Neat and orderly. For some, that is an accurate description of who they are; others, not so much. Luke is the king of orderly writting. In fact, he declares his intention is to provide an orderly account of Jesus' life, so that those who had heard the story of Jesus might now read the story of Jesus.
Part of this orderliness, for Luke, is setting the stage and introducing some key characters. Luke is the only gospel to mention the events surrounding the birth of John the Baptist. In the overall story of Jesus, John plays a huge role. This role isn't confined, however, to Joh baptizing Jesus. During John's public ministry, he was widely regarded as a prophet of God. This is significant in that, prior to John's ministry, there had been no prophet in Israel for 400 years. The return of prophecy to Israel was thought to be an indication that the Messiah was close at hand. Luke's inclusion of John's story serves as a way to introduce the prophet and identify Jesus as the Messiah of God.
The fact that Jesus is the Messiah is alluded to several times throughout the first three chapters. The first few allusions are fairly obvious: we see Gabriel's announcement to Mary and the angel's message to the shepherds outside Bethlehem, as well as the encounters Mary and Joseph have with Simeon and Anna in the Temple. All these witnesses confirm the identity of Jesus as the Promised One of God, the Messiah. While Matthew seeks to identify Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, Luke seeks to show Jesus as the Messiah for the world. This is seen in the geneology of Jesus that Luke presents. If you remember Jesus' geneology form Matthew, his lineage starts with Abraham and the beginning of the covenant God makes with Abraham. In Luke, Jesus' geneology is traced all the way back to Adam. This is Luke's effort to show Jesus as not just the Messiah for the Jews, but for the entire world as well. Only when these details get sorted out, for Luke, can we proceed to more of the story of Jesus.
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