosemary Ananis
Reference: Lk 14:25
Quote: Now great multitudes accompanied him...
Date: Thursday, November 10, 2005
Time: 09:35:21 PM
In the pericope immediately preceding this, Jesus was eating dinner at the home of a Pharisee. How did he get from there to where he was accompanied by "great multitudes"? Luke needs better transitions!
Name: Doug
Reference: Luke 8:18
Quote: Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.
Date: Thursday, November 10, 2005
Time: 11:38:38 AM
Luke: love the beginning Chap. 8 vs. 16 and 17. But how does vs. 18 fit in? From lights and lamps to how to listen? Gotta take it out.