Week 40

Luke 1:5-80

The gospel of Luke was penned by the only Gentile to contribute to the New Testament scriptures, who was a Greek, and a disciple of Paul.   Luke writes like a journalist, who goes and interviews all of the eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  Some scholars have speculated that Luke wrote this gospel, and the book of Acts as written statements to be presented at Paul’s defense before Caesar.  Luke is very detailed, and was also a trained physician, so he was the best educated of all the gospel writers.

Luke tells the story of John the Baptist’s birth to Zechariah and Elizabeth in their old age.  Elizabeth was a cousin of Mary, and John was born 6 months before Jesus.  Mary went and visited Elizabeth for the final 3 months of her pregnancy, and John was filled with the Holy Spirit when he was 6 months in the womb.  Elizabeth understands that Mary will be the mother of the Messiah, and Zechariah prophesies concerning the ministry of their son John.  After John is raised from infancy, he lived in the desert until he was called by God to preach about the coming of Christ to Israel.

Matthew 1:18-2:23 and Luke 2

Here are the stories of the Lord’s birth in Bethlehem.  When it was learned that Mary was pregnant, an angel appeared to Joseph, telling him that the baby was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and gave him instructions to not put Mary away, and to name the child Jesus.  The name Jesus is the same as Joshua in Hebrew, and it means “Jahweh is Salvation”.  Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth (in Galilee), but were forced to travel to Bethlehem as she was preparing to deliver Jesus, because of a census that required everyone to register in their ancestral cities.  The announcement of Jesus’ birth was made by shepherds and angels, and wisemen from the east (Persia) came and worshipped Him in Bethlehem.  King Herod attempted to kill Jesus, but the Lord told Joseph to take Him to Egypt until the king died.  After Herod’s death, they returned from Egypt, and then went to live again in Nazareth, where Jesus was raised.  At 12 years of age Jesus went with Joseph and Mary to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, and even then His wisdom astounded the temple priests, and He knew His mission to serve His heavenly father in life and death.

Matthew 3:1-4:11, Mark 1:2-13, Luke 3:1-23 and 4:1-13, and John 1:19-34

John the Baptist appeared out of no where, coming from the desert, preaching repentance to the people in Israel, and of the imminent coming of the Christ.  He was not the Christ, or the prophet that Moses promised (Deuteronomy 18:15).  He said he wasn’t the promised appearing of Elijah, as Malachi predicted 400+ years earlier, however Jesus testified later that he was indeed Elijah.  As John predicted, Jesus appeared at that time, and He was baptized by John, and God testified that He was His Son, and the Spirit of God came and stayed upon Him.

Jesus was led into the desert to be tempted by the devil, and after fasting for 40 days, satan came to Him.  Satan tempted Him three times, trying to get Jesus to disobey His Father, however each time He only responded with scripture, quoting from Deuteronomy 6 and 8 all three times.  He is our example of how to battle satan and temptation, by relying on God’s Word, and not on our own intellect or strength.

John 1:35-3:36

According to John 20:31, this gospel was specifically written so that people might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that He is the Son of God, so all of the accounts included in this gospel were placed there to accomplish this end.  Much of what was recorded in the other 3 gospels was not included in John, as he was not trying to just repeat what the others had written decades earlier.

In this passage we see the beginning of the Lord’s ministry, where He starts gathering disciples, He cleanses the temple of vendors and money changers, and He performs His first miracle in Cana, turning water into wine.  This first miracle is a picture of what He can do with plain earthen vessels (like us), where He miraculously transforms the common into the extraordinary.

In chapter 3 Jesus meets with Nicodemus, a leading Pharisee among the rulers in Israel, telling him of the need for every person to be born again, if they are going to be a part of God’s kingdom.  Then Jesus tells Nicodemus that He must be lifted up (on the cross), just like Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness, so that whoever looks up Him might be saved from the curse of satan’s bite (just like the people were saved from the serpent bites when they looked upon the bronze serpent lifted up on a pole).  He tells Nicodemus that it is for this purpose He came, because it was never God’s desire to judge the world for sin, so He sent Jesus into the world to save all who will believe on Him.

John 4, Matthew 4:12-17, Mark 1:14-15, and Luke 4:14-30

After Jesus met with Nicodemus, He took His disciples into the area of the Jordan River for a while, but then determined to go into Galilee, some 70 miles north of Jerusalem, where He had grown up.  Most of the Lord’s 3 and 1/2 years of ministry occurs in Galilee, and it was most of the final 6 months that Jesus spent most of his time in and around Jerusalem.

On the way towards Galilee they stop in a small Samaritan town named Sychar, where Jesus meets a Samaritan women at the well.  Samaritans were descendants of marriages between Gentiles and Jews, where a small number of Jews were sent back to the northern kingdom of Israel following the Assyrian captivity, and they were expressly hated by pure-bred Jews.  However, Jesus stops and ministers to them as descendants of Abraham, and always treats Samaritans with compassion during His ministry.  Jesus declares to her that He is the source of everlasting water (which God had demonstrated to Moses and Israel for 40 years in the desert wanderings, with the river of water that came from the Rock).  He tells her plainly that He is the Messiah, and Jesus stays in that town another 2 days, with many becoming believers.

From Sychar Jesus goes into Galilee, and when they are in the town of Cana (again), Jesus performs His second miracle by healing the son of a Gentile ruler from Capernaum.  Most of the miracles reported in John’s gospel were done without many people even noticing, as was the case with His first 2 miracles reported in John.

Jesus initiates His Galilean ministry, and in Luke 4 He goes to the synagogue in Nazareth and reads from Isaiah 61:1-2, telling them that the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled in their presence on that day, but He was immediately rejected by the people of His own town.

Mark 1:16-45, Matthew 4:18-25, 8:2-4 and 14-17, and Luke 4:31-5:16

Even though some of the men had started following Jesus when He was first baptized, and in Judea, now the Lord places His call on Peter, James, John, and Andrew, saying that they will become fishers of men.  Jesus is ministering and teaching in Galilee, performing many miracles and casting out demons.

Matthew 9:1-17, Mark 2:1-22, and Luke 5:17-39

The city of Capernaum was located at the north end of the Sea of Galilee, and very near to the city of Bethsaida.  Capernaum became the headquarters city for Jesus and His disciples, where they went out from during His three years of ministry in Galilee.

Jesus heals a paralytic, and places His call upon Matthew/Levi.  Pharisees complain that Jesus is associating with tax collectors and sinners, but He tells them that it was for the sick and helpless that He came to minister, and not those who considered themselves to be healthy and sin free.  He then makes an analogy about putting new wine in old wineskins, or patching an old garment with new material, saying that both examples will fail, and that He was instituting a new work in the world with all that He was doing.