LUKE Introduction The gospel of Luke is the third book in the New Testament. It comes after the gospel of Mark, but most likely it was written before Mark. Early church leaders held that Matthew was written first, Luke was written second, and Mark was written third. The author of the gospel of Luke is technically anonymous as with the other gospels, but early church leaders unanimously held that Luke was the writer, and therefore they titled the book with his name. We don t know much about Luke except that he was a Gentile doctor who served alongside Paul as a ministry companion (Colossians 4:14). But amazingly he wrote more of the New Testament than any other writer. The first few verses of Luke and Acts reveal that the same person wrote each book. These two books form a two-volume history of Jesus and the birth of the church. They probably would have been written as one book except that they would not have fit on one scroll. They are meant to be read back-to-back, unlike the order in our English Bibles. Luke wrote these two books to a man named Theophilus (Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1). This Greek name means lover of God and seems to indicate that he was a Gentile believer. Theophilus was probably from a high social class and may have been a client of Luke s. Some people think that Theophilus was not a real person, but the phrase most honorable indicates otherwise (Luke 1:3). Elsewhere when this phrase is used before a name, it is referring to a real person (Acts 23:26; 24:3; 26:25). However, these books are certainly beneficial for Gentile readers in general. Matthew was written for Jewish believers, and Luke was written for one Gentile believer and by extension all Gentile believers. Luke does not claim to be an apostle or eyewitness of the life of Jesus; instead he did careful research and used sources (Luke 1:1 3). He probably read Matthew s gospel and used it to some extent. In addition, he likely interacted with other apostles like Peter, whose preaching is the basis for Mark s gospel. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was probably the major source for the first two chapters. Luke probably finished his gospel sometime around A.D. 58 60, which would have been about 10 years after Matthew s gospel was finished. Outline The book of Luke has a straightforward outline. After covering the birth of Jesus and His preparation for ministry, Luke presents three longer sections based on geographical notes. First he records the ministry of Jesus in Galilee beginning in 4:14. Then His journey to Jerusalem begins in 9:51. Finally He arrives in Jerusalem in 19:45 where He will die and rise again. 1. Birth of Jesus (1 2) After the introduction in the first four verses, Luke launches into the story of the birth of Jesus, which is preceded by the birth of John the Baptist. No other gospel writer includes so much detail about these events. Matthew is the only other gospel to record the birth of Jesus, and he gives Joseph s perspective, while Luke gives Mary s. But Luke backs up and covers the birth of John the Baptist in detail. John s birth is announced by the angel Gabriel, and then the birth of Jesus is announced by the same angel. An interlude follows that records some interaction between the expectant mothers, Mary and Elizabeth, who happen to be cousins. Then the birth of John takes placed at the end of chapter 1 and is followed by the birth of Jesus in the beginning of chapter 2. The chapter division here masks the connection. In chapter 2 the focus turns solely to Jesus. After His birth He is taken to Jerusalem to be dedicated. The elderly and godly Simeon and Anna both see Jesus at this time and worship God in response. No speech from Anna is recorded, but her presence highlights the fact that women as well as men can benefit from God s salvation through Jesus. Simeon s speech stresses a similar theme: salvation for both Jews and Gentiles (2:32). The speeches up to this point by Mary and Zechariah emphasized that God was keeping His promises to Israel (1:54 55, 69, 73). But in chapter 2 the Gentiles are included alongside the Jews. 1
This section concludes in 2:41 52 with the earliest recorded words of Jesus. The focus is on the His growth, both physical and spiritual. This theme is found in verse 40 leading up to this section and then concludes this section in verse 52. These two verses form bookends to this section. Jesus is 12 years old here and shows His spiritual maturity when He dialogues with the teachers in the temple. Yet He also shows His submission to His parents since He is still a boy. But Jesus is well on His way to becoming a man and beginning His earthly ministry. The end of chapter 2 provides a transition to the next main section. 2. Preparation for Ministry (3:1 4:13) This section begins basically the same way as the last one: the focus is on John the Baptist. Once again He prepares the way for Jesus this time by preaching and baptizing. The first half of this chapter is very similar to the first half of Matthew 3, but Luke gives more details about the preaching of John. Here we see more stress put on the fruits of repentance. There must be proof to show that repentance is real! The transition from John to Jesus takes place in 3:21 22 with John baptizing Jesus. The genealogy at the end of chapter 3 is fascinating when compared to the similar genealogy that Matthew used to open his gospel. Matthew started in the past and moved to the present, while Luke started in the present and moved to the past. Matthew only goes back to Abraham in keeping with His Jewish focus, while Luke goes all the way back to Adam and the beginning of the human race. This feature confirms the focus on Gentiles in this book. Matthew includes Mary in his genealogy to stress the virgin birth, while Luke does not. But he does introduce his genealogy with the note that Jesus was thought to be the son of Joseph, which hints at the virgin birth. As in the gospel of Matthew, Luke moves from the baptism of Jesus to His temptation. Matthew and Luke both focus on the same three temptations, but the order is different. Both writers start with the temptation to eat bread, but the last two temptations are switched. Matthew ends with the temptation to have all the kingdoms of the world, while Luke ends with the temptation to jump off the pinnacle of the temple. Matthew probably has the original order since he uses the term then between the temptations while Luke does not. Luke probably ends the temptations in Jerusalem because of his geographical structure for the book. His gospel will end with Jesus in Jerusalem! 3. Ministry in Galilee (4:14 9:50) Verses 14 44 in chapter 4 present an introduction to Jesus ministry in Galilee. Verses 14 15 give us a basic summary. Then in verses 16 30 we see an example of Jesus preaching. Matthew and Mark record this event more briefly and place it later in their gospels (Matthew 13:54 58; Mark 6:1 6). Luke expanded it based on other sources and moved it forward so that it could serve as an introduction to this section. We then have two example miracles: a demon exorcism and a healing. After these specific miracles are presented, we are given an overview of more healings and exorcisms in verses 40 41. Verses 42 44 give us an overview of the preaching of Jesus. Therefore we have a chiasm in 4:16 44. Verses 16 39 present specific examples of Jesus teaching, driving out a demon, and healing someone. Then verses 41 44 speak briefly and generally about these three areas of ministry in reverse order. As we move away from the introduction to this section in chapter 4, the question in chapter 5 is what kind of people will be drawn to follow Jesus. Verses 1 11 show Jesus calling Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow Him. Luke gives us an expanded edition of Matthew 4:18 22. Jesus drew these four men to follow Him by performing a miracle: He allowed them to catch a lot of fish! They recognized that Jesus was greater than they had thought or imagined. He invited them to catch people with Him instead of fish from that point on. 2
Two miracles of Jesus are found in verses 12 26. These miracles are also recorded in Matthew 8:2 4 and 9:2 8. With the first miracle Jesus supported the law, but with the second miracle He claimed to have authority to forgive sins. This connection shows that while Jesus lived under the law of Moses and supported it generally, He also had the authority to give a new law. He could forgive sins apart from animal sacrifices! He would fulfill the law of Moses through His own sacrifice on the cross. In verses 27 39 Jesus called another disciple to follow Him: Matthew, a tax collector. Matthew records this story about himself in his own gospel (9:9 17). As Jesus interacts with other tax collectors, he faces opposition from the religious leaders. This opposition leads to further controversy over fasting and the Sabbath (6:1 11). These two events are also paired in Matthew s gospel (12:1 14). Then Jesus selects 12 of His disciples to be apostles (6:12 16). Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew are included along with seven other men who have not been mentioned yet. After the focus on Jesus choosing His disciples in 5:1 6:16, Jesus teaches them in 6:17 49. There were large crowds present, but His focus is on the 12 apostles He just chose. The sermon Luke records here is probably the same one recorded in Matthew 5 7. Matthew has a lot more material in his version, but Luke has some material that Matthew omitted. For example, Luke s version puts more emphasis on love. But most likely the original sermon was much longer than what is recorded in either gospel! The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 7 takes only about 15 minutes to read. John tells us at the end of his gospel that the books of the world could not contain everything about Jesus (21:25). All the gospel writers are highly selective in what they present to us. Chapter 7 begins with a healing that emphasizes the importance of faith. This incident is also recorded in Matthew 8:5 13. Matthew seems to indicate that Jesus is speaking directly to the centurion, but Luke records that Jesus spoke first to some Jewish elders and then to the centurion s friends. Luke is simply being more precise here than Matthew. It s not incorrect to say that someone is speaking or acting when others are actually doing so on his behalf. In 2 Samuel 4:10 David says that he killed someone, but 2 Samuel 1:15 shows that David actually ordered someone to kill that person. When someone speaks or acts on our behalf, we can say in a sense that we are the ones speaking or acting. After Jesus heals the Gentile centurion s slave in verses 1 10, he raises a widow s only son from the dead in verses 11 17. These two miracles show the compassion of Jesus on those who were lowly. The centurion was important but not a Jew, and the widow was most likely poor. Then Jesus interacts with John the Baptist s disciples, who question His identity. Jesus points to His deeds, some of which were just recorded by Luke. Jesus then compares Himself to John the Baptist. Once again they are viewed alongside each other, as in the first two sections of this book. Verses 18 35 find a parallel in Matthew 11:2 19. The next two sections return to the themes of women and faith. Jesus ministered to many women, and some of them traveled with Him. One well-known sinner anointed Him with oil while He was dining with a Pharisee (7:36 50). He notes that her faith had saved her and that her sins were forgiven. This story is similar to the one found in Matthew 26:6 13, but the Simon who hosted Jesus in Matthew s gospel was a leper, and lepers could not be Pharisees. Simon was a very common name during that time; in fact, two of the 12 apostles were named Simon. The beginning of chapter 8 shows that Jesus continued to preach in many towns and notes that the 12 apostles and several women followed Him everywhere. Verses 2 3 list several women by name: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna. Jesus ministered to anyone regardless of gender, race, or social status. 3
In verses 4 18 Jesus tells the parable of the sower, which is also recorded in Matthew 13:1 23. Verse 16 is actually parallel to Matthew 5:15, and verse 17 is parallel to Matthew 10:26. As a traveling preaching, Jesus obviously taught the same truths on multiple occasions and in different contexts. In addition, the gospel writers had the freedom to organize their material in various ways. The rest of chapter 8 has parallels with Matthew. Verses 19 21 are parallel with Matthew 12:46 50. The miracles found in verses 22 56 are recorded more briefly in Matthew 8:23 34 and 9:18 26. In the beginning of chapter 9 Jesus sends out His 12 disciples on a mission. His instructions to them are recorded much more thoroughly in Matthew 10. After the disciples returned to Jesus, He fed 5,000 men with five loaves and two fish (9:10 17). This story is also recorded in Matthew 14:13 21. Then we reach the climax of this section with Peter s great confession about Jesus (9:18 20). He then predicts His death and resurrection (9:21 22) and tells His disciples that they too must be willing to die (9:23 27). After He is transfigured on the mountain (9:28 36), He drives a demon out of a boy (9:37 42) and predicts his death and resurrection again (9:43 45). All this material is recorded in the same order by Matthew with only a few extra details included (16:13 17:23). This section concludes with two incidents in which Jesus teaches His disciples to be humble. They were arguing about who would be the greatest, but Jesus taught them that true greatness comes from being lowly and welcoming even a little child (9:46 48). Matthew records a similar interaction in 18:1 5. In the final two verses of this section, Luke records an incident that has no parallel in Matthew. Not only must the disciples cooperate with each other, but they must also be willing to tolerate those who minister outside their group, as long as they are serving in Jesus name (9:49 50). This story is very relevant for today since we live in a society in which there are many good churches and denominations. We should not oppose those who are truly following Jesus even if we have a few minor disagreements. 4. Journey to Jerusalem (9:51 19:44) This section opens with a note that Jesus is now headed to Jerusalem (9:51). This geographical statement is parallel to the beginning of the previous section, which told us that Jesus went to Galilee (4:14). In that section most of the material was familiar since it was also used in Matthew s gospel. But this section has a significant amount of material that is not found in Matthew or even the other gospels. Another difference between these two sections is that the previous one focuses more on the deeds of Jesus, while this section focuses more on the words of Jesus. This transition from deeds to words was also present in Matthew but was given in five cycles instead of one. This section opens with rejection, just as we saw in the beginning of the previous section with Jesus in Nazareth. The prominence of this repeated theme prepares the way for the ultimate rejection of Jesus when He finally reaches Jerusalem. But the real focus in 9:51 56 is on the disciples, who fail to respond properly to rejection. James and John want to call down fire from heaven, but Jesus shows mercy. The next passage builds on the theme of rejection by showing that anyone who wants to be a disciple of Jesus must share in His rejection and leave behind the cares and comforts of this world (9:57 62). The focus on disciples continues in chapter 10 with Jesus sending out a large group of 70 disciples in pairs. Ministry was not confined to just the apostles! The instructions that Jesus gives to the 70 are similar to the instructions given to the 12 disciples in Matthew 10 and Luke 9. The 70 disciples return from their mission with a successful report. But Jesus tells them to rejoice for a different reason: their names are written in heaven (10:20)! They are blessed because God has chosen to reveal His Son to them (10:21 24). 4
Beginning in 10:25 Jesus addresses the subject of relationships. First he deals with our relationship to people around us in the story of the good Samaritan. This story is initiated by a question from an expert in the law about how to get eternal life. This question reminds us of the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16 22), and Jesus takes a similar approach here. He lays the two most important commands before the questioner, which we learned about in Matthew 22:37 39. Jesus then tells a story illustrating that our neighbor is anyone around us who is in need, even if that person is an enemy like a Jew was to a Samaritan. But the point of the story was to show the expert in the law that keeping the law perfectly is impossible and to drive him to repent and ask God for mercy. His response is not given, which invites us to consider how we might respond if we were in his shoes. After Luke shows Jesus illustrating the second-greatest command, he shows Jesus giving instruction about the greatest command of all: loving God with our whole being. This instruction is given to a woman (Martha), and the role model is also a woman (Mary). We should not get so caught up in service to others that we forget about the ultimate priority: worshiping God and learning from His Son (10:38 42). Today the application for us is to study our Bibles! We naturally think of prayer as the companion to Bible reading, and Luke conveniently covers this topic next as we move into chapter 11. The focus on God continues as Jesus teaches His disciples not only to listen and learn from God but now also to talk to God and depend on Him. He teaches them to pray using the same model prayer found in Matthew 6, except that Luke s version is a little shorter (11:1 4). He then teaches them about the importance of being persistent in prayer (11:5 10). God will not hesitate to give good gifts to His children, particularly the Holy Spirit (11:11 13). This reference to the Holy Spirit prepares the way for His important role in the book of Acts. The rest of chapter 11 focuses on the subject of controversy. Verses 14 16 show people doubting Jesus after He performed a miracle. The people attributed His power to the ruler of the demons and demanded a sign. After He showed the foolishness of attributing His power to Beelzebul in verses 17 26, He refused to give a sign in verses 29 32 except the sign of Jonah. Similar material is found in Matthew 12:22 45. But here in Luke we have an interesting detail not given in Matthew that is located between the two-part response of Jesus in verses 17 26 and 29 32. A woman from the crowd shouts a blessing on the mother of Jesus. But Jesus corrects her by proclaiming a blessing instead on those who hear and obey the word of God. This brief interaction in verses 27 28 should help us refrain from elevating the mother of Jesus inappropriately like Roman Catholics do. The controversy reaches a peak in the end of chapter 11. When Jesus dined with a Pharisee, he was amazed that Jesus didn t wash before eating (11:37 38). Jesus responded by showing that the inside of a person matters much more than the outside (11:39 41). The Pharisees were the perfect negative illustration of this principle. Jesus then launched into three woes against the Pharisees (11:42 44) followed by three woes against the experts in the law as well (11:46 52). The same basic material is found in Matthew 23. After Jesus finishes condemning the Pharisees and experts in the law, their opposition grew much stronger (11:53 54). Jesus turns His attention back to His followers in chapter 12. In light of the opposition Jesus faced in chapter 11, the disciples needed to watch out for the Pharisees (12:1). But they especially needed to be careful not to become hypocrites like the Pharisees. In the face of opposition it s easy to become people pleasers. But God is the one we must fear (12:4 5). He hears everything we say and sees everything we do (12:2 3). He s the one who has the authority to send people to hell! We must continue to confess Jesus before people even when we are persecuted (12:8 9). We can take comfort in the fact that as followers of Jesus we are the subjects of His special care and attention (12:6 7). 5
In verses 13 21 Jesus tells a parable about the dangers of greed. In the midst of persecution we can easily face financial difficulty and be tempted to rely on material security instead of God. This passage leads naturally to the subject of worry in verses 22 34. We should trust God and put Him first in our lives when we re tempted to worry. If we do have earthly possessions, we should share them with others and make sure that our treasure is in heaven (12:33 34). In verse 35 the focus begins to turn to the future. Jesus wants His disciples to be ready for His return. While we wait patiently for His coming, we need to serve Him like a faithful manager (12:42 48). In verses 49 53 Jesus teaches His disciples that they may face opposition even from their own families as they wait for His return. Then He challenged the crowds to interpret God s work at the present time (12:54 56). Jesus their Savior is here, but they are rejecting Him! Therefore they will face judgment from God, the ultimate judge (12:57 59). They should settle things with Him right now while they have time! The proper response to the coming judgment is to repent (13:1 5). Otherwise they will perish eternally! This warning is reinforced with the parable in verses 6 9. God is patient and will wait for people to repent, but judgment is coming soon if they don t turn to Him! Now the people receive a test to see if they will respond rightly to Jesus. Luke presents one of just a few miracles in this section. Because it took place on the Sabbath day, the synagogue spoke against Jesus, but the crowd rejoiced (13:17). Jesus then teaches through parables that the power He showed in the previous miracle is not temporary. His kingdom will continue to grow, though slowly over a long period of time (13:18 21). Even though the kingdom will be large, it has a narrow door (13:22 30). Only a few people will be saved at a time. Most people will not repent and trust Jesus to save them. This teaching upsets the Pharisees, who try to get Jesus to leave by telling Him that Herod wants to kill Him (13:31). But Jesus is not afraid to die. At the proper time He will reach Jerusalem to complete His work (13:32 33). The reference to the third day should not be taken literally but shows that the time for His death is coming soon. As Jesus thinks ahead to His death in Jerusalem, He laments over the city that will reject Him (13:34 35). His death is planned by God, but the people are still responsible for their rejection of Him. In chapter 14 the focus turns back to the present. The religious leaders are still not responding properly to Jesus. When He performs another miracle at a Pharisee s home on the Sabbath day, they simply remain silent. They may not be opposing Him openly, but their silence should not be understood positively. We cannot simply take a neutral position on Jesus! To fail to worship and submit to Him is to reject Him. After He performed the miracle, He observed that those who were invited to the meal chose the best places at the table for themselves. Therefore He taught them to humble themselves by choosing a lowly place to recline. Then they might be exalted later and moved to a place of honor. Another aspect of humility is that we should not strive to be repaid for good deeds like showing hospitality (14:12 14). Then someone at the meal proclaimed that the one who gets to eat in God s kingdom is blessed (14:15). He speaks correctly, but Jesus goes on to show that the religious leaders, who think they re in the kingdom, won t be sitting at God s table (14:16 24). Therefore God invites all sorts of other people into His kingdom, which points toward the Gentiles. Luke s attention then leaves this meal with the Pharisees and turns back to the crowds. How can they ensure that they get into the kingdom? The cost may be very high indeed. Some of us are forced to go against our families to follow Jesus (14:26). We must even be willing to die (14:27)! We must calculate the cost of following Jesus and be prepared to give up everything on earth that matters to us (14:28 33). The concluding comments on salt show that those who make an initial profession of faith but are not willing to follow Jesus wholeheartedly will not enter the kingdom (14:34 35). 6
In chapter 15 Jesus turns his attention from the crowds to a more specific group of people: tax collectors and sinners. Luke has just presented Jesus teaching the high cost of discipleship. Now he shows Jesus teaching the other side of the coin: God s love and pursuit for sinners. God even wants the worst sinners like tax collectors to enter the kingdom! Jesus tells a series of parables to stress God s pursuit of sinners, beginning with the lost sheep and the lost coin. Even when just one sinner repents, there is great rejoicing in heaven! This attitude stands in stark contrast to the religious leaders, who hated tax collectors and ridiculed Jesus for eating with them (15:2). The third and final parable in this series is the well-known story of the prodigal or lost son. This parable is similar to the previous two parables but is much longer. In reality this parable is not about the son as much as the father. The focus is on our heavenly Father, who is willing to forgive anyone. Even people who have sinned severely like the younger son in this parable can repent and be forgiven. But this parable also has an older son, who is loyal to his father and yet complains at his mercy and forgiveness. This son is a picture of the religious leaders, who were just grumbling as Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners. The father in the story rebukes the older son, but the son s response is not given. This omission shows that the religious leaders still have time to choose how they will respond to Jesus. Chapter 16 is dominated by the theme of money. In the beginning of the chapter Jesus turns his attention back to His disciples. He tells them his trickiest and most difficult parable to understand. Why did the manager s master commend him for lowering everyone s bills? Wasn t the manager bringing financial harm to his master? One possibility is that he was simply removing his own commission, with the result that he was not actually stealing from his master at all. But more likely the master simply admired his manager s shrewdness without giving approval to his actions. Jesus only tells us the part of the master s reaction that matters the most to the story. The point of the story is in verse 9: we must also be shrewd with money, but our shrewdness should lead to people going to heaven! In other words, we must be generous and use our money as a tool for evangelism. Jesus seems to teach that wealth is inherently wicked, but more likely He is simply saying that wealth often leads to unrighteousness. Paul says that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, not money itself (1 Timothy 6:10). Greed is the problem, not money. Jesus teaches in verses 10 12 that we need to be faithful with the money we have. We must serve God, not money (16:13). The Pharisees were listening as Jesus told this parable and scoffed at Him (16:14). Luke notes that they were lovers of money; they found the idea of being generous repulsive. Jesus confronts them about their hypocrisy (16:15). They claim to love the Law and the Prophets, but they are no longer binding now that Jesus has come and is proclaiming the kingdom of God (16:16). Verse 17 clarifies that in reality the Old Testament points to Him and is fulfilled in Him; it will not simply pass away. Jesus demonstrates His authority in verse 18 by teaching on divorce. He seems to indicate that there are no grounds for divorce, but Matthew s gospel gives more details (5:32; 19:9). Jesus did indeed allow for divorce and remarriage when unrepentant sexual sin has been committed, but the standard is still very high. That s the point Luke is trying to get across by leaving out the assumed exception. Jesus tells a story about a rich man in the end of chapter 16. This story provides a strong warning to the Pharisees and a negative illustration of the parable at the beginning of the chapter. The rich man chose not to be generous with Lazarus, the poor man at his gate. But when the rich man died, he didn t get to take his treasures with him! He ended up in hell, while Lazarus ended up in heaven. Once you reach your eternal destiny, it s too late to change things! The rich man desperately tried to help his brothers by requesting that Lazarus be raised from the dead to talk to them. But Abraham stated that a risen Lazarus would not have any more effect than Scripture. God s Word is what we need for salvation, not miracles! 7
In chapter 17 Jesus turns His attention from the Pharisees back to the disciples. Verses 1 10 cover a variety of topics that flow smoothly from one to another. Jesus warns against the danger of causing others to sin (17:1 2), which leads to a discussion of rebuking fellow Christians when they sin and forgiving them when they repent (17:3 4). These verses make clear that we cannot forgive people who don t repent. But if they do repent, we need to forgive them as many times as they repent. The apostles recognized the difficulty of this teaching and asked Jesus to increase their faith (17:5). Jesus replies by stating that even a small amount of faith can produce great things (17:6). But our temptation at that point would be to take pride in our achievements. Jesus instructs us to remember that we are simply God s slaves who are doing our duty (17:7 10). In verses 11 19 Luke records a rare miracle in this section: Jesus heals 10 men with skin diseases. They are healed because of their faith, which points back to verse 5. But only one, a Samaritan, returns to thank Him and give glory to God. He provides a contrast with the Pharisees, who refuse to believe in Jesus. They miss the significance of this miracle and His many other miracles. They ask when the kingdom of God will come, and Jesus tells them that it s already among them (17:20 21). The King is in their midst! However, Jesus later instructs His disciples about the future dimension of the kingdom (17:22 37). After He suffers and is rejected, He will come back to set up His kingdom. His coming will be just like the flood in Noah s day: most people will not expect it or be ready for it. In chapter 18 Jesus told two parables about prayer. The first one teaches us to be persistent in prayer and not get discouraged (18:1 8). But we should not conclude that God gets frustrated like the judge in the story. The point is simply that when God chooses to act, He will give us justice quickly. This justice will take place when Jesus comes back (18:8). This theme points back to the end of chapter 17. The second parable in chapter 18 focuses on the need for humility in prayer (18:9 14). Once again the hypocrisy of the Pharisees is put on display. But God is willing to forgive even wicked tax collectors when they humble themselves and plead for mercy. In verse 15 Luke begins once again to describe events that are also found in Matthew and Mark. The theme of humility in verses 9 14 leads naturally to the section on children in verses 15 17. Jesus was happy to spend time with children and taught that we must welcome the kingdom like a little child if we want to enter it. The story of the rich young ruler is found in verses 18 30; it is also recorded in Matthew 19:16 30. This young man was not willing to humble himself like a child and live in poverty as Jesus commanded him. Instead of recognizing that he was a sinner, he continued to serve money instead of God. He chose to be like the Pharisee of verses 9 14, not the tax collector. In verse 31 we see that Jesus is getting closer to Jerusalem. After He predicts His death and resurrection for the third time, He demonstrates His power and mercy by healing a blind man (18:35 43). Once again the importance of faith is seen. In chapter 19 Jesus enters the city of Jericho, which is just north of Jerusalem. He initiates contact with a rich tax collector named Zacchaeus, who responds by producing fruits of repentance. Unlike the rich young ruler, he was willing to part with his possessions (19:8). Jesus then tells a parable similar to the one found in Matthew 25:14 30. We must serve Jesus faithfully while we wait for His return (19:11 27). The journey to Jerusalem comes to a close in verses 28 44. The triumphal entry takes place in verses 28 40; it is also recorded in Matthew 21:1 11. Some scholars believe that these verses introduce the final section of the book. But Luke portrays this event more negatively than the other gospels. After the crowd of disciples praises God, the Pharisees tell Jesus to rebuke His disciples (19:39). Then as Jesus approaches the city, He weeps over it because it will soon be destroyed (19:41 44). The entrance to Jerusalem is more sorrowful than triumphal for Jesus here. 8
5. Death and Resurrection in Jerusalem (19:45 24:53) Jesus has finally arrived in Jerusalem to fulfill His destiny. Most of the events in this section of Luke are given in Matthew s gospel as well. Matthew includes a few details not found in Luke, and Luke gives some information not found in Matthew. We will skip over most of this section but stop to discuss the details given in Luke but not Matthew. Some of the events given in both books are found in a different order or have significantly different details. We will stop to cover this material as well. Many Bibles have cross references to help us see where Matthew and Luke have parallel passages. Most editions of the Bible have section headings, and these headings should match when comparing parallel passages in the gospels. For example, Luke 19:45 48 is parallel with Matthew 21:12 13; the section heading in the HCSB for both passages is titled cleansing the temple complex. All the sections in Luke 20 find parallels in Matthew 21 23 in the same order. One noteworthy difference is that Matthew has a much longer version of Luke 20:45 47 that covers all of Matthew 23. Luke 21:1 4 has no parallel in Matthew s gospel. The widow in this story provides a contrast not only to the rich people giving alongside her but also to the religious leaders with whom Jesus was interacting in chapter 20. The religious leaders were opposed to Jesus, but the widow follows His teaching. The scribes are greedy and devour widows houses (20:47), but she gives sacrificially. She stands in parallel to Zacchaeus (19:1 10) and in contrast to the rich young ruler (18:18 23), but she functions on a much smaller scale. Even people who can t give very much like this widow can still give sacrificially. Wealthy believers should be giving a lot more than 10% of their income! Otherwise they re not really giving sacrificially. Luke 21:5 38 is parallel to Matthew 24:1 51. The chapter break in Luke would have been better placed before verse 5 than verse 1. This passage records the teaching of Jesus about His return. Matthew records more material about the second coming than Luke, while Luke records more material about the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in general than Matthew. Luke has already mentioned the destruction of Jerusalem at the end of the previous section (19:41 44). The discussion about Jerusalem s destruction fits nicely alongside the material on Christ s return because both events are tied to future judgment. The original discourse of Jesus undoubtedly would have been longer than either Matthew s version or Luke s version and would have included everything reported by both authors. This situation is very similar to the parallel between Matthew 5 7 and Luke 6:17 49. Luke 22:24 30 is similar to Matthew 20:25 28, but these passages should not be viewed as referring to the same event. The passage in Matthew is triggered by the request from James and John through their mother to sit on either side of Jesus in His kingdom. The passage in Luke is triggered by the revelation that one of the disciples would betray Jesus. Both occasions led the disciples to argue among themselves about which one of them was the greatest. This issue probably came up multiple times during Jesus ministry. He had to give the same instruction over and over, just like he had to tell the disciples at least three times that He would die and rise again. They were slow to learn and struggled a lot with pride. Luke 22:35 38 has no parallel in Matthew or any other gospel for that matter. In the past Jesus instructed His disciples to travel without provisions (9:3; 10:4), but now things are different. They need to be ready for opposition. Jesus tells them to pack a sword, but the sword here is just a symbol of preparation for persecution. Jesus opposes the idea of carrying literal swords; when the disciples found two swords, he exclaims enough of that (22:38). This view is confirmed when He later rebukes one of His disciples for cutting off the ear of the high priest s slave (22:49 51). Jesus does not condone violence in the face of persecution for our faith. We need to follow the example of Jesus, who suffered willingly in our place (1 Peter 2:21 23). 9
Luke 22:66 71 records Jesus on trial before the religious leaders; this event is also recorded in Matthew 26:59 66. But Luke places the trial after Peter s denials (22:54 62), while Matthew places it before (26:69 75). However, this apparent contradiction can be resolved easily. The religious leaders probably met on multiple occasions after they captured Jesus at night. They would have wanted to hang on to Him until they could bring Him to Pilate in the morning. As the governor he had the authority to put people to death; the religious leaders did not. Luke is most likely recording a summary trial; they confirmed the results of the earlier trial recorded in Matthew. Luke 23:6 12 has no parallel in Matthew or any other gospel. When Jesus appeared before Pilate, he questioned Jesus and found out that He was a Galilean. Therefore he sent Him to King Herod since Pilate was just the governor of Judea. He took advantage of the chance to absolve himself of all the political responsibility in dealing with Jesus. Herod was in Jerusalem at that point and had wanted to see Jesus for some time, as Luke already told us (9:9). Herod had some fun with Jesus and then sent Him back to Pilate. Luke 23:27 31 has no parallel in Matthew or any other gospel. Luke again focuses on women as he is prone to do (8:1 3). He shows that Jesus continued to teach about future events even as He was being led to the cross. His death spells doom for the nation. These women should weep for themselves, not Jesus! Jesus is crucified in Luke 23:32 43, which is parallel to Matthew 27:33 44. Both passages record that some criminals are crucified along with Jesus. Matthew indicates that the criminals are hostile to Jesus, while Luke shows one of the two repenting. Both gospels are accurate; the two criminals opposed Jesus at first, but then one of them repented before he died. Luke 24:13 35 has no parallel in Matthew or any other gospel. It contains the most vividly described resurrection appearance in the gospels. Jesus appeared to lots of people, even two unknown men. His appearances proved that He was alive! He taught these two men that His death and resurrection fulfilled the Scriptures. He taught the same truth to His disciples in Luke 24:36 49. The disciples are witnesses of His death and resurrection, and now they are to proclaim these facts to the whole world! But He instructed them to stay in Jerusalem for now (24:49). Then Jesus ascended to heaven in Bethany (24:50 51) an incident recorded in no other gospel. Afterwards the disciples returned to Jerusalem, just as they were instructed (24:52 53). They would soon receive God s power, as we will find out in the book of Acts. The book ends with the note that the disciples were filled with joy and continually praised God. Conclusion As with the book of Matthew, the main theme of the gospel of Luke is God. All three members of the Trinity receive emphasis at various times, though of course Jesus in particular is stressed. The major emphasis is that He is willing to save everyone, even Gentiles, women, tax collectors, and poor people. Both His miracles and His teaching receive attention. Luke focuses especially on His ministry during His final journey to Jerusalem. During this time He taught several memorable parables like the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. The purpose of the book can be stated in this way: Jesus came to save all kinds of people, even the outcasts of society. 10