February 14, 2014: Luke Chapter 3

The Gospel According to Luke Chapter 3

Originally posted Tuesday, March 4, 2008 

General Comment: As we read through Luke it will become apparent that he places a major emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit. In the progressive movement of salvation history from the end of the old era, represented by Zechariah and Elizabeth, to Joseph and Mary, the Spirit will be an active participant. The sons of these two couples stand on either side of the bridge between eras. John is the last of the old and Jesus the first of the new. For Luke all of this has been guided by the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament Prophets were said to be spirit-filled, meaning God's divine and creative power spoke through them to Israel. As first century Judaism reflected on the past, it was understood that there had not been a Prophet in Israel for four hundred years, the last being Malachi. Luke's reference in vs. 1:15 to John the Baptist being filled with the Holy Spirit is the early Christian acknowledgement that John is a Prophet of Israel who speaks for God. In other words, what John says is truth, it is God's voice. Throughout this Gospel and Acts the Holy Spirit will speak for God in many ways as it guides the evangelistic effort from Jerusalem to Rome.

Luke Chapter 3:1-20 The Proclamation of John the Baptist  [see MK 1:1-8; MT 3:1-12]

In the stories of John and Jesus Luke has provided the historic setting so that we can understand the world in which they lived. Such a context is important and not simply local color. The political and religious environment in which they were born and were active will inform our understanding of many of the events presented by Luke. Jesus and John will be impacted by and respond to these power structures of the first century.

In this passage, the opening of John's prophetic ministry in the spirit of Elijah, is fixed in the year 28 CE. Tiberius Caesar is the divine Emperor, son of god and savior of the world; Pilate has been the Roman Prefect of Judea for two years; Herod Antipas is the Tetrarch of Galilee; his brother, Philip is the Tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, to the North and East of Galilee; and Caiaphas has been the High Priest since 18 CE (there is no reliable information on Lysanias). From this list it becomes evident that many powerful forces have shaped the lives of the people of Israel. John and Jesus will, in lesser and greater ways, stand in opposition to these "powers and principalities" as Paul calls them.

Luke uses the same basic text of Isaiah in vs. 4 as do Mark and Matthew. He has added an emphasis on John's role in vss. 5-6. This addition makes clear to the readers that there is a connection between Isaiah's prophecy of preparing the way for God to lead the Judeans back to Judah from the Babylonia exile and John's role of preparing the way for the Messiah in whom will be seen the "...salvation of God." John will introduce his role by preaching a baptism of repentance. Baptism in the Jewish understanding was an act of purification used to cleanse oneself if they had become ritually unclean, would be attending the Temple or ending a Nazarite vow, such as John would have taken (no wine or strong drink, leaving hair uncut, etc.). Such purification baths were used extensively by the Essenes at Qumran (people of the Dead Sea Scrolls). Purification was not effective without true repentance and for John one's repentance must be clearly visible in bearing fruit. It is not just so many words recited as part of the Euchasrist ritual.

There are a number of verses we should note. John comes "proclaiming" a baptism of repentance. This insures the readers' understanding that the baptism itself is God's requirement for preparation. The cleansing, with repentance, is a sign of being spiritually fit and ready for the one who is to come. While Luke has used parts of Mark's brief introduction of John and shares vss. 7-9 with Matthew, he has additional independent source material. The most important is found in vss. 10-14. John has just warned the people that being an offspring of Abraham is of no value now. They must bear the fruit (good works of mercy, compassion and justice) worthy of the repentance they claim. "What then should we do," they ask. John gives specific examples. In vs. 11 he tells the people to share food and clothing; in vs. 13 he tells the tax collectors not to cheat; in vs. 14 he tells the soldiers not to extort money (take bribes) as a way of supplementing wages. These are not meant to be limits on the works one must do; they represent the problem of human greed which says, "I've got mine and I am going to keep it," and the temptation to cheat and extort just to get a little more to keep. 

One other part of this passage, which is unique to Luke, is in vs. 15. In the time of John's and Jesus' ministries there was a heightened expectation that the Messiah would come soon. John's preaching seemed to emphasize that possibility. It is understandable that the people would wonder if John were that Messiah (see John 1:19-23). We note that this question about John being the Messiah arises from a genuine and immediate interest of the people. It is not a challenge coming from suspicious religious authorities. The verse sets the stage by which Luke differentiates between John and Jesus, establishing John as the lesser of the two in importance. It also may serve as a polemic, an argument against those followers of John who were found in Asia Minor (Turkey) well after the death of John and who believed John was the Messiah.

Luke Chapter 3:21-22 The Baptism of Jesus. [see MT 3:13-17; MK 1:9-11]

The three Gospel versions have a different way of expressing Jesus' anointing by the Spirit. In Mark the heavens are torn apart and the Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove. In Matthew the Spirit of God descends like a dove. In Luke, and in a way we would expect, the Holy Spirit descends like a dove in bodily form. Luke follows Mark with God's voice addressed to Jesus affirming Jesus' divine Sonship. In Matthew the voice is addressed to the crowd. We should note that there is very good manuscript tradition in Mark for reading the voice to say, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you." It is possible that later copyists wished to avoid the conclusion that Jesus became God's Son through adoption at his baptism, in light of Matthew's and Luke's birth stories, and John's pre-existence of the Word made flesh. Adoptionism did not necessarily deny Jesus' divinity but ran afoul of the development of the doctrine of the Trinity and was declared heretical by the Council of Nicea in 325 CE. A hint of adoptionism can be found in Paul's letter to the Romans at vs. 1:3-4.

Luke Chapter 3:23-38 The Ancestors of Jesus  [see MT 1:1-17]

While Matthew uses the genealogy of Jesus as an introduction to his birth story, Luke has placed his version here, between the baptism and temptation, preceding the beginning of Jesus' Galilean ministry. Luke's structure is the reverse of Matthew's, starting rather than ending with Jesus. While there are similarities in generational entries, it is not profitable to attempt a harmonization. The key entries of David and the Patriarchs establish Jesus' Messianic heritage as "Son of David" and his standing as an Israelite as a "Son of Abraham." Luke's last two entries are deliberate in the sense that as son of Adam Jesus is understood by Luke as a human being and as the Son of God, divine. Note also that Luke has created an inclusion ending the genealogy with Jesus as the Son of God to match the ending of the baptism passage with God's affirmation of Jesus' Sonship. This double nature of Jesus as human and divine will occupy several centuries of Christian theological and Christological reflection, discussion and attempts at resolution. The debate is probably not resolvable, even by the doctrine of the Trinity which itself is not well or easily understood by those of us with a twenty first century mind that functions best with logic and reasoning.