Luke is Christianity’s first historian. Scholars note his use of Greco-Roman history’s literary models. We too use cultural forms to convey Christian content. It’s good evangelism: Something new in something familiar. Luke opens many stories by situating them in historical times and places. “Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth.”

Galilee first appears in Joshua (20:7; 21:32) and First Chronicles (6:76). Isaiah 9:1 describes it as a place of foreigners, “the nations.” Galilee is conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 bce, captured by the Romans in 63 bce, and thereafter subject to occupying forces. (See Luke 3:1.) How does the angelic promise of a new house and reign sound to this daughter of a subjugated people? Nazareth is a village, perhaps an outpost of Sepphoris, the expanding Roman administrative center three miles northwest where a tekton (carpenter, craftsman) might find work. Hearing Jesus is from there, Nathanael asks, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (See John 1:46.) Well, yes, something can.

Luke emphasizes that Jesus comes from real places. Their history culminates when God’s promises are fulfilled in them. “Throne of . . . David,” and “reign over the house of Jacob” introduce Mary’s yet-to-be son as fulfillment of God’s dynastic promise to David. (See 2 Samuel 7:11-16.) The “house” Jesus establishes fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy of “a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isa. 56:7; Mark 11:17). Like David’s, Jesus’ “house” isn’t a place. It is a person. Mary’s “yes” facilitates prophecies of salvation history. As Paul later explains, “In [Jesus] every one of God’s promises is a ‘Yes’ ” (2 Cor. 1:20).