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