Please read Luke 1: 1-61 before proceeding. It's a long passage, but worth the time. As an alternative, you can just read each section as you go.
So, who is this Theophilus guy, and does it matter? versus 1 through 4
The gospel attributed to Luke was written to a guy named Thophilus. At least it is addressed that way. Some have speculated Theophilus (meaning "friend of God") was just a code name used for Christians or believers in general. However, since the name is unique to Luke and Acts, it seems to me this is unlikely. Others say he is probably an actual person, but there are various opinions about who it could be. I am partial to the idea that Theophilus was Paul's lawyer, and that the book was written as a sort of legal brief to be used for Paul's trial in Caesarea. His follow-up brief that we know as the book of Acts, then, was a legal brief for his trial in Rome.
This is all educated speculation, but I mention it because each of the four Gospels were written with a different purpose and audience in mind. If we are reading Luke to learn about Jesus, we might want to keep in mind that there might be a motive to gloss over parts of Jesus' life, or emphasize others. But that is okay. We have three other Gospels to compare. The canonical gospels give us a four-fold view of who Jesus is.
One of the emphases of Luke is the importance of women in His life. Matthew begins with the genealogy of His foster father Joseph, and an angel's appearance to him. Mark begins with John the Baptist in the wilderness. John begins with Jesus as the eternal Word. Luke does begin with Zechariah, but he is promptly silenced.
Zechariah refuses to believe, and is silenced versus 5 through 25; 57-61
Notice that the story of John the Baptist's announcement by Gabriel turns the story about Isaac somewhat on its head. In Genesis 17, Abraham, much like Zechariah, is not sure what to make of the announcement. He had already solved the problem of an heir. He went with the times and took his wife's handmaid in order to produce progeny. God had other ideas. Interestingly, the story picks up in chapter 18, and Sarah is listening inside the tent. She laughs, and is embarrassed.
Abraham is never rebuked for his hesitancy to believe. There seem to be no immediate consequences for his actions. (There were, however, consequences within his family, with continuing strife that still exists to this day.) Sarah, however, is embarrassed. Perhaps laughing out loud in front of a guest was poor etiquette back then. In the John the Baptist story, however, the father is embarrassed (Can you imagine him playing charades with the people outside to get them to understand what had happened?), and the mother gets to pass on the angel's announcement. (This will not be the last time in Luke a woman is given the privilege of first announcing God's revelation from an angel.) Even before Christ's Advent, God was beginning to shake up how things were done. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
Joseph is left out of the loop, Gabriel appears to... a woman! versus 26-38
If there is a baby to be announced, you better get the husband involved. Angels did appear to women at least twice in the Old Testament. Hagar was just a slave. When she was kicked out of Abraham's household, there was no longer a man involved. Samson's mother does speak with the angel first in Judges 13, but the scriptures don't even give us her name. And the angel does interact with her husband Manoah very promptly. Of course, Matthew does tell us that Joseph does get involved. Gabriel does catch up with him. But if you put that account together with this one in Luke, it was at least three months later after the news had already spread about Mary.
Gabriel gives us a hint who Jesus is by giving us His name, as well as three titles.
Jesus: The Lord Saves
The Son of the Most High/ The Son of God: Gabriel ties this to the fact that the Holy Spirit will be the One who makes this happen.
The concept of getting pregnant by a god was not something new. The Jews even had traditions about (presumably fallen) angels impregnating women, resulting in "giants." (See Genesis 6 and the extra-biblical book, Enoch.) The Greeks and Romans had myths about the gods having children (often referred to as heroes) with mortal women. Usually the women were raped.
Some critics of the Bible argue that Mary was raped. There is no indication of that in scripture. Note the response of Mary: "...let this happen to me according to your word." (NET) Mary seems to be giving her consent. In the culture she lived in, the consent of the woman was not exactly a high priority. Women were viewed as property. But instead of God using her regardless of her wishes, it seems to me He is doing with her as He had done through the ages with humankind. He invites us to partake in the ordering of the earth (Genesis 1:28). God never forces anyone to join Him in this task. So it would be unthinkable that Mary was forced. She voluntarily participated in her unique part in God's plan for bringing creation into the age of the New Creation. But that's a study for another time.
Elizabeth and Mary Prophecy versus 39-56
Sometimes a prophet in the Bible foretells the future, but the basic meaning of the word applies more to bringing a message from God than it does to predicting what is to come. The purpose of the message is not so we can get titillated by knowledge of what is to be, but change our attitudes and actions. Prophecy should affect both our heart and feet. Jesus' words will include promises and warnings on what is coming, but the main purpose will be to change us. It's what the Bible calls repentance. David Bentley Hart, in his translation of the New Testament, uses the words "heart's transformation" for the Greek word. I think that's probably as close as we can get in English. Jesus' words should change us from the inside out. Before we get to the prophecies of Jesus, let's see what the prophecies of Elizabeth and Mary have to say about Him.
Elizabeth pronounces a blessing on Mary and her Baby. What is a blessing? I think the best way we can understand it is in knowing that the Bible often pairs blessing and cursing, indicating they are opposites. If you are cursed, to be simplistic, bad things happen to you. If you are blessed, good things. But it goes beyond that. There are definitely things that will happen to Mary and Jesus that don't appear to be good. I wonder if maybe blessing has more to do with perspective than it does with what most people think of as good and bad. Think about that. I will touch more on this later, especially when we get to Luke's version of the beatitudes.
Elizabeth also seems startled at the revelation the Holy Spirit was giving her about Mary. To be the mother of the forerunner of Jesus was a great privilege, but to actually be in the presence of "the mother of the Lord" was overwhelming. I wonder how open we are to the Spirit when He tries to tell us we are in the presence of Jesus working through his servants?
Mary now takes the microphone (so to speak) and begins to praise God for His mercy and faithfulness to His promises. Mercy seems to be a lost word today. We use it as part of idioms (Lord have mercy.), but we usually don't really believe we need it. We have never done anything bad enough to need mercy. And since we think that is true, we see no reason to extend mercy on others. If they would just try harder, they wouldn't mess up. Jesus will definitely take on that type of thinking. We all mess up. God is the only One who has always been faithful. He never messes up. Yet, He extends mercy to each one of us.
I see also a bit of the beatitudes in Mary's prophecy. Let me reword some of what she says:
Blessed are the humble servants.
Woe to those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
Woe to the rulers from their thrones.
Blessed are the humble.
Blessed are the hungry God has filled with good things.
Woe to the rich He will send away empty.
Conclusion
Jesus is about to shake things up. He is going to overturn some tables... literally and figuratively.
