2 SAMPLEs: 2 Former Students A-Papers 1 Interpretative Journal Entry #3: Luke Mary’s song in Luke 1:46-55, also known as the Magnificat, is one of several other hymns in the prologue to the Gospel of Luke that introduce themes found throughout the writing (Powell, Introducing, 156-7; Smith, 10/20/16, lecture on the Gospel of Luke). Contained in the Magnificat, in particular, are themes that are foundational to Luke’s gospel: an emphasis on praise, ministry to the lowly, Jesus’ Jewish heritage, and nature of Jesus’ messiahship. The song begins with praise of God and rejoicing (Lk 1:46- 47), which Luke thematically emphasizes more than any other gospel (Powell, Introducing, 158). The cause of this praise is that God has “looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant” (Lk. 1:48), previewing the focus on Jesus’ ministry on the lowly or disadvantaged (Powell, Introducing, 159). We see the hints of the specifics of that ministry in verse 53, where the Lord has “filled the hungry with good things.” Though Jesus certainly tended to the physical needs of the hungry (as seen in the feeding of the 5,000 in Luke 9:12-17) and does make eating a part of his ministry (Powell, Introducing, 158-9; Smith 10/20/16), by saying “good things”, Mary expands the concept what Jesus may bring to the lowly: healing (Lk 4:38-41, 5:12-26, 8:20-56, 9:37-43, 13:10-17, 14:1-6), for example, could be included in these good things. Verses 49-50 use language, like Mighty One, mercy, fear, and generation, which is reminiscent of the psalms and prophecies of the Hebrew Bible (Powell, Introducing, 155-6). This connection back to Jesus’ Jewish heritage is made explicit in the concluding stanzas of the song in the references to Israel and Abraham in verses 54 and 55. At the same time, Mary states in verse 48 that “all generations” will call her blessed, an allusion to the extension of Jesus’ ministry and salvation to the gentiles. The parallelisms in verses 51, 52, and 53, in which God brings down the powerful and rich and exalts and cares for the lowly and hungry, prefigures the type of “world turned upside down” ministry that Jesus will teach and preach through his parables (Lk 6:20-26, 9:21-26, 9:46-50, 10:29-37, 11:37-54, and others). They also serve to prefigure the type of Messiah Jesus will be; rather than the savior of Israel coming with military or political strength, as had been expected, Luke’s Jesus is the prophetic suffering servant who disrupts power structures by his refusal to participate in them (Smith, 10/20/16). Luke and John: Luke and John both include hymn-like material early in their gospels that introduce themes that will be found throughout the book. Just as Mary’s Magnificat in Luke’s gospel highlights Jesus’ emphasis on the ministry to the lowly in Luke’s gospel, as seen above, the prologue to the Gospel of John (John 1:1-18) emphasizes Jesus’ identity as God. This thematic emphasis in introductory material may be a ...

1. 2 SAMPLEs: 2 Former Students A-Papers 1
Interpretative Journal Entry #3: Luke
Mary’s song in Luke 1:46-55, also known as the Magnificat, is
one of several other hymns in the
prologue to the Gospel of Luke that introduce themes found
throughout the writing (Powell, Introducing,
156-7; Smith, 10/20/16, lecture on the Gospel of Luke).
Contained in the Magnificat, in particular, are
themes that are foundational to Luke’s gospel: an emphasis on
praise, ministry to the lowly, Jesus’ Jewish
heritage, and nature of Jesus’ messiahship. The song begins
with praise of God and rejoicing (Lk 1:46-
47), which Luke thematically emphasizes more than any other
gospel (Powell, Introducing, 158). The
cause of this praise is that God has “looked with favor on the
lowliness of his servant” (Lk. 1:48),
previewing the focus on Jesus’ ministry on the lowly or
disadvantaged (Powell, Introducing, 159). We
see the hints of the specifics of that ministry in verse 53, where
the Lord has “filled the hungry with good
things.” Though Jesus certainly tended to the physical needs of
the hungry (as seen in the feeding of the
5,000 in Luke 9:12-17) and does make eating a part of his
ministry (Powell, Introducing, 158-9; Smith
10/20/16), by saying “good things”, Mary expands the concept
what Jesus may bring to the lowly: healing
(Lk 4:38-41, 5:12-26, 8:20-56, 9:37-43, 13:10-17, 14:1-6), for
example, could be included in these good
things. Verses 49-50 use language, like Mighty One, mercy,

2. fear, and generation, which is reminiscent of
the psalms and prophecies of the Hebrew Bible (Powell,
Introducing, 155-6). This connection back to
Jesus’ Jewish heritage is made explicit in the concluding
stanzas of the song in the references to Israel and
Abraham in verses 54 and 55. At the same time, Mary states in
verse 48 that “all generations” will call her
blessed, an allusion to the extension of Jesus’ ministry and
salvation to the gentiles. The parallelisms in
verses 51, 52, and 53, in which God brings down the powerful
and rich and exalts and cares for the lowly
and hungry, prefigures the type of “world turned upside down”
ministry that Jesus will teach and preach
through his parables (Lk 6:20-26, 9:21-26, 9:46-50, 10:29-37,
11:37-54, and others). They also serve to
prefigure the type of Messiah Jesus will be; rather than the
savior of Israel coming with military or
political strength, as had been expected, Luke’s Jesus is the
prophetic suffering servant who disrupts
power structures by his refusal to participate in them (Smith,
10/20/16).
Luke and John: Luke and John both include hymn-like material
early in their gospels that introduce
themes that will be found throughout the book. Just as Mary’s
Magnificat in Luke’s gospel highlights
Jesus’ emphasis on the ministry to the lowly in Luke’s gospel,
as seen above, the prologue to the Gospel
of John (John 1:1-18) emphasizes Jesus’ identity as God. This
thematic emphasis in introductory material
may be a reflection of the relatively later dating of both of these
gospels (in the 80’s or 90’s CE) and of a
more advanced compositional or editorial process (Powell,
Introducing, 155-156, 175-177). Though the
gospels are broadly categorized on opposite ends of the
theological spectrum, with John as the most

3. theological or spiritual of the gospels (Powell 169-170) and
Luke as less concerned about clear
theological thinking (Powell, Introducing, 166-167), both do
express theological thought with this
introductory material. At the same time, John’s prologue has a
substantially different emphasis than the
hymns in Luke. John introduces Jesus as the Word (John 1:1,
1:14), the true light (1:9), the son of the
Father (1:14, 18), and, fundamentally, God (1:1, 13, 18).
Though he does situate Jesus in the Jewish
tradition (1:17) and expands Jesus’ saving power to those
outside of Judaism (1:12) as Luke does, John is
more theologically expansive, bridging the gap in the thought of
the church between Jesus as messiah and
Jesus as God (Powell, Introducing, 182).
2 SAMPLEs: 2 Former Students A-Papers 2
Interpretive Journal Entry #3: Luke
Throughout the Gospel of Luke, the writer provides a very
clear example of what church should
be through the depiction of meals. “Luke mentions nineteen
meals, thirteen of which are peculiar to his

4. Gospel” (Powell 158). Meals provide an overview of several
major themes of Luke’s gospel, including
inclusivity and fellowship, humility, and healing. The first is
that of inclusivity and fellowship. Customs
of the early 1st century dictated that Jews were not to eat with
Gentiles or those who were unclean. Jesus
shatters these customs and is seen eating with everyone from
tax collectors, (Luke 5:29) to Pharisees
(Luke 14:1) to sinners (Luke 7:36). Meals throughout the gospel
are filled with individuals from across
different cultural, socio economic, and faith backgrounds.
Christ’s table is an inclusive table. The second
theme visible throughout Luke’s gospel, and portrayed through
meals is that of humility. Meals are often
accompanied by lessons, and many of Jesus’s teachings such as,
hospitality (Luke 10:7) and service
(Luke 22:26), are grounded in the theme of humility. In Luke 22
Jesus informs his disciples, “Those who
are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the
leader should be like a servant…For I am
among you as one who serves (Luke 22:26-27)”. Finally, a third
theme visible throughout the Gospel of
Luke is healing. Specifically, three types of healings—personal
forgiveness and healing (Luke 7:48),
physical healing (Luke 14:4) and the healing of relationship
(Luke 15:11-31)—all occur at or are
celebrated by meals. Through his depiction of meals, Luke is
sending a very clear message to the 21st
century church. Church is to be a place where all are welcome
and can come as they are. Church is to
extend beyond Sunday to the breakfast, lunch and dinner table.
Meals instead of being filled by TV are to
be shared with friends, family and strangers. Teaching, healing
and fellowship are not to be limited to
Sunday service, but are instead to be lived out throughout the
week and lives of Christ followers.

5. Luke and Matthew: The gospels of Luke and Matthew contain a
number of similarities—both are
synoptic gospels, used the Gospel of Mark as a source, and most
importantly proclaim Jesus as Christ—
however these gospels cannot be fully appreciated without
understanding the audience the original work
was intended for. The Gospel of Luke is addressed to the “most
excellent Theophilus” (Luke 3:1), who is
assumed to be “a wealthy patron who has put up the money to
cover the considerable cost that the
production and distribution for a work such as [the Gospel of
Luke] would entail” (Powell 152). Luke’s
Gospel was intended for a widespread audience. The Gospel of
Matthew on the other hand, was written to
a largely Jewish Audience. One way the intended audience is
visible is through each author’s purpose of
writing. In Luke 4, Jesus states the purpose of his ministry:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has
anointed me to bring Good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim …. the time of the Lord’s favor
has come” (Luke 4:18-19). A key theme throughout Luke is that
Jesus’ ministry is for all, even the least
of these. Matthew intentionally focuses in on his Jewish
audience. In Matthew, Jesus makes a number of
references to his ministry being directed solely to Israel, “These
twelve Jesus sent out with the following
instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town
of the Samaritans, but go rather to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-6). Another
way to examine the disparities in the
Gospels of Luke and Matthew is by the way Jesus is portrayed.
To his Jewish audience, Matthew insists
that Jesus came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17). Matthew
makes numerous references to Jesus’
fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy (Matthew 1:23 and 21:5).

6. In Luke on the other hand, Jesus is
known by a number of different titles. Like Matthew, Luke
makes clear that Jesus is the Messiah that was
spoken about in the Hebrew Scriptures (Luke 9:20 and 24:27).
At the same time, Luke draws upon pagan
images such as philosopher, and benefactor (Powell,
Introducingnt.com). Given his diverse audience
Luke is intent on providing multiple entry points to Jesus.
Readers of the Bible in the 21st century must
resist the urge to label the stories presented in the gospels as
right or wrong. No single view point could
ever capture the full picture of Jesus. As 21st century Christians
we have a great honor and privilege to
read and experience the story of Jesus from a number of
different perspectives, may we take full
advantage.
1 Page Single Spaced Paper
Cite Using Footnotes Turabian Style
Use Paranthetical Scripture reference (Mark1:1) example
No Plagerism Only use sources if you completely have too use
your own words
1st Paragraph: Subject: Romans
1. Strong introduction, Thesis Statement and relevant
background information, Key scriptures and Major themes
2. What are your scriptures that Support your major themes.

7. 2nd Paragraph: Compare and Contrast Romans and Galatians
1. Strong Thesis statement
2. What is similar and what is different
3. What major themes
4. What are the key scriptures that support your compare and
contrast