Good sinners and exemplary heretics: The sociopolitical implications of love and acceptance in the Gospel of Luke

Abstract

This article pairs discussion of the polarization of contemporary American politics with an exploration of the Gospel of Luke's call to radical hospitality across and in spite of earthly societal divisions. Amanda C. Miller argues that the Lukan Jesus demonstrates a way of living in the world that extends acceptance to all people regardless of ethnic, socioeconomic, political, or religious labels, and focuses instead on their actions toward God and other human beings. The narrative of the Third Gospel strongly alls for love, justice, and hospitality to be enacted, embodied, and demonstrated in how one treats other people. Miller begins with an overview of the extreme polarization of political views in the 21st-century United States, and a brief look at Jesus' ethic of acceptance and the conflict such actions will inevitably provoke (e.g., in the call of Levi the tax collector in 5:27-32 and Jesus' Nazareth proclamation and subsequent rejection in 4:16-30). She then examines in some detail two stories in Luke that show active, engaged relationship between people who, for various societal reasons, would not normally like each other, much less help one another. The parable of the Good Samaritan (10:25-37) demonstrates this boundary-crossing hospitality in the conversation between Jesus and the Torah scholar, and the interaction in the parable between the Samaritan and the wounded man. Likewise, the story of Zacchaeus (19:1-10) shows how a simple invitation to eat together offered by Jesus to a wealthy tax collector transforms Zacchaeus so dramatically that he, in turn, extends radical generosity to those whom he used to oppress and defraud. These two stories demonstrate the power of active acceptance and relationship between those who differ, over and against the dehumanizing labels humans use to divide themselves from one another.