Lukas 1:13

1:13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, ¹  and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you ²  will name him John. ³ 

Lukas 5:10

5:10 and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s business partners. ⁴  Then ⁵  Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on ⁶  you will be catching people.” ⁷ 

Lukas 18:16

18:16 But Jesus called for the children, ⁸  saying, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God ⁹  belongs to such as these. ¹⁰ 

[1:13]  ¹ tn The passive means that the prayer was heard by God.

[1:13]  sn Your prayer has been heard. Zechariah’s prayer while offering the sacrifice would have been for the nation, but the answer to the prayer also gave them a long hoped-for child, a hope they had abandoned because of their old age.

[1:13]  ² tn Grk “a son, and you”; καί (kai) has not been translated. Instead a semicolon is used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:13]  ³ tn Grk “you will call his name John.” The future tense here functions like a command (see ExSyn 569-70). This same construction occurs in v. 31.

[1:13]  sn “Do not be afraid…you must call his name John.” This is a standard birth announcement (see Gen 16:11; Isa 7:14; Matt 1:21; Luke 1:31).

[5:10]  ⁴ tn Or “business associates.”

[5:10]  ⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[5:10]  ⁶ sn From now on is a common Lukan expression, see Luke 1:48.

[5:10]  ⁷ tn The Greek term ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women, thus “people.”

[5:10]  sn The kind of fishing envisioned was net – not line – fishing, which involved a circular net that had heavy weights around its perimeter. The occupation of fisherman was labor-intensive. The imagery of using a lure and a line (and waiting for the fish to strike) is thus foreign to this text. Rather, the imagery of a fisherman involved much strain, long hours, and often little results. Jesus’ point may have been one or more of the following: the strenuousness of evangelism, the work ethic that it required, persistence and dedication to the task (often in spite of minimal results), the infinite value of the new “catch” (viz., people), and perhaps an eschatological theme of snatching people from judgment (cf. W. L. Lane, Mark [NICNT], 67; D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:461). If this last motif is in view, then catching people is the opposite of catching fish: The fish would be caught, killed, cooked, and eaten; people would be caught so as to remove them from eternal destruction and to give them new life. With the statement “You will be catching people” Jesus turns the miracle into a metaphor for mission.

[18:16]  ⁸ tn Grk “summoned them”; the referent (the children) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:16]  ⁹ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[18:16]  ¹⁰ sn The kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Children are a picture of those whose simple trust illustrates what faith is all about. The remark illustrates how everyone is important to God, even those whom others regard as insignificant.