Reading the Gospels Together The Storyline of Luke’s Gospel – Part 3 At this point Luke picks up the beginning of Mark’s gospel and follows Mark’s lead in telling the story of the baptism of Jesus. Like Matthew, Luke expands upon Mark’s terse story in several ways. First of all, he locates the story on the broad stage of Roman history. Tiberius is now the Emperor. Pontius Pilate is introduced as the governor of Judea. Herod Antipas is introduced and the ruler of Galilee and his brother, Herod Philip is the ruler of the area to the north of Galilee. Lysanias is the ruler of Abilene. And Annas and Caiaphas are introduced as the high priests. It is upon this great stage of history that Luke brings John the baptist on stage once again. This time John is a grown man and he comes proclaiming the words of the prophet Isaiah. He comes to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. Like Matthew, Luke expands the ministry of John the baptist adding material he and Matthew share. And then Luke does a peculiar thing. He tells his readers that Herod is offended by John and shuts him up in prison. This is before Luke tells us the story of the baptism of Jesus by John. Did John baptize Jesus? If we only had Luke’s gospel we may well come to the conclusion that he did not. But, perhaps this is only Luke’s way of putting the spotlight on Jesus. It is worth noting however that Luke does tell a somewhat different story of the baptism. And like Mark, Luke tells his readers that only Jesus hears the voice while his is up out of the water praying. Luke now interrupts Mark’s story to provide his own genealogy of Jesus. When we compare Luke’s genealogy with Matthew’s we notice some big differences. Where Luke moves from the past to the present, Luke moves from the present to the past and Luke takes his list of names further back in time all the way to Adam and in fact to God. Jesus belongs to the whole human race. And the names are not the same – nor do the match the OT completely. Why did Luke insert a genealogy at this point in the story? He doesn’t seem to have as much invested in it as Matthew did with his tight construction of three sets of fourteen. But in his way Luke is establishing for his readers the credentials of Jesus as a true Israelite. We have just heard the voice from heaven say that Jesus is God’s beloved Son. Now we hear that he is by genealogy the son of God as well. As we noted, Luke had interrupted Mark’s story to provide the genealogy of Jesus. Now he returns to tell of the story of the testing of Jesus in the wilderness. Like Matthew, Luke expands Mark’s story and as we listen to both of them it becomes clear that they share a common source; however, the order of the last two temptations is reversed. Likely it is Luke who has made the change since his order puts Jesus in the Temple for the last temptation. The Temple, as we have seen, is important for Luke. With the baptism and testing over, Luke tells his readers that Jesus returns to Galilee where a report of his ministry and acceptance by many is reported. Luke is following Mark in bringing Jesus to Galilee where he will remain for the rest of his ministry until his fateful journey to Jerusalem. We have noticed how Luke is following Mark’s gospel at this time and we expect that we are now going to hear about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry with his claim that the kingdom of God has come near and how Jesus goes on to call his first disciples. But, that is not the way Luke tells his story. Instead, Luke reaches ahead in Mark’s gospel and tells the story of Jesus visiting his hometown of Nazareth. Luke brings this story forward as the first event in the ministry of Jesus. He also expands greatly upon Mark’s version of the story. Mark had told his readers that the people of Nazareth were amazed at Jesus and his bold teaching because they thought they knew who he was and so they reject him. Mark had spoken of the teaching of Jesus. Luke provides us with that teaching – on the Sabbath Jesus reads from the prophet Isaiah and then claims that Isaiah’s words have come true in his coming. Jesus is the one who Isaiah looked for. This is what offends the people of Nazareth and they attempt to put Jesus to death by casting him over the cliff. But Jesus escapes. In this controversy with the people of Nazareth Jesus quotes two OT stories both of which highlight the failure of God’s people to receive the coming of God in the person of God’s prophets and also the reception of God by Gentiles. Mark had made it clear that the religious leaders are the deadly opposition that will put Jesus to death. Luke has subtly made all of the people of Israel who do not welcome the coming of God’s representative as the deadly opposition. Some of that opposition will be from religious leaders but for Luke the opposition is broader. By moving Mark’s story of the visit of Jesus to Nazareth to the beginning of the ministry of Jesus and by expanding upon the story to define the ministry of Jesus in terms of the prophet Isaiah, Luke has created a whole new context for understanding the ministry of Jesus. Luke will fill out that meaning as his story moves forward but for now his readers know why Jesus came – to bring good news to the poor, to bring liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed and to announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people. Will the people respond to the coming of the Lord? As Luke’s story unfolds we will learn that some will and others will not. But the stage is set for the reception or rejection of the Lord.