Describe Jesus' attitudes to and treatment of outcasts in Luke's Gospel.

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Charles Watson

A01: Describe Jesus’ attitudes to and treatment _                        of outcasts in Luke’s Gospel

Throughout Luke’s gospel, there are a lot of examples of Jesus’ caring of outcasts.

 In ‘A crippled woman healed on the Sabbath’ Jesus was caring towards the woman he healed, but he also stressed the importance of healing as he healed a woman on the day of the Sabbath, a day which was intended for rest. After Jesus had healed the woman, a synagogue ruler said to the people that there were six days for work to which Jesus replied, ‘You hypocrites!……Thou should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?’ His attitude was very caring as he put her health above any rules and showed the importance of healing people. His treatment was very gentle and effective as he said to her, ‘Woman you are set free from your infirmity.’ He then placed his hands on her and she straightened up.

In ‘The Parable of the great banquet’ Jesus’ teaching is very welcoming towards outcasts and I personally think that he is trying to show that outcasts are just the same people. When people turned down the chance to attend a banquet because they were more concerned with material possessions, the master said to the servant, ‘ Go out quickly into the streets of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ I think this is another example of universalism in Luke’s gospel where the outcasts are welcomed into society. Jesus’ attitude was very kind and accepting, his treatment was welcoming proving a point that there is more to life than material needs.

Jesus also comes across outcasts in Luke’s gospel in the story about the bloody woman. No one would have known how to deal with her bleeding, and she would have been considered unclean and she would have been excluded from the synagogue. However Jesus doesn't deal with her harshly, he is careful and gentle as he says, ‘Your faith has healed you.’ His attitude was gentle and he careful with the woman. This showed men and women as equal. His treatment was miraculous as just one touch healed her.

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Jesus heals a man with an evil spirit in Luke 4, in today’s society an evil spirit would be possibly seen as a mental illness so this man was rejected from society. However Jesus treated him showing love and care. Jesus’ attitude was caring and he showed a want to care for the man. His treatment was caring and very personal.

Another example of Jesus’ care towards outcasts was when he healed a Leper. A leper was the most feared outcast because it was an unknown disease and many people were  scared of lepers and lepers ...

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