Luke's account of Jesus — compassion for the outcast, the lost, and the Gentiles.
Key themes: Prodigal Son, Good Samaritan, prayer, salvation, nativity.
| Author | Luke the physician, companion of Paul |
|---|---|
| Date Written | c. AD 60–62 |
| Original Audience | Gentile Christians; Theophilus |
Luke is the longest book in the New Testament (by word count) and presents the most complete portrait of Jesus. As a physician and careful historian, Luke interviewed eyewitnesses and assembled an orderly account of 'everything from the beginning.' His Gospel is particularly notable for its emphasis on those society overlooked: women (Mary, Elizabeth, Anna, the sinful woman, Mary Magdalene), the poor ('Blessed are you who are poor'), Samaritans (the Good Samaritan), and Gentiles. Luke contains parables found nowhere else — the Prodigal Son (chapter 15, perhaps the greatest short story ever told), the Rich Man and Lazarus, the Good Samaritan, the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. It also contains the most detailed birth narrative — the Annunciation to Mary, the Magnificat, the shepherds and angels, Simeon and Anna in the Temple. Luke's Jesus is always praying, always stopping for the one who is lost, always eating with sinners. Luke-Acts are meant to be read as a single two-volume work — the story of Jesus (Luke) continued in the story of the church (Acts).
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