Features of Luke's Narrative Trajectory

 

I.   Lukan infancy narratives:  chapters 1 and 2

-- Strong Hebrew Bible influence in these 2 chapters only

-- Linkage of John the Baptist and Jesus's families

--Jesus born in Bethlehem (survey story) in a manger, then moves back to Nazareth later

--Family often comes to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple

II.  Jesus' early ministry:  chapters 3-9

--John the Baptist is imprisoned before Jesus's baptism;  stronger connection of Holy Spirit with prayer

--Temptations:  reverses Matthew's 2 so that the last temptation ends with Jesus in the Temple

--Jesus is rejected by his hometown early in his career rather than later

--More dramatic story of Simon Peter's introduction to Jesus

--Sermon is on the plain and is shorter

--Added story of the centurion's servant (chapter 7)

--Clarification of the roles of John the Baptist and Jesus

III.  Jesus starts off for Jerusalemchapter 9

--Gathers the 12 and commissions them during his lifetime

--Peter is not reprimanded when he identifies Jesus as the Messiah

--Seventy commissioned to go to the Gentile nations during Jesus's lifetime