Expositions of Holy Scripture

Expositions of Holy Scripture is Alexander Maclaren’s sustained collection of selected expositions from the Gospel of Luke, covering the Gospel from the announcements surrounding John the Baptist and Jesus through Christ’s resurrection and ascension. It is not a verse-by-verse commentary, but the breadth of the sermons gives substantial coverage to Luke’s distinctive presentation of Jesus Christ, His kingdom, His compassion for the needy and lost, and the response of faith and discipleship that His words and works require.

Luke 1–2 receives extensive treatment. Maclaren expounds the birth announcements, Mary’s song, Zacharias’s prophecy, the shepherds, Simeon, and the boy Jesus in the temple. These passages establish God’s faithfulness to His promises and introduce the arrival of salvation in Christ. John the Baptist’s ministry then brings repentance, preparation, and moral seriousness to the foreground, while Jesus’ baptism and temptation display His obedience and the activity of the Holy Spirit.

The Galilean ministry presents Christ as teacher, healer, forgiver, and Lord. Maclaren repeatedly treats miracles not as displays of power detached from spiritual meaning, but as revelations of Christ’s compassion and authority that summon people to trust Him. Sermons on the centurion, the widow of Nain, the paralytic, the feeding of the multitude, and other encounters develop faith, forgiveness, need, and the saving mercy of Christ.

Prayer is a substantial theme, especially in Luke 11 and in Maclaren’s repeated attention to Jesus praying at decisive moments. Christ’s own practice becomes the pattern for dependence upon the Father, while His teaching on asking, seeking, knocking, persistence, and the Father’s gift of the Holy Spirit addresses readers who wonder how to pray and why persevering prayer matters.

The central journey toward Jerusalem supplies many of the volume’s most important teachings on the kingdom of God and discipleship. The Good Samaritan makes mercy practical. Luke 15 receives concentrated exposition through the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son, showing God’s initiative, joy in recovery, and welcome of the returning sinner. The narrow door, the cost of discipleship, humility, service, and the reception of children show that entrance into God’s kingdom overturns ordinary human estimates of status and worth.

Maclaren also gives repeated attention to money, possessions, and stewardship. The rich fool, the unjust steward, the rich man and Lazarus, the rich ruler, Zacchaeus, and the parable of the pounds expose false security in wealth and press the responsibility to use earthly possessions in light of eternal realities. These sermons address practical questions about material security, generosity, accountability, and what faithful stewardship looks like for a follower of Christ.

Luke 21 receives meaningful prophetic exposition centered on watchfulness, endurance, and readiness for the coming King. The final movement through Luke 22–24 treats the Lord’s Supper, Peter’s failure, Gethsemane, the trials, the Cross, the repentant criminal, the empty tomb, Emmaus, the commissioning of witnesses, and the ascension. The Cross reveals Christ’s self-giving work for sinners; the resurrection vindicates Him and transforms fearful disciples into witnesses empowered for their task.

The volume therefore serves readers asking who Jesus is in Luke, how a sinner is found and forgiven, how to pray, what faith looks like under pressure, how the kingdom reshapes discipleship and possessions, why the Cross and resurrection are central, and how Luke’s Gospel becomes practical Christian life rather than information alone.