Luke: 2
While Matthew’s genealogy occurs in his introduction, Luke’s occurs in the 2nd section of his Gospel, the Preparations for and Jesus’ Ministry in Galilee (3:1-9:50), right after the account of John the Baptist (which is more detailed than Matthew’s [3:1-20]) and Jesus’ baptism (which is less detailed than Matthew’s [3:21-22]).
Here are some differences between the two genealogies. Most obviously, Matthew’s begins his Gospel, while Luke’s links the accounts of Jesus’ baptism and his wilderness temptation. Matthew describes Jesus as the “Son of Abraham” immediately prior to his genealogy, while Luke describes Jesus as being 30 years old. Matthew’s genealogy begins with Abraham and goes down to Joseph, but Luke’s begins with Joseph (Luke 3:23) and goes up to Adam (or to God [Luke 3:38]). In other words, they have a different end-point (Abraham vs. Adam/God), and move in different directions (down vs. up). Matthew’s is shorter and consequently has fewer names, 40 (plus 6 others), compared to Luke’s 77. But, even if you compare just the common stretch from Abraham to Joseph, Luke’s still has more names, 55. As mentioned in the Matthew blog, Matthew omits names so he can structure his genealogy around the number, 14 (which spells “David”).
Now let me make two overall points about their genealogies. First, the difference in the names between David and Joseph can be accounted in this way. Matthew traces Jesus’ line through the heirs to David’s throne (hence, he lists all of the kings after King David: Solomon, Rehoboam, etc.). Matthew seeks to emphasize that Jesus is the Son of David, the rightful and ultimate heir to David’s throne of Israel. Luke, however, traces Jesus’ natural line. Second, while Matthew’s genealogy emphasizes that Jesus is the Son of David, Luke’s seems to emphasize Jesus’ special nature: immediately prior to the genealogy God calls him “my beloved Son” (Luke 3:22), then the genealogy ends with Adam who is called the “son of God” (Luke 3:38), then comes the temptation account where Satan repeatedly taunts Jesus, “If you are the Son of God…” (4:3, 9).
After his success in the wilderness of temptation (4:1-13), Jesus returns to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and he begins his three-year ministry by reading/preaching from Isa 61:1-2. Several things are noteworthy in his inaugural sermon. 1st, he identifies with the “Servant of the Lord” of Isa 61 (and by extension, the Servant of the Lord Songs in Isa 49-57). 2nd, he singles out the poor for special blessing. Luke has great concern for the poor—not just the “poor in spirit” (a la Matthew) but the materially poor. 3rd and perhaps most interestingly, Jesus reads from Isa 61, then says, “Today this scripture is fulfilled” (4:21). But he does something quite specific: he cuts out part of the verse: compare Luke 4:18-19 (his quote of Isa 61) with the original of Isa 61:1-2. So what has been fulfilled by Jesus? What Jesus sets out to fulfil is the preaching of the gospel to the poor, the releasing of those in spiritual darkness, and the ushering in of the “year of the Lord’s favour.” What he does not set out to fulfil is the last part of Isa 61:2, viz., the ushering in of the “day of vengeance of our God,” i.e., God’s final judgment. This is exactly what tripped up John the Baptist (7:18-23)—but we’ll get to that in a bit.
In chaps. 5-6, Jesus begins to call his disciples, teach them, and perform miracles. After pulling an “all-nighter” in prayer (Luke 6:12), Jesus calls his disciples and chooses 12, whom he appoints “apostles” (6:13), whom he will later send out to preach the good news of the kingdom of God and to heal people (see 9:1-6).
Now back to John . . . While John the Baptist doubtless heard many reports from his disciples about all that Jesus was doing, he never got to see any of it for himself. Remember, according to Mark, John was imprisoned just before Jesus began his ministry (see also Luke 3:18-20). So, while John baptized Jesus and believed him to be the Messiah, in prison he started to have his doubts about Jesus; the account is captured in Luke 7:18-23. The doubts came b/c John believed that the Messiah would bring judgment and justice to the land (see, e.g., Matt 3:10-12)—but that wasn’t happening. And remember Jesus’ inaugural sermon: he left out the part about judgment in his quote of Isa 61:1-2. That’s b/c he came to bring salvation now and judgment later. But John expected salvation and judgment now—b/c the scriptures seem to suggest that when the Messiah comes, he will bring salvation and judgment. B/c John only got 1 (i.e., he only heard that Jesus was bringing salvation), he started to have his doubts about Jesus. In his response to John’s query (7:22-23), Jesus quells John’s doubts by basically saying to him that he must re-evaluate his view of the Messiah using the scriptures, and in doing so, John must allow for the mystery of God’s sovereignty—it is God who determines the time for final judgment, not John’s view of God (of the Messiah).
The clear turning point in the Gospel comes in Luke 9:51. Up until then Jesus had ministered in the north, in Galilee; but from this moment forth, his attention turns to Jerusalem, which begins the third section of his story of Jesus.