Luke: Newborn Hope from Angels and the Holy Spirit

Week Two - Day 4

Today's Reading -- Luke 1:1 to Luke 2:38

Today we begin our reading of the Gospel according to Luke.  Whereas Matthew's gospel has numerous indications that it was written with a Jewish audience in mind, Luke seems geared more to a gentile audience familiar with aspects of the Hellenistic (Greek) world.  The author indicates right up front his intent "to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us" (1:1). and has relied on information that had been passed along by others.  Luke's gospel, then, is clearly looking backwards in time to bring the meaning and understanding of an existing Christian community to the events surrounding the life and witness of Jesus Christ.

Among the many things to note in the opening passages is Luke's repeated use of angels as messengers of God's plans, and the Holy Spirit as the agent behind the seminal events of the gospel narrative:

• The angel Gabriel announces to Zechariah that he will have a son who is to be named John.  John (who we know to be John the Baptist) will be filled with the Holy Spirit (1:15).
• Then, the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she is to bear a son to be named Jesus, and he will be called the Son of the Most High.  How can this be?  The Holy Spirit will be visited upon Mary (1:35).
• Later, when both Elizabeth and Mary are pregnant, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit as she proclaimed her cousin Mary as blessed among women (1:41).
• The birth and naming of John leads to the loosening of Zechariah's tongue, so much so that he was filled with the Holy Spirit as he spoke the prophecy about the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham (1:67-79).
• After the otherwise quiet birth of Jesus in a stable, an angel announces the good news to the shepherds living in the fields outside Bethlehem, the first persons to be informed of the birth of the Messiah.
• Finally in Jerusalem, an old man by the name of Simeon has been told by the Holy Spirit that he would live to see the Lord's Messiah, and Simeon guided by the Spirit to the temple as Joseph and Mary have brought Jesus to be presented to the Lord (1:25-27).

God is clearly at work setting the stage for the ministry of Jesus, which will not begin publicly for anther 30 years.  That seems a long time to wait, especially in our day when changes seem to come at us fast and furious.   The ways of God, however, are done with more intention, more thought to sound preparation, than the ways of humanity.