A Year in Luke/ActsSample

A theme running throughout this chapter is Jesus being the world’s Savior. Whilst the world’s kingdoms are going about business as usual, a movement is beginning in the wilderness, on the outskirts, that is going to change the world forever. The rough places are being made smooth, the mountains are being made low, and the valleys are being lifted up so that everyone can see God’s glory. This pattern is going to run right throughout Luke’s gospel.

When we feel like Christianity is being marginalized in our culture, sometimes we can heed this as a call to the wilderness. Often, it is amongst the outsiders that Jesus is. If we care about “influence” on the same terms as the kingdoms of this world, we might miss the influence of the kingdom of God. Are we prepared, like Jesus, to go and receive the baptism from the wilderness?