Allelon Summer Institute 3

Tim Keel mentioned four Old Testament narratives that create lenses through which we imagine the gospel.  First is the Creation narrative, which is a movement from being outside to being invited into participation in creation.  Second is the Exodus narrative, which is about movement from bondage to liberation.  Third is the Exile narrative, which is about movement from the margins to the center.  Fourth is the Priestly narrative, which is about sacrifice and temple regulations and is without movement.

Tim then observes that the manifold witness of the gospels emphasize something like this:
John – Creation.
Mark – Exodus.
Luke – Exile.

And yet…we have largely built our understanding of the gospel on the priestly narrative (and I might add: as explained through Roman law).  But it is the priestly narrative that Jesus goes to great lengths to deconstruct by renaming what/who is clean and unclean.

This is a helpful insight in light of our journey through Luke and Acts in the Vox Dei Community.  We’ve come across both Luke’s emphasis on Isaiah and the perspective from the margins, and the repeated critique of the inertia of the priestly system by Jesus.