Read or listen The Gospel of Luke, chapter 1 online (ESV, YouVersion)

The Birth and Youth of Jesus – Luke 1 - 2

Dedication – Luke 1:1-4

The Jews got straight to the point in their writings (compare Matt 1:1 and Mark 1:1) – instead, Luke, in true Greek style, began his book with a preface. These four verses are just one sentence in Greek. The language is the best Greek in the New Testament and shows that the writer was educated.

Who is the recipient of the letter, Theophilus? The name means “friend of God,” and so some think that it is actually a group whose pseudonym is Theophilus. However, verse 4 proves that Theophilus was one person. Whether the name was a pseudonym or a real one is up to speculation. In any case, we do not know the recipient. Whether Theophilus was the distributor, the “publisher,” or a high-ranking Roman official, or perhaps both, is uncertain. Luke uses the Greek word for him, “honored,” which is used only three times elsewhere in the New Testament: Acts 23:26 and Acts 24:3 of Governor Felix, and Acts 26:25 of Governor Festus.

The opening verses of Luke remind us that Christianity is a historical faith: it is based on facts that have happened. It is not a question of what we know or have experienced, but of what God has done in history. Faith is not just a matter of reason and understanding, but it is also a matter of reason and understanding.

Luke wrote to second-generation Christians, those who had not seen Jesus themselves. Through him, we too receive eyewitness testimony about Jesus (verse 2).

Annunciation of the Birth of John the Baptist – Luke 1:5-25

Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth is written from Mary’s perspective (Matthew’s is from Joseph’s perspective). It is not certain whether Mary was still alive in the 50s when Luke came to Jerusalem with Paul’s traveling companions, but at least Luke met Jesus’ brother James (Acts 21:18).

The language of the childhood narrative shows the influence of Aramaic. It is full of Semitic words: "Now"... ("and it happened"...)(verse 8), "And behold..." (verse 20). This shows that Luke's information about the birth of Jesus really comes from Palestine, and not from pagan religions, where various children of gods and humans were common. So it is not a made-up story to make Jesus' background fit the style of the time. It is about events that were history during the time of Herod the Great. Herod ruled from 37 to 4 BC, so our chronology, defined in the 6th century, is 6-7 years wrong.

Although Luke specifically wants to emphasize the historicity of the events narrated in the Gospels, he also highlights the fact that God's actions also involve supernatural events. Without the supernatural, there is no Gospel!

At that time, there were about 20,000 priests in the temple in Jerusalem. They were divided into 24 divisions, of which the division of Abijah was the eighth (verse 5, 1 Chronicles 24:10). Each division served once a week in half a year. Incense burning was a great honor, given to a priest perhaps only once in his life. The function of incense burning was to raise the prayers of the people before God (compare Ps 141:2, Rev 5:8).

The altar of incense was located in the sanctuary of the temple, where the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah. Jewish literature recognized seven major angels by name, only two of whom are mentioned in the Bible:

1. Uriel
2. Rafael
3. Raguel
4. Mikael (Dan 10:13,21, Juuda 9, Ilm 12:7)
5. Seraqiel
6. Gabriel (Dan 8:16, 9:21)
7. Remiel

Gabriel's name means "The Lord is a hero" or "Great man of God." Zechariah means "Yahweh remembers," Elizabeth means "God has spoken," and John means "God is gracious."

Gabriel said that the 400 years of silence were ending: Zechariah and Elizabeth would have a son who would be both a prophet and a Nazirite (compare Numbers 6:1-12, the most famous Nazirites in the Old Testament were Samson, Judges 13:4-7 and Samuel, 1 Sam 1:11).

Gabriel began his speech by saying, “Do not be afraid.” The presence of a holy God is frightening, but essential to salvation. Those who drift away from God will perish. John’s mission was to call the people back to God and prepare the way for the Messiah (verse 17).

But even the priests at that time were unbelievers. We get more evidence of this later in the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Zacharias received the sign he asked for: he became mute. He could not read the Lord’s blessing to the people gathered in the temple, as he should have.

Elizabeth only appeared when the pregnancy was already evident (verse 25). She would not have been believed before.

The Annunciation of the Savior’s Birth – Luke 1:26-38

Jewish girls were betrothed at a young age, starting at the age of 12. Betrothal was legally equivalent to marriage, even though the bride and groom lived apart.

The Gospel of Luke has influenced the creation of our church calendar: there should be six months between Midsummer and Christmas (verse 12).

Mary was also astonished by Gabriel's arrival and message, but she did not doubt (compare verse 45) but rather wondered. Consenting to God's will (verse 38) meant consenting under the threat of ridicule (compare John 8:41 and "more secretly" Mark 6:3) and even the death penalty (compare Deuteronomy 22:23-24). The position of the AU child and his mother was difficult at that time.

The cloud (verse 35) already signified God's presence in the Old Testament (Exodus 13:20-22). The birth of Jesus is a miracle that we cannot explain or understand. The only example in the Old Testament is the creation of Adam (compare 1 Corinthians 15:20-24).

The name Jesus (Yehoosua = Joshua) means "Yahweh is help", "Yahweh is Savior".

Mary was a relative of Elizabeth (verse 36), a Levite. Thus, Jesus was of both royal and priestly lineage.

Those who wish to deny the virgin birth of Jesus must give a new answer to the question: "When did Jesus become God?" If he was not God from conception, when did he become God? The Church has long condemned various "adoptionist Christologies" as heretical.

Mary's Visit to Elizabeth – Luke 1:39-45

The journey from Galilee to Judea took about three days. The Bible does not say where Elizabeth lived. A fairly late Christian tradition says that the place was En Karim, 6 kilometers west of Jerusalem. Luke 1:23 confirms what we know from the history of the time: most priests lived outside Jerusalem and came to the city only twice a year for a week-long service.

Note also Elizabeth's confession: Mary was the mother of God (=my Lord) (verse 43). Jesus was God from his conception. Mary is the most blessed of women (verse 42).

Mary's Hymn of Praise – Luke 1:46-56

Mary's hymn of thanksgiving has inspired many hymn poets. The hymn is also called "the Magnificat". The name comes from the Vulgate, the Latin Bible, where the hymn begins with that word.

Mary's hymn of thanksgiving is the first of the four hymns in Luke's infancy narratives, all of which also have a well-known Latin name (from the Vulgate):
1:68-79 Sakariaan kiitosvirsi eli Benedictus
2:14 Enkelien ylistys eli Gloria in Excelsis Deo
2:29-32 Simeonin kiitosvirsi eli Nunc Dimittis

Kaikki neljä löysivät nopeasti tiensä kristilliseen hartauselämään

1. Magnificat iltarukoukseen eli vesperiin
2. Benedictus aamurukoukseen eli laudekseen
3. Nunc Dimittis rukoushetkeen päivän päättyessä eli kompletoriumiin
4. Gloria in Excelsis Deo jumalanpalveluksen liturgiaan

Mary's hymn of thanksgiving represents the "piety of the poor" typical of Luke: God has chosen the poor and lowly, the rich have been rejected (compare Matthew 5:3: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven").

The tenses of verses 51-53 are amazing: how God is praised for salvation as if it had already happened. The fulfillment of God's plans is so certain that they can be spoken of as if they were facts that have already happened.

Abraham (verse 55) is mentioned a total of 22 times in the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. This is not surprising, since he was the spiritual father of the Jews (compare John 8:39 and Romans 4:1-12).

Of all the Old Testament hymns, the one that most closely resembles Mary's praise is Hannah's praise, 1 Sam 2:1-10.

The Birth of John – Luke 1:57-66

Luke does not actually tell of John’s birth, but of his circumcision and naming. Earlier, the Jews named their children immediately after birth, but later it became customary to name them at the time of circumcision, on the eighth day (Leviticus 12:3).

Usually a son was given the name of his grandfather, not his father (compare James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Matt. 10:2). Gabriel had already given the child the name John (v. 13).

The fact that the people pointed to Zacharias (v. 62) may mean that Zacharias was deaf and mute (the expression in v. 22 may also mean that) or that people - as we often do - think that a mute is also deaf. The tablet was a wax tablet on which writing was done with a stick. The writing could be erased by smoothing the wax again.

Zechariah's Song of Praise – Luke 1:67-80

One thing Luke makes abundantly clear is the work of the Holy Spirit, as is also the case here, verse 67.

Again, we see that from the beginning Jesus was considered God: "You will go before the Lord (=Jesus)..." (verse 76)

We often understand prophecy (verse 67) as simply predicting the future, but biblical prophecy is "three-dimensional," involving:
1. the past
2. the present
3. the future

This is also the case in Zechariah's hymn of thanksgiving. The hymn is also a reminder that the Bible of the first Christians was specifically the Old Testament (2 Peter 1:19-21) and that the Christian faith is built on the foundation revealed in the Old Testament.

Apparently Zechariah and Elizabeth died soon after John's birth. It has been theorized that the Essenes adopted the orphaned boy - they are known to have had such a custom. But the wilderness stay in verse 80 (compare also Luke 3:2) could also refer to God's school in solitude.