November 15th, 2025

If you read last week’s writing, I would like to say THANKS again for making it that far. That was the last installment of the text of the Gospel according to Luke. The entire account was divided up into sections, given a week at a time, and given in the order in which they were first given, not skipping over any parts as the lectionary does, as the church year continues.

It should also be said that the style of translation given in that account was also hopefully helpful to its readers. There are a LOT of ways in which a biblical text may be translated, from literal to paraphrase. And hopefully the EXTREMELY literal translation of the text was at least a little bit helpful.

The church year is coming to an end as well. There are two more Sundays in the church year. This Sunday is called the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost. The appointed Gospel Reading is Luke 21:5-28, with the option of also including verses 29-36. And it should be no surprise that the text references an end, particularly the end of the temple in Jerusalem.

It may be helpful to go back and list some of the so-called “historical presents” that occurred within this account. The Gospel according to Luke has, by far, the fewest historical presents of the four accounts. When something is described that happened in the past, one would expect it to be described in the past tense. It would make sense if the text said, “He said some words.” A lot of the things that Jesus did happened a long time ago. But it may be a bit confusing to read the following: “He says some words.” Is the man still talking? In a way, when we are talking about Jesus, you could say, “Yes.”

What does this do? First of all, it is something significantly different. It is something special. People are somewhat familiar with reading what happened in the past. That is typically called “history,” and people typically do not like it. This is different. The Bible is different. Jesus is different. Jesus is still alive. Jesus is still doing things.

What is said about Jesus in the Apostles’ Creed? Perhaps you noticed a present tense within that as well, that he “sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” That is in the present tense, although he did a lot of things in the past. And he is not sitting down and relaxing after a tough job. He is sitting and ruling with God the Father Almighty.

How does that sitting and ruling show itself now? That certainly gets at the heart of the matter. If God wanted to be obvious with his power, he could certainly do that. But if he wanted to be obvious with his love, then his rule happens in a different way.

The Bible can sometimes be very specific about such a thing. In the book of Ezekiel, in the very first chapter, there is a vision of the LORD’s throne. And the throne is described as being four LIVING creatures. They are given in this order in verse 10: man, lion, ox, and eagle. These fit quite well with the four Gospel Accounts, that of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Why are they described as LIVING creatures? The throne shows the glory, the weight, the ramifications of the person sitting upon that throne. And these ramifications are seen in the historical PRESENTS of each Gospel account. And they are significantly different. Each has its own special strengths. Most of them are connected to Jesus, but all of them are connected to something good about his love, and that is the way he rules.
This type of ruling also happened in the Old Testament. Sometimes God was like a man in the Old Testament. Sometimes he was also like a lion, an ox, and an eagle. And in these ways God showed his love, along with his significance and his ramifications.


In the Gospel according to Matthew, the connection is to a man, and the historical presents are most often connected to speaking, but there are some other human actions as well. In the Gospel according to Mark, the connection is to a lion, and the historical presents are most often connected to actions. Jesus fights against evil. And the intensity of the actions is increased with the historical presents. In the Gospel according to John, the connection is to an eagle, and the historical present are very frequent and are often connected to small details that are going on within the text, both in words and in actions. This may be seen as the “eagle eye” at work.


In the Gospel according to Luke, the connection is to an ox, and it is probably the most unfamiliar of the creatures. With the advent of the farm machinery, there is very little use for an ox. In comparison to the others, an ox has the strength of the lion, but has the friendliness of the man. The tame ox can get along with a large variety of other animals and people.


There is another word in the language of the Old Testament for a wild ox, and that is NOT the word that is used in Ezekiel. And it also is not a popular animal to own. It is one thing to try to tame a wild cat or dog. Could you imagine trying to tame a wild ox?
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Now an ox is a very strong creature, and it can do the powerful jobs where strength is needed. Its significance is such that it was usually the first animal listed when it came to listing the possessions of a person or family. (You may note that in the Tenth Commandment, it is listed before the donkey and before anything else that belongs to the neighbor; it should also be noted that when the four living creatures are listed again in Ezekiel 10:14, since the ox is the first creature mentioned, so that it would not be so confusing, it is given the description of a “cherub”.)


It will be relatively easy to list the historical presents that are found within the Gospel according to Luke. Since it is such a short number, a bit more of their context will be given, and it will be stated on how much variety is given with these occurrences.


It may be helpful to remember that all of these historical presents occur after one of the significant turning points in the text, when Jesus is called “Lord” by the writer of this account. I do not consider it a coincidence that the first time this happened is when a son dies, and the mother is told by “the Lord” not to cry, the text says that Jesus had compassion, and he raises the son from the dead (7:13ff). This title “Lord” is the same title that was given to God in the Old Testament. And he is certainly LORD, but he does not always show that with his power. It may be said that God shows his lordship particularly when it comes to his LOVE. And he certainly shows that to a wide variety of people. And that is certainly seen in the Book of Acts, and that book is certainly connected to the Gospel according to Luke.