Day 78: December 9, 2025 – Luke 1-6

It struck me this time as I was reading the beginning chapters that the story of the ministry of Jesus really doesn’t pick up until the middle of chapter 4 of Luke. On top of that se see the first two chapters are very very long chapters. In reality, we have the set up of Jesus as being consequential so that we are prepared for what comes next. Pretty much all of what we have read so far is Jesus who is performing miracles and all of the religious leaders as well as the people of the day are following him around to see what he will do next. He is potentially at the zenith of his itinerant career right now, in the early stages of his ministry.

It is also here where we see that he is about 30 when he begins his ministry and we know that three Passovers are mentioned which places the length of his ministry at 3 years. I do have burned in my mind that his disciples could have easily been teenagers when he called them. We also see that Peter and James and John were business partners in the fishing industry. There is so much detail in Luke, to say nothing of the birth narratives of John and Jesus that none of the other Gospels contain, that is fascinating. Luke is probably my favorite in setting the stage for the ministry of Jesus. He is at this stage of his career hugely popular. But we know that soon changes.