Jesus doesn’t get a “honeymoon” in Luke’s gospel.

In all the other gospels, the first words and actions of Jesus’ ministry are greeted with wonder and excitement. Jesus appears extremely popular in the earliest days of his mission. Only after increasing numbers of confrontations with religious and civil authorities does the tone and tenor of the public begins to turn and the inevitable rejections becomes evident.

In Luke’s gospel, from the moment Jesus begins to speak in public, his lot is misunderstanding, rejection, and the threat of bodily harm. Here, at the beginning of his traveling and teaching, Jesus’ appearance and announcement at his hometown synagogue ends in discord and near disaster.

The transition from Jesus’ wilderness warfare to the commencement of his ministry around Gali…