luke

The Role of Jesus’ Death in Luke’s Gospel

Kirk E. Miller

“Some describe the Gospels as accounts of Jesus’s death with really long introductions. Statements like this can downplay the bulk of the Gospels’ narratives, as though Jesus’s death were the only point of importance and everything else is just preliminary bonus material.

From another vantage point, however, this statement rightly communicates that nothing within the Gospels can be disconnected or properly understood apart from their climactic event: the death and resurrection of Christ. Everything that precedes leads up to the cross and occurs in its shadow.

But is this the case for the Gospel of Luke?”

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Luke 4:16-30 as Programmatic for the Gospel of Luke

Kirk E. Miller

The following is a paper submitted to Dr. Joshua W. Jipp in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the course NT 6211, Synoptic Gospels and Johannine Literature, at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois, September, 2014.

This paper seeks to prove that Luke 4:16-30 is programmatic for Luke’s presentation of Jesus. This will be accomplished by overviewing Luke 4:16-30, providing an initial case for Luke 4:16-30’s programmatic role, investigating textual matters in Luke’s citation of Isaiah 61:1-2, and tracing key themes from 4:16-30 throughout the entirety of Luke’s gospel.

Overview of Luke 4:16-30

Luke’s account of Jesus’ ministry begins with Jesus’ synagogue activity recorded in Luke 4:16-30. “As was His custom,” Jesus enters the synagogue. He then reads Isaiah 61:1-2 and interprets it by applying it to Himself in fulfillment categories (4:16-21).

Isaiah 61 occurs in the second major section of Isaiah, the ‘book of comfort’ (chs. 40-66). The ‘book of judgment’ (chs. 1-39) vividly presents God’s judgment of the nations, including Israel. In the ‘book of comfort’ the tides turn as Isaiah foretells of the restoration of God’s people. In Isaiah 61 the proclamation of this reversal of Israel’s fortunes is to be accomplished by a Spirit anointed messenger of God. Jesus interprets this agent as Himself.

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