Read or listen The Gospel of Luke, chapter 3 online (ESV, Bible Gateway)

Jesus' public ministry begins – Luke 3:1 - 4:13

Forerunner

The first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel tell us about the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus. Next, Luke tells us about the public ministry of John the Baptist. It is worth noting that Luke does not follow an absolute chronological order, because in this episode too, Luke first deals with John's public activities until the end (verses 1-20) and only then does she tell about Jesus' baptism (verses 21-22), which of course took place before John's imprisonment.

Both John and Jesus spent about 30 years away from the public eye. This period of silence was apparently followed by a period of public activity of only about a year for John, while Jesus' public activity was about three years.

John was the "second Elijah" promised in the book of Malachi (Mal 3:19-23, Matt 17:9-13). His mission was to prepare the way for the Messiah. John was the last prophet of the old covenant; he stood on the threshold of the fulfillment of God's promises (Luke 7:18-23). ​​Some of John's disciples became disciples of Jesus (John 1:35-37). Some remained John's disciples for decades and spread his own doctrine (compare Acts 19:1-6).

The Man from the Desert – Luke 3:1-6

Luke dates the beginning of John’s public ministry very precisely: he mentions five secular rulers and two spiritual leaders.

Tiberius had become emperor in August 14 AD, so his 15th year of rule would fall between 27 and 29 AD, depending on whether one uses the Syriac or Roman calendar. This fits in quite well with the early Christian tradition that Jesus was crucified on Good Friday, April 7, 30 AD.

Pontius Pilate served as the fifth governor of Judea (and Samaria) from 26 to 36 AD. After Herod the Great died in 4 BC, his kingdom was divided among his three sons, but Archelaus was deposed as early as 6 AD. After that, Judea and Samaria were ruled by Roman governors, i.e. the areas were directly under Roman rule and had Roman soldiers.

Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and some of the regions east of the Jordan from 4 BC to 39 AD, when he was deposed.

Philip was also the son of Herod the Great and ruled Iturea and the region of Trachonitis from 4 BC to 34 AD, when he died.

Very little is known about Lysanias, the fourth prince of Abilene, and his historicity was long doubted, as no mention of him had been found in secular history. The region itself was located northwest of Damascus and was later considered to be part of Palestine.

Annas had been high priest from 6 to 15 AD. The governor Valerius Gratus deposed him and appointed first his son and in 17 his son-in-law Caiaphas as high priest. Caiaphas also served as high priest during the crucifixion of Jesus, until 36 AD. According to Jewish law, a Roman governor would not have had the right to depose the high priest. The people believed that Annas was still the rightful high priest and spiritual leader. In fact, he was the most influential member of the Sanhedrin and the leader of the priestly hierarchy.

The 400-Year Silence Ends

From Samuel (11th century BC) to Malachi (5th century BC), there had been a prophet of the Lord among the people almost all the time. But after Malachi, no new prophets came, and this "silence" lasted until the coming of John the Baptist from the wilderness.

Just as it was with the Old Testament prophets (Isa 1:1, Jer 1:2, Ezek 1:3, Hos 1:1, and Amos 1:1), "the word of God came" to John the Baptist.

John's ministry was short, apparently about a year. John 1:19-34 tells us that John had already baptized Jesus when "inspectors" sent from Jerusalem came to question John's authority. Shortly after Jesus' baptism, John's public ministry ended and Jesus' public ministry began.

John baptized in the Jordan. John's baptism differed from earlier Jewish baptisms and also from Christian baptism.

1. It was a one-time event, not a daily one, like the Essenes' "washings." John may have lived among the Essenes, and he has sometimes been considered merely an Essenes' preacher. John's parents may have died soon after John's birth (Luke 1:7), so it is possible that the orphaned boy was given to the Essenes to raise (compare also Luke 1:80, the Essenes' monastery was in the desert).

2. The Jews only baptized Gentiles who converted to Judaism with (proselyte) baptism. John's actions irritated some of the Jews, because it placed them alongside the Gentiles. It is not certain whether proselyte baptism was already in use at the time of Jesus; it may not have begun to be used until the 1st century AD.

3. John’s baptism had two aspects: it was preceded by a call to repentance and it gave forgiveness of sins.

4. John’s baptism prepared the way for Christian baptism. John’s baptism emphasized the law and human repentance, while Christian baptism is about God’s work and grace (Acts 19:1-7).

John's Advice to the People – Luke 3:7-14

Large crowds of people (Mark 1:5) came to hear John and to be baptized by him. Some of them seem to have thought that baptism gave them additional assurance of salvation, which was based on belonging to God's chosen people, the children of Abraham. The rabbis even taught that no circumcised person could be lost because Father Abraham himself stood guard at the gate of perdition, ensuring that no circumcised person would enter.

But John rejected all such ways of salvation: neither his baptism nor belonging to a certain nation saves. God demands faith and its corresponding works. The Day of the Lord (Malachi 3:19-23, Isa 2:12) means the final judgment between God and men. It will come upon everyone, including the Jews.

John's sermon raised the question in the listeners: "What should I do if and when what you say is true?" Likewise today, a true proclamation in accordance with God's will creates in the listeners faith that the message is true, and awakens them to ask about their own fate at the last judgment.

In response, John gave advice that can be summarized in two words: justice and love of neighbor (compare Matthew 22:34-40 and Leviticus 19:18). Failure to follow God’s will results in judgment and destruction.

In the Aramaic language, John’s speech contains a clever play on words (verse 8 "God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham."): benajja = children, abnajja = stones.

There was not much land in Palestine and therefore it was not worth keeping fruitless trees to thin the land (Luke 13:6-9), but they were cut down and burned. John had come to prepare the way for the Messiah; the axe was laid at the root of the tree, soon the executioner of judgment, the Messiah, would come.

Also despised publicans and soldiers came to John. The publicans were Jews who had bought the right to collect taxes from the Romans. Since "the highest bidder won," the winner had a great temptation to extort too much. Because of this extortion and entering the service of the occupying power, the Jews did not even consider the publicans to be part of the chosen people, but rather they were traitors and cursed.

The soldiers must have been the soldiers of Herod Antipas. They were not liked either, they too were in the service of the wrong government. John did not despise them or even their profession, but received them and urged them to give up the sins associated with the profession, not the profession itself.

Only a preparer of the way – Luke 3:15-20

In the time of John, there was a strong messianic expectation in Judaism. Therefore, it was natural for people to wonder whether John was the promised Messiah. However, John denied his messiahship very strongly: he was not worthy of the Messiah even for the lowest task of a slave: untying shoelaces. There is a saying in rabbinic literature: "Whatever service a slave does for his master, a disciple should do for his teacher, except to untie the thongs of his sandals." John was only the way-maker for the Messiah and the finger that pointed to him (John 1:29).

John expected the Messiah to carry out judgment soon after his public ministry began. John used two metaphors for judgment:
- threshing on a high hill, with the wind carrying away the chaff, which was lighter than the grain (Ps 1:4), and second,
- baptism with fire.

Jesus did not carry out the Messiah’s mission in the way John had expected, and this may have led John to doubt whether Jesus was the Messiah after all (Luke 7:18-23, we will examine this passage in more detail later).

The criticism of Herod Antipas' wickedness, especially his marriage, turned out to be fatal for John. Herodias had been married to Herod's half-brother, but had divorced him. According to Roman law, Herod had done nothing wrong, but according to Old Testament law, it was not only a question of divorce, but also of incest. Luke does not here or elsewhere mention the death of John, but Luke 9:7-9 implies John's death. Matthew 14:1-12 tells us of John's beheading.

The Baptism of Jesus – Luke 3:21-22

Luke tells very briefly about the baptism of Jesus. Not even the Baptist, John, is mentioned. In his baptism we see that Jesus had taken the part of a man:

"...but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Phil 2:7-8)

At the same time, Jesus' baptism was an initiation into her now-beginning public ministry.

The Family Tree of the Son of God – Luke 3:23-38

A Jew became an adult at the age of 30. Both the priests (Numbers 4:3) and the Levites (Numbers 4:47) entered upon their office at the age of 30. Today, it is believed that Jesus was born around 7 BC, or at the latest in 4 BC, when Herod the Great died (Matthew 2:1). Therefore, Jesus was about 35 years old in 27/28, which fits well with Luke’s somewhat vague age estimate.

The fact that the genealogies of Luke and Matthew (1:1-17) are different has given rise to many theories. Here are some of the most important.

1. Among others, the Reformer Martin Luther considered the genealogy of Luke to be in fact the genealogy of Mary.

2. The Church Father Africanus, who died in 220, thought that Joseph had two fathers because of his mother's levirate marriage (Deuteronomy 25:5-10): the mother's first, childless husband, and the second man, perhaps the first's cousin, who was his real father (thus Heli, Luke 3:23 and James, Matthew 1:15-16).

3. The theory that Matthew presents the royal, crown-line family tree of David, while Luke presents the true family tree of Joseph.

The question remains unanswered. The most important thing about the genealogies is that they both present Jesus as a man on the one hand, and as the promised son of David on the other. Unlike Matthew, Luke writes the genealogy all the way back to God; by doing so he emphasizes that Jesus was the Savior of the whole world, not just of the Jews. Note in verse 23 "...being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph." Here too there is a reference to the virgin birth of Jesus.

In verse 29 the Greek word is Iesous = Jesus, which is however translated "Joshua" because it refers to Joshua in the Old Testament. Jesus' Hebrew name was Joshua. The fact that the Greek names in the New Testament sometimes differ greatly from the original Hebrew form in the Old Testament is due to the fact that there is no equivalent in Greek for all Hebrew letters.