The New Testament · The Gospels · Book 49 of 73
Prophecy in Luke
Luke's Gospel begins and ends with prophecy. Angels, Mary, Zechariah and Simeon speak in the voice of Israel's prophets, and the risen Jesus closes the book by opening the Scriptures: everything written about him must be fulfilled. In between, Luke alone names the armies around Jerusalem and the “times of the Gentiles.”
In progress: 9 passages so far
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The book at a glance
Tradition attributes the third Gospel to Luke, the companion of Paul; Irenaeus writes that Luke set down in a book the Gospel Paul preached (Against Heresies 3.1.1). It is the first of two volumes, continued in Acts, and is addressed to Theophilus so that he may know “the certainty” of what he was taught (1:4). Most scholars hold that Luke drew on Mark; he also has material of his own, including the infancy narratives and many parables.
Luke's prophecy has a shape. The first two chapters are full of promises spoken over the child and his mother. In the middle, Jesus reads Isaiah and says it is fulfilled “today.” On the road and in the city, he weeps over Jerusalem and foretells its fall. At the end, he shows that the whole of Scripture led to his cross and resurrection, and that the mission to all nations will begin from Jerusalem.
Key to the labels
How a passage stands
Fulfilled Accomplished in history, above all in Christ.
Unfolding Being worked out now in the life of the Church.
Future Clearly still to come at Christ's return.
Mystery Its meaning or moment is not yet settled.
What kind of passage it is
Prophecy God's word through a prophet, or Christ, about what will come.
Promise A pledge God makes, kept over generations.
Type A person or event that foreshadows Christ or the Church.
Image A picture Scripture returns to and completes at the end.
Apocalypse A vision unveiling history from heaven's side, in symbols.
More on the labels
| Passage | Subject | Standing |
|---|
| 1:32–33 | The throne of David; a kingdom without end | Fulfilled Future |
| 1:46–55 | The Magnificat: all ages will call me blessed | Unfolding |
| 2:29–35 | Simeon: a light to the Gentiles, a sword | Fulfilled Unfolding |
| 4:16–21 | Isaiah fulfilled today | Fulfilled |
| 17:20–37 | The kingdom among you; the day of the Son of Man | Unfolding Future |
| 19:41–44 | Jesus weeps over Jerusalem | Fulfilled |
| 21:20–24 | Jerusalem surrounded; the times of the Gentiles | Fulfilled Mystery |
| 21:25–28 | Signs in the heavens; your redemption is at hand | Future |
| 24:25–27, 44–47 | Everything written about me must be fulfilled | Fulfilled Unfolding |
The passages
“…and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
- Reading
- Gabriel's words to Mary take up God's promise to David that his throne would stand forever (2 Samuel 7:12–16; Isaiah 9:6). The child will be “Son of the Most High” and receive “the throne of David his father” (1:32). When Jesus enters Jerusalem the Catechism names him the son of David (CCC 559), and the Annunciation as the beginning of the fulfillment of God's promises (CCC 484).
- Why two labels
- The King has come and reigns now from the right hand of the Father. His kingdom “without end” is fully revealed only at his return (CCC 671), the phrase the Creed itself repeats.
- See also
- The woman's son “destined to rule all the nations” in Revelation 12.
“For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.”
- Reading
- Mary's song is a prophecy in the line of Hannah's (1 Samuel 2:1–10). She speaks of God's mercy “from age to age” and of a great reversal: “He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly” (1:52). The Catechism opens its teaching on devotion to Mary with this verse (CCC 971).
- Why unfolding
- “From now on” is still running. Each generation that calls Mary blessed, at every Hail Mary and every Magnificat sung at Vespers, adds to its fulfillment. The reversal she sings is the pattern of the kingdom (4:18; 6:20–26).
“Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce).”
- Reading
- In the Temple, Simeon holds the child and sees “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel” (2:32), words from Isaiah's Servant (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6). Then he turns to Mary. The Catechism reads the Presentation as Simeon and Anna's recognition of the Messiah and Simeon's words as foretelling the Cross and Mary's share in it (CCC 529).
- Why two labels
- The sword pierced at Calvary (John 19:25). The light to the Gentiles is still going out, and Jesus is still a sign that is contradicted (CCC 575).
- See also
- The woman in labor and the child opposed by the dragon in Revelation 12.
“Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
- Reading
- In the synagogue at Nazareth Jesus reads Isaiah 61:1–2: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.” Then he sits down and says one sentence. The Anointed One of Isaiah is standing in the room. He stops before Isaiah's “day of vindication” and reads only the “year acceptable to the Lord.” The Catechism cites this text in teaching that the kingdom belongs to the poor and lowly (CCC 544).
- Note
- “Today” runs through Luke: to the shepherds (2:11), to Zacchaeus (19:9), to the thief on the cross (23:43).
“For behold, the kingdom of God is among you.”
- Reading
- Asked when the kingdom will come, Jesus says it “cannot be observed” by calculation. It is already present in him. The NABRE note explains that the Greek can also mean “within you,” but prefers “among” in light of Luke's other sayings (10:9, 11; 11:20). He then speaks to the disciples of “the days of the Son of Man”: sudden as lightning, unlooked for as in the days of Noah and Lot. “But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation” (17:25).
- Why two labels
- The kingdom is present and growing now. The day the Son of Man is revealed (17:30) is still to come, and no one can point to it: “Look, here it is” is the cry Jesus tells his disciples not to follow (17:21; compare 17:23).
- Note
- Some read “one will be taken, the other left” (17:34–35) as a secret rapture before Christ's return. The Catholic reading, like most of the Christian tradition, sees one visible return of Christ at the end; the disciples' question “Where, Lord?” receives no map, only a proverb (17:37). See The Lamb's Victory on the rapture.
“If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.”
- Reading
- As the crowd cheers his entry, Jesus sees the city and weeps. He foretells a siege wall, encirclement, and that the enemy “will not leave one stone upon another,” because the city “did not recognize the time of your visitation” (19:44). The Romans did exactly this in AD 70. The Catechism cites his tears over Jerusalem (CCC 558).
- Note
- This is a lament, not a curse. Jesus' last word over the city is grief. The same Gospel ends with the mission “beginning from Jerusalem” (24:47).
“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is at hand.”
- Reading
- Where Matthew and Mark speak of “the desolating abomination,” Luke names what his readers would see: armies around the city. This is the key that unlocks the parallel; see the Matthew page on the desolating abomination. Those in Judea are to flee to the mountains. Eusebius records that the Jerusalem church, warned by a revelation, left the city before the war and settled at Pella beyond the Jordan (Church History 3.5.3).
- Why two labels
- The siege, fall and exile were fulfilled in AD 70. But Jesus adds: “Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (21:24). The Catechism cites this verse in teaching that Christ's glorious coming awaits Israel's recognition of the Messiah, following “the full number of the Gentiles” (CCC 674; Romans 11:25). How long those times run, and how they end, the Church has not said.
“But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”
- Reading
- Signs in the sun, moon and stars, nations in dismay, the powers of heaven shaken: then “they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (21:27). The Catechism cites this verse for Christ's reign revealed in glory at his return (CCC 671).
- For now
- Where others “die of fright” (21:26), disciples stand up and lift their heads. Luke's version of the discourse ends with the same counsel as Mark's: be vigilant and pray (21:36).
“Everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”
- Reading
- On the road to Emmaus the risen Jesus asks, “Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (24:26), and “beginning with Moses and all the prophets” he interprets what referred to him. In the upper room he opens the disciples' minds to the whole of Scripture. The Catechism takes this as Jesus' own key to reading the Old Testament (CCC 572). It is the key this site uses.
- Why two labels
- The suffering and rising are fulfilled. The last line of the prophecy is still being fulfilled: repentance for the forgiveness of sins “would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (24:47). Its continuation is the Book of Acts.
Still to come on this pageFurther passages to add: the Benedictus and the dawn from on high (1:68–79), John's preaching and the axe at the root (3:7–17), “I have observed Satan fall like lightning” (10:18), the narrow door and the feast in the kingdom (13:22–30), “will he find faith on earth?” (18:8), the parable of the minas (19:11–27), the kingdom conferred on the apostles (22:28–30), Peter's faith that will not fail (22:31–32), and the promise of power from on high (24:49).
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