And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away. - Luke 4:27–30 (ESV)
The Gospel According to Luke should perhaps better be known as something like, “The Acts of Jesus, Volume I.” This is because Luke wrote Acts (as in, “Acts of the Apostles”) along with the Gospel that bears his name. Volume one is about the acts of Jesus, while volume two is about the acts of the apostles. Both are written for a person whom Luke addresses as “Theophilus.”[1]
The Big Idea of Luke:
I have taught that Jesus is the Son of God who turns the world right side up. Jesus dashes the expectations of his followers even as he does for them what is most needful. He is the Son of God, but they do not recognize the full import of what that means for either him or themselves.
An Outline of Luke
The Beginning of Jesus’ Ministry (1-3)
Luke opens with a note to a Theophilus, who is the original intended reader of Luke’s work in Luke and Acts. Luke tells the story of John the Baptist’s birth to a woman past child-bearing age, then of Jesus’ to a virgin, intertwining the two and including both Mary’s song of praise (known as The Magnificat) and Zechariah’s prophecy. We also read Simeon prophesying about Jesus when he is presented at the temple. Simeon tells Mary and Joseph that Jesus is appointed for the fall and rise of many and that, through Him, many hearts will be revealed. John the Baptist’s ministry begins and Jesus is baptized. The section ends with a genealogy going from God, the father of Adam, to Joseph, the (adopted) father of Jesus.
The Middle of Jesus’ Ministry (4-9:50)
The bulk of Jesus’ three years of ministry occurs from Luke 4 to near the end of Luke 9. Luke 4 opens with the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness by Satan. In Luke 9:51, we read that Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem for the last time. In the intervening time, Jesus presents Himself as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and astonishes people with His teaching before calling His disciples and engaging in the bulk of His ministry. Luke records healings and teachings similar to the Sermon on the Mount (Luke 6:20). Generally, Jesus spends His time going through the towns and villages, “proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God” (Luke 8:1). By Luke 9, Jesus is sending out His disciples to do the same works and teach the same things as they have seen Him do. Jesus recaps with Jis disciples how people identify Him, then He is transfigured before them, and they still argue about who is the greatest.
The End of Jesus’ Ministry (9:51-21:38)
The lion’s share of Luke is comprised of Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem. Once the reader notices that Jesus begins heading toward Jerusalem in chapter nine, the pace seems agonizingly slow. Jesus condemns cities, teaches parables, and teaches His disciples to pray. He condemns hypocritical religious leaders and calls on people to repent. He foretells his death and stays with Zacchaeus. He arrives at Jerusalem and is welcomed as a king. He weeps over Jerusalem, cleanses the temple, and foretells the city’s destruction. He riles the religious leaders all the while, and they sought a way to destroy him.
The Fulfillment of Jesus’ Ministry (22-24)
The last three chapters of Luke describe the fulfillment of Jesus’ ministry, which is to say that He dies and rises again. Jesus spends the Passover with His disciples, instituting the Lord’s Supper or Communion. Then Jesus goes out to pray, where He is arrested and taken before the assembly of the Jewish elders. Peter follows at a distance but denies knowing Jesus when asked, just as Jesus had predicted. Jesus is tried before Pilate and then Herod, only to be delivered by Pilate to be crucified, despite the fact that Pilate believes Jesus is innocent. Two angels tell the women who come to visit Jesus’ tomb that Jesus has risen from the dead. Jesus then joins two disciples on a journey, who do not recognize Jesus until their eyes are opened to do so, at which point Jesus vanishes. Jesus then appears to His disciples and gives them final instructions, including the command to wait in Jerusalem until they are “clothed with power” by the Father. Then Jesus blesses them and ascends to Heaven.
Benefits of Luke
Luke writes at the beginning that one of the goals of his writing is that Theophilus, his original intended audience, might have certainty regarding the things he had been taught (Luke 1:4). Luke’s detailed account of Jesus’ ministry and mission culminates and crystallizes that certainty for Theophilus as Jesus talks with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus and as Jesus appears to the disciples for the last time before blessing and leaving them. Luke leaves the parting commands and perspective of Jesus very clear.
There is no need to doubt the historical veracity of Luke’s claims. They will be exonerated, as God’s Word always is. But what about us?
If Jesus is the Son of God who turns the world right side up, then we should consider our perspective and expectations of Jesus relative to Jesus’ contemporaries. We read of the people marveling at Jesus’ gracious words in one moment, only to be so incensed the next that they try to throw Him off a cliff. Are we not guilty at times of being similarly frustrated at Jesus? Jesus tended to defy the expectations of the people who followed Him when he was here, but that has not changed. He continues to do the same today. Christians all around us are prone to ask “Why?” about so many things. I do the same. And yet, I take an odd kind of comfort in knowing that I am not the only one so “foolish” and “slow of heart” (Luke 24:25-27). We can all take a kind of comfort in remembering that even when Jesus was standing right in front of people, they still needed the work of the Holy Spirit to grant them wisdom and quicken their hearts to understand why Jesus did what He did.
The particular point of contention in Luke is why the Son of God had to suffer. Why not just take over? The reason is that the problem was not merely political. The problem was personal for each of us. Jesus could have taken over Judea, but He came to seek and to save the lost, not to kick out the Romans and depose Herod (Luke 19:9-10).
When our lives' circumstances prompt us to cast a quizzical eye to Heaven and ask, “But why, Lord?” we can take comfort that the problem is not with Jesus’ plan but with our understanding. We do not need to be frustrated that we cannot change God or His plans. We should instead humble ourselves so that He might change us and our plans. We should not ask God to conform to us. We should seek to conform to Him. Then we can hope to begin to experience what it looks like for the Son of God to turn our hearts right side up. He may call us to suffer unimaginably even as He did, but we can trust even in our pain that with God there is nothing that happens to no purpose. And in this, we can trust that He will make us able to worship him with great joy and continually bless Him, just like the disciples who saw Him ascend to Heaven (Luke 24:50-53).
[1] Luke 1:1-4; Acts 1:1-3.