Luke 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It describes the events leading up to the birth of Jesus. It is written to Theophilus, who could be a real person or could simply mean a fellow Christian as theo philus is Greek for God lover. Luke says "..since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so

John's parents

Luke gives us a description of John the Baptist's parents, who he claims were Zechariah, an Abijah Priest, and Elizabeth, a descendant of Aaron. They are both getting old and have no children. Luke says this all occurs during the reign of "Herod king of Judea" (), who almost certainly is Herod the Great.

Zechariah is on duty one day and goes into the Temple to light incense. During this time, priests served in the temple once a week twice a year, there being twenty four divisions of priests. The Angel Gabriel appears to him and tells him he will soon have a son, to name him John, and to not allow him any alcoholic drinks, and that "he will be great in the sight of the Lord. ()" Zechariah doubts Gabriel and Gabriel takes away his power of speech until this happens. Zechariah leaves the

In the sixth month of her pregnancy she is visited by her relative Mary. Luke tells the story of Gabriel's visit to Mary, informing her that she will soon have a virgin conception by God. This is not found in Matthew , which has an unnamed angel appear to Joseph after having discovered Mary is pregnant. Upon meeting the pregnant Mary, Elizabeth feels John move in her womb and is "..filled with the Holy Spirit." () Elizabeth gives praise to Mary, and Mary, in her Magnificat, gives praise to God.

Mary stays for three months and leaves shortly before John's birth. Friends and neighbors come to circumcise him and try to name him after his father, but his mother protests and then his father writes down that his name will be John, and is suddenly allowed to speak again. He sings a song praising God. Luke then only states that John grew up and went into the desert. This is the only near contemporary account of John's family found anywhere.

Luke's source for this information is unknown. Even if the Q hypothesis is correct, these stories of John's and Jesus's birth were not in it, nor are they in Mark. Luke does not list anything about an Angel visiting Joseph, which suggests that either Matthew and Luke received their information on this subject from different sources, or Luke has access to both stories, knows Matthew is already circulating, and is filling in the story told in Matthew. If Luke is right, Jesus and John were cousins of some sort.

References

Accessed 15 October 2005

Miller, Robert-Editor, The Complete Gospels, Polebridge Press, 1992. ISBN 0060655879