Ancient Anglican

The first story of Jesus’ ministry in each gospel sets the tone for that Gospel and answers the question of who the gospel writer sees Jesus as. For Luke, Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophets.

Each of the three temptations is a type of temptation that all sons of Adam confront. Just as Jesus defeats the devil with the Spirit and the Scriptures, so we are called to do as well.

John the Baptist was “a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue; both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God; and so to come to baptism.” – Flavius Josephus

No one is kept from sharing in this happiness. There is for all one common measure of joy, because as our Lord the destroyer of sin and death finds no one free from charge, so He has come to free us all.

Jesus is not “redeemed” and restored to his parents under the Law, but personally given over completely to God in the Temple and from now on belongs to him completely. – Pope Benedict XVI

Jesus wasn’t born in a barn and angels aren’t cute and cuddley. Luke is not a Hallmark movie.

As we will see throughout Luke, the presence of Jesus will always change the focus of the story away from the powerful toward the ordinary.

Luke is the only Gospel that gives us the background of John the Baptist. In the other gospels, we first meet John beside the Jordan River. Here, Luke begins with his parents, Zechariah, a priest, and his wife Elizabeth.

Next Tuesday, we will begin our walk through Luke’s Gospel starting with the introduction and nativity of John the Baptist in Luke 1 and ending with the Resurrection and Ascension in Luke 24 and Acts 1. All you will need during our journey is a Bible.

Christ’s Kingdom is not simply about where we go when we die, but his Kingdom is about where we go now when we are still very much alive. Christ’s Kingdom is not somewhere out there, but it is right here with us and within us, right now.

Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise in Isaiah to bring all people into his restored holy city of the New Jerusalem.

In Luke, Jesus begins his ministry by reading from Isaiah 61:1-2. Throughout his Gospel, Luke will use the themes of these prophecies found in the last section of Isaiah (Isaiah 56-66) to tell us who Jesus is.