Luke includes two stories that draw the attentive readers' mind back to the Elisha & Elijah accounts in the Old Testament.  And yet there is something quite different about each account.  Is Jesus actually better than Elijah? How about Elisha? 

The second half of Jesus' "Sermon on the Plain." The center of the sermon is a 7-fold parallel about mercy and being judged by the same standard you use to interact with others. This teaching filters into all the rest of the sermon.

Jesus teaches his disciples in what is referred to as the Sermon on the Plain. His emphasis on poor and hungry is very literal and contrasts with Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. His teaching about loving your enemies should be enough to make anyone reconsider their commitment to following him.

Jesus continues to exert authority, this time over the Sabbath & over the choosing of his apostles.  The powers that be continue to be unhappy with his "new wine.";

The miracle stories of Jesus continue to fall back to back, together displaying an authority that is beyond earthly ability.  By calling fish, healing leprosy, and cleansing sin Jesus is establishing much more than His Messianic role - He is giving clues to His very identity as God.

Jesus' word has AUTHORITY! People are astounded by it; demons are powerless before it; deathbed illness is immediately cured by it. Jesus will heal people--every one!--who come to him and he is casting demons out of a broken system, as well. All of it is done with the word from his mouth. 

At the end of the temptations, Jesus is tempted to throw himself off of a very high place.  When Jesus visits his hometown, people from his past try to throw him off of a very high place. Coincidence?

Jesus identity is in question from some.  But His Father has made it abundantly clear that He is the Son of God. Even Satan seeks to throw a monkey wrench into Jesus' psyche regarding this fact. 

John the Baptist is the one coming to prepare the way for Jesus. In what way does his message resonate with the prophets of old? What kinds of people are most interested in what he has to say?