SECTION 1.
The Birth and Growth To Maturity Of John And Jesus (Luke 1-2).
This first section of Luke's Gospel can be analysed as below. It will be noted that the analysis, as we would expect, centres on the birth of Jesus. This is what all in the section is preparing for and leading up to, and what then follows puts its stamp on His uniqueness and glory. So central to the whole is Jesus, and this is what the chiasmus brings out.
a Introduction - wisdom is being offered to Theophilus (lover of God), who represents all God lovers, so that they might ‘know' the truth (Luke 1:1-4).
b Zacharias goes up to the Temple and is promised a son, John, who will prepare the way for God's Messiah, and he is made dumb in God's presence (Luke 1:5-25).
c Mary receives the promise that she will bear the Messiah and she responds in obedience (Luke 1:26-38).
d Mary visits Elizabeth who prophesies by the Holy Spirit over Jesus and Mary and rejoices and worships God (Luke 1:39-56).
e Elisabeth's child is born and is circumcised (Luke 1:57-60).
f Zacharias's tongue is loosed and the news of the remarkable events go round the neighbourhood (Luke 1:61-66).
g Zacharias prophesies by the Holy Spirit concerning the coming of the Messiah, and his own son's part in preparing the way for the Messiah. (Luke 1:67-80).
h Jesus is born in Bethlehem among the domestic animals, being laid in a manger (Luke 2:1-7).
g The angels declare the coming of the Messiah and bless God for His goodness in sending the Messiah, and appear to the shepherds in the fields to prepare the way for His coming (Luke 2:8-14).
f The shepherds see Him and filled with wonder give thanks to God and spread the word around the neighbourhood (Luke 2:15-20).
e Jesus is circumcised and presented at the Temple (Luke 2:21-24).
d Simeon, inspired by the Spirit, blesses God and prophesies over Jesus, and rejoices and worships God (Luke 2:25-35).
c Anna the prophetess comes to where Jesus is in the Temple and gives thanks to God and spreads the news (Luke 2:36-40).
b Jesus goes up to the Temple and receives understanding in the things of God in His Father's presence (Luke 2:41-51).
a ‘And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man' (Luke 2:52).
Note that in ‘a' wisdom is offered to all God-lovers that they might grow in it and enjoy God's favour, and in the parallel Jesus grows in wisdom and in favour with God and men. In ‘b' Zacharias goes up to the Temple and receives a word from God, and in the parallel Jesus does the same. In ‘c' Mary receives the promise of the Messiah, and in the parallel Anna comes to the promised Messiah and spreads news of Him all around. In ‘d' Elizabeth prophesies over Jesus and praises and blesses God, and in the parallel Simon prophesies over Jesus and praises and blesses God. In ‘e' John is circumcised and in the parallel Jesus is circumcised. All is rooted in the promise to Abraham. In ‘f' Zacharias's tongue is loosed and the word goes round the neighbourhood, and in the parallel the shepherds spread the word around the neighbourhood. In ‘g' Zacharias prophesies the coming of the Messiah and in the parallel the angels do the same. And in ‘h' the Messiah comes.
Chapter 2 The Birth And Development of the Child Jesus.
We now come to the event on which the two opening Chapter s are centred (see opening analysis), the birth of the One of Whom the Gospel testifies, the One Who is called ‘great', the Son of the Most High, the everlasting King over the everlasting kingdom (compare Isaiah 9:6-7). And yet it is all over in two verses. There is nothing sentimental about it. For it is why He was born that is Luke's interest, not the details of the birth. Perhaps magical stories were already being invented by some (as we find them later in the apocryphal Gospels) and he wanted nothing to do with them. While being the King of glory He was coming as a man among men, and that was how He was to be seen. It is noteworthy that Luke does not mention the visit of the Magi (Matthew 2:1-11). This is quite understandable, for it would not have fitted into the theme of this chapter, which is based around humility and humble beginnings. Rather does he stress the visit of the shepherds to the child lying in a manger, placing it in direct contrast with the rulers in their palaces.
But this description of His lowly birth is then followed by a series of testimonies, first by angels, and then by the Holy Spirit, to His status and future. These may be seen as paralleling the inspiration that has gone before in chapter 1. Jesus is to be seen as celebrated by God both before and after His birth. Heaven bears witness while the earth is silent. And the chapter then ends with Him briefly in His Father's house, an indication of what is to come.
How quietly the event itself takes place, for the birth is all over in two verses. Nevertheless in this passage Luke brings out all that needs to be brought out, and among these things he deliberately and emphatically draws attention to the fact that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, as a scion of the house of David. This is emphasised by the background history so that it cannot be missed. It is stressing that He was of the house and family of David.
We cannot doubt that Luke had in mind the prophecy which would be well known to his readers, that the One Who was to be ruler in Israel, Whose origin was from of old, from ancient days, would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) and would be the root of Jesse, David's father (Isaiah 12:1). But he does not draw attention to the prophecies specifically. He leaves the inference to be drawn. There is a studied silence about it, a silence which is typical of Luke in a number of places. He often gets over his message by silence.
Chapter 1 has been full of the divine as being revealed to the human, with great emphasis on the coming event. Chapter Luke 2:8 onwards is the same, except that it looks back on the great event. But the great event itself passes in a way that is so ordinary that we can hardly credit it (in total contrast to His death). The King is being born in order to commence His Kingly Rule, and yet all we see, and are told of, in Luke is a baby lying in a manger arrayed in a swaddling cloth. It reminds us that He came into the world as true man.
It tells us too that as a result of the instructions of mighty Rome, His adoptive father had to attend at Bethlehem for enrolment. Joseph is revealed as fulfilling his political obligations, in obedience to the ‘powers that be' (Romans 13:1). He is a man under authority. Yet every reader knows that really it is this baby that the Gospel of Luke is all about, for this is Jesus Christ the Lord made man, a fact emphasised here by understatement. The great oak that is to come springs from the tiny acorn.
So the opening draws attention to the fact that Jesus came as a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, into a world ruled by Rome, and in a land governed by Rome, even though in the case of Palestine indirectly, and that His own life will be very much affected by Rome's decisions. Even Herod is very much a vassal king under Roman control, and has to submit to Caesar's decrees, as is made clear here. Rome controls all. This emphasis on Roman authority at the beginning of Luke's writings ties in with Luke's later emphasis at the end of his two books on the fact that the Kingly Rule of God must be established and proclaimed by an Apostle in Rome (Acts 23:11; Acts 28), by which time the accomplishment of this baby will be resounding throughout the Roman Empire as the word mightily prevails.