Which gospel is your favorite? It is hard to choose isn’t it. We have heard Matthew’s wonderfully Hebraic story. Then Mark gave us in the words of Joe Friday, “Just the facts.” Now we come to Dr. Luke’s account.
From time to time, the media and religious scholars will point out another gospel and argue for equal standing with the four. The gospel of Thomas is out there along with the gospel of Judas and the gospel of Philip. Luke understood that many were trying to compile and complete a story of Jesus in his day. He wrote the stories of the eyewitnesses down in his gospel and addressed it to honorable Theophilus (whose name means Lover of God).
Why did Luke write? He wanted his readers to know the certainty of the truth which they had been taught about Jesus. Luke, a medical doctor and companion of Paul worked hard to verify the stories he wrote down. The date of the gospel of Luke and the stories he tells help us to believe that he indeed heard the stories of eyewitnesses and faithfully passed them along to us. We can rely on the truthfulness of the four gospels found in our New Testament.
