"Then he... blessed God and said, 'Lord...mine eyes have
seen Thy salvation,...a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the
glory of Thy people Israel.'"
Luke 2:28-32


We owe much to Luke and his gospel about Jesus and especially Jesus’ birth. The wonder is that he wrote a gospel at all. The story had already been written- twice over and perfectly-by those who had the advantage of having known Jesus personally (Matthew and Mark).

What could he add? Quite a lot, it turns out.

Luke persevered because he meant to mentor one person called Theophilus (Luke 1:3). His commitment to minister to that one person gives us more of the New Testament than we get from anyone else. Though Paul wrote more books, Luke, in his Gospel and the book of Acts, wrote more words.

Had he not taken on that daunting enterprise we would know nothing of Zacchaeus, the Good Samaritan or the Prodigal Son. And we'd know very little about the first Christmas. Luke alone introduces us to Simeon, who waited for Jesus. When he met Jesus he prayed and praised the Lord. We can be sure that he prayed a great deal.