61 in the Nazareth synagogue, where he himself makes the claim to be the Servant of that text (4:16–20).282 Indeed, this announcement is keeping with Jesus’s preaching of the kingdom of God. The coming of universal Jubilee was a common image of eschatological redemption in many of the texts of Second Temple Judaism.283
After Jesus is presented in the temple, Simeon makes the final identification between Jesus and the returning kavod/Servant in his song: “for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to [or ‘of’] your people Israel” (Luke 2:30–32, emphasis added). This on the one hand represents an allusion to the Servant of 49:6 who is a “light to the nations,” and also to the kavod. The later phrase, “the glory of your people Israel,” is reminiscent of the description of the kavod in the LXX version of 1 Samuel 4:22.284 When informed of her status as the mother of God, Mary’s song of praise echoes that of Hannah, Samuel’s mother, in 1 Samuel (compare 1 Sam 2:1–11 and Luke 1:46–55). This suggests that Jesus will be a prophet similar to Samuel. Nevertheless, in that he is God himself come in the flesh, Jesus’s role is not merely one of continuation of prophecy, but also its fulfillment. As the final and universal prophet, Jesus is the “light to the nations.”
This idea of Jesus as the “light” of revelation might also be present in Luke’s prologue. Here Just notes the possibility of a non-Johannine reference to Jesus as the “Word of God” in the sentence: “those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them [the kerygma] to us” (Luke 1:2, emphasis added).285 If “eyewitnesses” and “ministers” are the same people, then their witness is not to something, but to someone (i.e., the divine Word, Jesus). David Scaer agrees with this argument and observes that Luke’s rhetorical use of this description of his sources makes little sense if the eyewitnesses are not the same as the ministers. If the ministers are not the same as the eyewitnesses, how would Luke’s claim to rely on them validate his claims of authority for his gospel? Would he not simply be bearing witnesses to the fact that there are people who proclaim Jesus and not that his sources were those who were directly appointed to be eyewitnesses to him?286
In further keeping with these divine designations, Just also suggests that Jesus applies the divine Name to himself on a number of occasions.287 In teaching the disciples about humility, Just translates Jesus’s remark about service as: “I AM in the midst of you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27).288 Similarly, he translates the risen Jesus’s self-identification to the disciples as, “I AM myself” (24:39). That Jesus would identify himself with the Name in these texts is coherent with Luke’s previous identification of him with the kavod and Word.
Therefore, much like Matthew and Mark, Luke identifies Jesus with the fulfillment of God’s presence with Israel in the Old Testament. Similar also to the other synoptic evangelists, Luke believes that Jesus continues to be present with his Church, particularly in the Lord’s Supper. This is strongly indicated by his use of an inclusio of sacramental presence. At the beginning of the gospel, we are told that Jesus is born in Bethlehem, meaning “house of bread.”289 When Jesus is born, he is placed in a manger (2:7), that is, an animal’s feeding trough. By implication then he himself is food from the very beginning of his existence. Throughout the gospel, Jesus perpetually eats with sinners, culminating in his institution of the Lord’s Supper for the forgiveness of sins.290 At the end of the gospel, we find him revealing himself in the “breaking of bread” (24:35).291
As God’s returning glory, Jesus comes to fulfill his former promise to Abraham that he would bless the nations through his seed (1:55, 71–73).292 As the “light to the nations” Jesus unites Jews and Gentiles by his lineage. To emphasize this point, Luke traces his lineage back to Adam, rather than merely to Abraham as does Matthew (3:23–37).293 Even in his death, he is able to unite Jews and Gentiles. Herod and Pilate, who had previously been enemies, are made friends by later handing him over to the former for trial (23:12). Moving on into the book of Acts, the apostles incorporate the Gentiles into the people of God and thereby fulfill his promised blessings to the nations (Gen 12; Isa 45, 49).
This emphasis on Christ’s prophetic office as the Servant of Isaiah does not preclude his occupancy of the offices of king and priest.294 Robert Sloan observes that Jesus’s role as the true king connects well with his announcement of Jubilee. This is because it in fact was the responsibility of kings in the Old Testament to announce the Jubilee.295 Luke, like the other evangelists, also identifies Jesus with the Melchizekiah priest-king of Psalm 110 (Luke 20:40–45). In keeping with his priestly role, he is the Son of Man prophesied in Daniel (6:5, 9:26–27, 9:58, 11:29–32, 18:31–34). Beyond this, Jesus is David’s son (Luke 3:31) and therefore the true fulfillment of the promises made to David, as Gabriel tells Mary (1:32–33). N.T. Wright has noted that much of Luke’s use of language and narrative imagery suggests that he is intentionally echoing the LXX version of 1 and 2 Samuel.296 Similar to David, Wright observes that Jesus wanders throughout the gospel as he awaits the kingdom promised to his mother at the beginning of the gospel (1:32–33).297 Later in Acts, just as David is persecuted by king Saul of the tribe of Benjamin, Jesus’s body, the Church, is persecuted by a man named Saul of the tribe of Benjamin (Acts 9:5–6, Phil 3:4–6).
As in the other gospels, Luke portrays Jesus as an exorcist and healer. This does not detract from Luke’s description of Jesus as a new David, but rather shows how the Third Evangelist views Jesus’s fulfillment of this role. Jesus’s war for the kingdom is not with temporal enemies, but with Satan and the demonic forces of the old creation (Luke 11:20). After his disciples return with joy from battling the devil in Jesus’s Name, Jesus exclaims “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (10:18). The devil, as the source of all evil, is the direct or indirect source of all disease and demonic possession. In combating these things therefore he is the one who Jesus and his disciples overcome through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’s announcement of Jubilee and the forgiveness of sins also works against and finally defeats the devil. Though Satan is certainly the enemy of God, he is also an accuser of humanity in the heavenly court (Job 1:6–8, 2:1–7; Zech 3:1–10; Rev 12:10). In this sense, the devil maintains his power through his ability to accuse. Understood in this light, Jesus’s forgiveness of sins and his sacrificial death are the true exercises of his office as king. Luke, it would appear, also envisions the Church throughout Acts as continuing this mission of Jesus to the ends of the earth. After the ascension, the apostles persist in Jesus’s activities of preaching, teaching, celebrating the sacraments, and engaging in healings and exorcisms.
It has often been argued that Luke utterly lacks an atonement theology. Both Hans Conzelman and James D. G. Dunn have claimed that Luke has no understanding of Jesus’s death as being sacrificial or directly redeeming.298 Roy Harrisville, while acknowledging both Dunn and Conzelman’s objections, counters their claim by citing Gerhard Fredrich, who points to Luke’s report of the words of institution (Luke 22:19–20), and also Philip’s reading of the Fourth Servant Song (Isa 53) with the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26–40).299 We are also told that when Jesus begins his ministry he is “about thirty years”
