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2 – Jesus’ Baptism and First Year of His Ministry!

Luke's Gospel - The Early YearsLuke doesn’t mention a great deal about Jesus’ first year, but he does show he began during a harvest season, because his disciples were walking through ripe farm fields and helping themselves to some grain to satisfy their hunger (Luke 6:1). The implication is that Jesus’ ministry began either near the spring Holy Days or the autumn Holy Days. I contend that it was during the autumn that Jesus began his ministry for reasons shown in the studies below.

Luke mentions the time of John the Baptist beginning his ministry and tells of Jesus being baptized by him in the Jordan. Immediately afterward came Jesus’ temptations which I believe coincided with the trouble he had in Galilee during the first few weeks of his public ministry. All in all, Luke covers about three to four weeks of Jesus’ first year, and that’s all. John speaks of his first Passover in John 2, which occurred about 6 months after Jesus first spoke in Nazareth about being the Messiah (cf. Luke 4:16-21). John 45-54 records Jesus’ return to Galilee which is picked up in Luke 7, beginning Jesus’ second year of his public ministry. John mentions another Holy Day in his fifth chapter, but he doesn’t mention which Holy Day that may have been. I believe it was either the Feast of Lights (Hanukkah) or the Feast of Purim, both of which would have come in the 2nd year of Jesus public ministry.

I submit, therefore, that the beginning of Jesus ministry occurred in the autumn of 27 AD, and  I contend that the Sabbaths of Luke 4 through 6 represent both the weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Day Sabbaths during the 7th month of the Jewish Calendar, 27 AD. I hope to show this in their proper places in the studies below. It is not my intention to show in this study of Luke what John shows occurred later in that first year of Jesus’ ministry (cf. John chapters 2, 3 and 4).

Chapter seven of Luke, which I hope to address in a later series, begins Jesus’ second year of his public ministry.

  1. Luke 3:1 …………………………………………………………………….. Dating the Ministry of John
  2. Luke 3:2-9 ………………………………………………………………….. The Message of John the Baptist
  3. Luke 3:7-9 (Part 1) ………………………………………………………… What Actually Ended with John?
  4. Luke 3:7-9 (Part 2) ………………………………………………………… Did the Jews Understand Daniel?
  5. Luke 3:7-9 (Part 3) ………………………………………………………… Who Are the Generation of Vipers?
  6. Luke 3:7-9 (Part 4) ………………………………………………………… What is the Wrath to Come?
  7. Luke 3:7-9 (Part 5) ………………………………………………………… Contending with John
  8. Luke 3:10-20 ……………………………………………………………….. The Interest in John’s Baptism
  9. Luke 3:10-14 ……………………………………………………………….. How Does John Differ from Jesus
  10. Luke 3:15-16 ……………………………………………………………….. Messianic Expectations
  11. Luke 3:16-17 (Part 1) ……………………………………………………… The Messiah’s Baptism
  12. Luke 3:16-17 (Part 2) ……………………………………………………… The Baptism of Fire
  13. Luke 3:21-22 ……………………………………………………………….. Heaven Was Opened
  14. Luke 3:23-38 ……………………………………………………………….. Jesus’ Age and Genealogy
  15. Luke 4:1-14 (Part 1) ……………………………………………………….. The Great Contest that Wasn’t
  16. Luke 4:1-2 ………………………………………………………………….. God and Dualism
  17. Luke 4:1 (Part 1a) ………………………………………………………….. Led Into the Wilderness
  18. Luke 4:1 (Part 2a) ………………………………………………………….. Filled with the Spirit
  19. Luke 4:3, 9 …………………………………………………………………. If You Are the Son of God…
  20. Luke 4:3-4 ………………………………………………………………….. Jesus’ First Temptation
  21. Luke 4:9-12 ………………………………………………………………… Jesus’ Third Temptation
  22. Luke 4:6-8 ………………………………………………………………….. Jesus’ Second Temptation
  23. Luke 4:1-14 (Part 2) ………………………………………………………. The Three Temptations of Jesus
  24. Luke 4:1-14 (Part 3) ……………………………………………………….. The Trials and the Wedding at Cana
  25. Luke 4:1-14 (Part 4) ……………………………………………………….. The Three Temptations of Christ
  26. Luke 4:14-19 ……………………………………………………………….. The Jewish Lectionary System
  27. Luke 4:18-19 ………………………………………………………………. The Spirit of the Lord Is Upon Me
  28. Luke 4:18-19 ……………………………………………………………….. Jesus of Nazareth–Messiah
  29. Luke 4:19 …………………………………………………………………… This Day this Scripture is Fulfilled...
  30. Luke 4:22-23 ……………………………………………………………….. Physician, Heal Yourself!
  31. Luke 4:23 …………………………………………………………………… Whatever We Have Heard
  32. Luke 4:24 …………………………………………………………………… No Prophet Is Accepted in his Town
  33. Luke 4:25-30 ……………………………………………………………….. The Unfavorable Contrast
  34. Luke 4:31-37 ……………………………………………………………….. Jesus Spoke with Authority
  35. Luke 4:31-34 ……………………………………………………………….. Jesus and Demons
  36. Luke 4:38-39 ……………………………………………………………….. Peter’s Mother-in-law’s Fever
  37. Luke 4:40-44 ……………………………………………………………….. “You Are the Christ, the Son of God”
  38. Luke 5:1-11 …………………………………………………………………. Calling the First Disciples
  39. Luke 5:1-11 …………………………………………………………………. I Am a Sinful Man Oh Lord
  40. Luke 5:1-11 …………………………………………………………………. Fishers of Men
  41. Luke 5:12-15 ……………………………………………………………….. Tell No Man?
  42. Luke 5:12-16 ……………………………………………………………….. Peter and the Leper
  43. Luke 5:12-16 ……………………………………………………………….. The Leprous Messiah
  44. Luke 5:17 …………………………………………………………………… Power to Heal Them
  45. Luke 5:26 …………………………………………………………………… Strange Things and Paradoxes
  46. Luke 5:27-29 ………………………………………………………………. Leaving the Past Behind
  47. Luke 5:27-29 ………………………………………………………………. Is Levi Really Matthew, the Apostle
  48. Luke 5:20-32 ………………………………………………………………. Jesus and the Sinner
  49. Luke 5:27-32 ………………………………………………………………. Jesus and the Doctors of the Law
  50. Luke 5:33-35 ………………………………………………………………. Jesus and the Chosen Fast
  51. Luke 5:33-39 ………………………………………………………………. Jesus and Moses
  52. Luke 6:1-5 …………………………………………………………………. David’s Greater Son
  53. Luke 6:6-11 ………………………………………………………………… Stretch Forth Your Hand!
  54. Luke 6:6-11 ………………………………………………………………… Caretakers of the Vineyard
  55. Luke 6:12-16 ………………………………………………………………. Choosing the Twelve
  56. Luke 6:12-16 ………………………………………………………………. Unveiling a Paradox
  57. Luke 6:12-26 ……………………………………………………………… Life in Adam and Life in Christ
  58. Luke 6:20-26 ……………………………………………………………… The Sermon on the Plain
  59. Luke 6:27-36 ……………………………………………………………… How Should We Treat Our Enemies?
  60. Luke 6:35 ………………………………………………………………….. Love Your Enemies
  61. Luke 6:27-38 ……………………………………………………………… WWJD?
  62. Luke 6:39-45 ……………………………………………………………… The Blessings and Limitations of Men
  63. Luke 6:46-49 ……………………………………………………………… The Doers and the Hearers
 

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