Luke

Author: Luke

Luke writes an orderly account so that Theophilus may know the certainty of the things he has been taught.

Outline

  1. The promised births (1–2)

    John and Jesus are announced, Mary sings, and the child is presented in the temple.

  2. Galilee (3–9)

    Baptism, the Nazareth sermon, healings, parables, and the feeding lead to Peter’s confession.

  3. The journey (9–19)

    Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem, and much of Luke’s teaching is given on that road.

  4. Death, rising, and the opening of the scriptures (20–24)

    The last week ends with the risen Lord at table in Emmaus and with the disciples in the city.

Key verses

  • Luke 1:3–4

    Luke says he wrote in order so that Theophilus might know the certainty of what he was taught.

  • Luke 4:18–19

    At Nazareth Jesus reads Isaiah’s promise of good news to the poor and says it is fulfilled.

  • Luke 24:27

    On the Emmaus road the risen Jesus explains the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.

Luke addresses a named reader. Many have taken in hand to set forth the things that are most surely believed. Eyewitnesses delivered them. It seemed good to Luke also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write in order, so that Theophilus might know the certainty of the words in which he had been instructed. The preface is the book’s claim about itself. It is an orderly account, researched, and aimed at confidence rather than at novelty. The second volume, Acts, will continue the same address. This page is the first volume only: the things Jesus began to do and teach, told from the announcements of the births through the days after the resurrection.

The opening chapters are full of prayer, song, and the temple. Zechariah is told that his son John will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord. Mary is told she will bear a son named Jesus who will reign over the house of Jacob. She answers that she is the handmaid of the Lord. Her song magnifies the God who has scattered the proud, put down the mighty, exalted the low, filled the hungry, and helped Israel. John is born, and Zechariah blesses the Lord God of Israel. Jesus is born in Bethlehem, laid in a manger because there was no room in the inn, and announced to shepherds. He is circumcised, presented in the temple, greeted by Simeon and Anna, and at twelve years old he is found among the teachers, about his Father’s business. Luke’s infancy is a world of people who have been waiting, and of a reversal already sung before the public ministry begins.

John preaches a baptism of repentance. Jesus is baptized, and a genealogy runs back to Adam, the son of God. At Nazareth he reads Isaiah’s promise of good news to the poor and says the scripture is fulfilled in their ears. The town then tries to throw him off the hill when he speaks of a widow in Zarephath and of Naaman the Syrian. The sermon Luke places at the front of the ministry already includes the poor and the outsider. Healings, a call to Levi, beatitudes that bless the poor and warn the rich, and women who support the company from their means carry the Galilean work through Peter’s confession. Luke notes that when the days were coming that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.

The long journey is Luke’s own proportion. Much of the teaching a reader remembers is given on the way: the good Samaritan, Martha and Mary, the lost son, the rich man and Lazarus, and Zacchaeus. Jesus eats with sinners and tells the grumblers that what was lost has been found. The journey is the plot’s teaching, aimed at a city that kills prophets.

The entry, the temple disputes, the widow’s two mites, and the discourse about the city’s fall lead to the supper, where he says he has desired to eat this passover with them before he suffers. He tells Peter that Satan has desired to sift him, and that he has prayed that Peter’s faith fail not. The garden, the arrest, Peter’s denial, the council, Herod’s curiosity, Pilate’s repeated verdict of no fault, the women on the road, the two others crucified with him, the prayer for his killers, the promise to the penitent thief, and the commendation of his spirit into the Father’s hands are told with a care for the people around the cross. Joseph, a counselor who had not consented to the deed, lays the body in a tomb. The women come at early dawn with spices and find the stone rolled away. Two men say he is risen. The eleven do not believe them. Two disciples walk to Emmaus and do not know the stranger who opens the scriptures and is known in the breaking of bread. He stands among the disciples, eats, and says that everything written in the law, the prophets, and the psalms concerning him must be fulfilled. Repentance and remission of sins will be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. They are to wait in the city until they are endued with power. He is carried up, and they return with joy. Luke’s certainty is the risen Lord interpreted by the scriptures and announced from Jerusalem outward, which is where his second book will begin.

Chapters