Second Presbyterian Church

"Speechless!
Preaching From the Gospel of Luke"
November 30, 2003

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Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2003 » Sermons for November 2003 » Sermons from the Series on Luke

#1 in the Series on Luke
The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.

• Malachi 4: 5-6
• Luke 1: 1-25

Today I begin preaching through the Gospel of Luke. You have before you an outline of the entire gospel and a few notes about the Gospel of Luke and its uniqueness. It is my hope and prayer that this journey through the Gospel of Luke will bear much spiritual fruit in our lives together as Christians.

Our First sermon in Luke tries to cover two sections of the Gospel. Chapter 1, verses 1 through 4 is the Prologue. And Chapter One, verses 5-25 cover the Announcement of the birth of John the Baptist.

Because we have two sections to cover, the sermon shall have two major points:

1. The purpose for Luke writing this gospel,
2. Getting ready for the coming of the Messiah.

1.So, why did Luke write his version of the Gospel of Luke? To begin with, he addresses his gospel to a particular man, Theophilus. No one knows who Theophilus really is. The name translates, "friend of God." Some speculate that he may have been a patron who helped finance the cost of composing and publishing the gospel. The Title, "most excellent," indicates the possibility of a person of high social standing, a nobleman. But this is just about the extent of the "knowledge" - speculation. We know nothing else about this person, if he really was an individual person or just a literary form - that is: a style of using a name as if you are addressing a particular person. Please also note that Luke begins the Book of Acts of the Apostles with reference to Theophilus.

But the purpose that Luke had for writing the Gospel is clear enough. He wrote the gospel to bring order out of the near-chaotic multitude of stories, parchments, gospels that had been written and orally circulating. In that day you might hear a story of Jesus healing a leper, because it was circulating on its own. Or you might hear a story about the death of Jesus. Or you might hear a story about the wise men, or the shepherds. And it is possible that some of these stories were circulating in clusters, or all by themselves!

Let me give an example of one story that serves as a great example. It is the story of the woman who was caught committing adultery and the Pharisees brought her to Jesus to test and to give Jesus a hard time. Most of the time you can read this story in the Gospel of John, Chapter 7:53 - 8:11. Some ancient manuscripts of John omit this story; some have the story in other locations. Other ancient manuscripts have this story also shows up in Luke 21. It is as if it is very popular story about Jesus that never quite found its final home in the story itself.

So Luke was compiling a lot of stories about Jesus and his ministry and his purpose was to place them in an orderly manner so that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was clear and easier to believe.

We need to ask for ourselves the question: how certain are we about the Good News of Jesus Christ? What exactly is the Good News of Jesus Christ? Now the second of these questions is one that I want us to have before ourselves as we journey through Luke's gospel. How does Luke understand what the Good News of Jesus Christ is? And as we develop our answer, we shall also develop the answer to the question for ourselves, "What exactly is the Good News of Jesus Christ?"

2.The second part of the Gospel of Luke we are covering is chapter 1: 5-25. Luke starts us off with the announcement of the prophetic return of Elijah. We need to understand what the role of John the Baptist is in the unfolding Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we learn that, we have begun, ever so slowly to develop our understanding of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. At this point the Land of Judea (and we today) are being prepared for the coming of the Messiah.

The story line in Luke is fun. He begins with a couple, both from the priestly heritage of Israel, Zechariah and Elizabeth. Their lives have been righteous, good, but painful; Elizabeth was barren. She had borne no children. They were getting older and they had resigned to their situation. Then it's Zechariah's turn to burn the incense next to the Holy of Holies; while he was doing this, the angel, Gabriel, appeared to him. Zechariah was afraid. Gabriel calmed him down and proceeded to announce that he and Elizabeth shall have a son whose name shall be John. The angel also noted how John will be filled with the Holy Spirit, a great man of God, who turns people toward God as God prepares for the advent, the coming of the Messiah. Zechariah wondered with the angel about how this could be possible, since they are old. Gabriel told him that he shall be speechless until the boy was born. Zechariah's lack of faith caused him to lose his voice. Later on (January 4) Zechariah got his voice back and praised God.

So, Luke's beginning of the Gospel runs us into John the Baptist, who is yet to be born, and Elijah. That is, John is to be "in the spirit and power of Elijah." So, this raises the question, "Who is Elijah and how does he figure into the picture" of getting ready for the Messiah?

It is from Malachi, chapter 4: verses 5-6b that Luke is referring to. Malachi, a prophet, has stated thus:

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.

Yet the question remains, "Who is Elijah?" Elijah was a great prophet during the reign of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel, the kingdom that had split off from Judah after the reign of Solomon (1 Kings 17 and following). He performed several signs and miracles and he often opposed Ahab and Jezebel who were rulers that had brought much idolatry into the land. The end of Elijah was also unusual. He apparently did not die as we did, but a chariot from heaven came down and he was carried away in it (2 Kings 2). So part of the mystique and power of Elijah was that he had never died as almost all other mortals, except Enoch, the son of Methuselah. Enoch was also taken away by God without dying.

So the prophecies stated that the Messiah would be preceded by Elijah the prophet. And Luke is stating that the son to be born to Zechariah and Elizabeth was Elijah, as foretold by the prophets! Or, to put it in other words, the forerunner is coming. Therefore the Messiah is also coming. It was time to get ready for the coming of the Messiah.

And so, as we begin our journey through Luke we are already right in the middle of the themes of Advent. The forerunner, the spirit of Elijah is on the way to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. And that is one of the major themes of Advent, preparing for the coming of the Messiah. We are getting ready for His coming into our hearts. We are getting ready for the coming of the Lord when He returns to earth and establishes His kingdom in a much more obvious way that it is now. Luke describes how the Lord is getting ready for the coming of the Messiah in the world. The readers of Luke are being invited to get ready for the coming of the Messiah. Are we ready?

And we must be careful. As good a man as Zechariah was, he had trouble believing. We also need to ask ourselves, "Do we have trouble believing in the Gospel? Do we have trouble believing in the return of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?" It is my prayer that we are not left speechless.

Next Sunday we cover the announcement of Jesus' birth and marvel at the faith of Mary. Amen.

The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.