Abide

Read: Luke 1:1-4
Jesus’ coming into the world was good news for all people – he wasn’t merely the messiah for the Jews, rather the whole world. While all the gospels present Jesus in such a light, Luke’s gospel is perhaps the one that would resonates the most with a Gentile audience for a number of reasons:

• The Gospel of Luke was probably written by the same author of the book of Acts. They were probably a two volume set, as the prologues of each book seem to indicate, written to a man named “Theophilus” which literally means “lover of God”. Theophilus is otherwise an unknown character in the scriptures, but the name is of Greek origin.
• Luke himself was a traveling companion of Paul, a doctor by trade, and probably a Greek by birth (Colossians 4:14, 2 Timothy 4:11, Philemon 1:24). Luke was himself not an eyewitness to the accounts given in Luke, nevertheless he probably interviewed and gather information concerning the events contained in his gospel from eyewitnesses and other source material to write his gospel (Luke 1:1-4).
• The Greek language employed in Luke’s gospel is much more advanced than other Greek used in the New Testament save that of maybe Hebrews and some of Peter’s epistles.
• Luke focuses on the universality of salvation in that he deals with not only Jews, but the marginalized in society, Samaritans, and Gentiles as well. Acts carries on this same convention.

The focus on the Gentiles and the marginalized in the book of Luke is one way of communicating the importance of the gospel for all people everywhere no matter who they are or what they have done. Jesus relates and forgives people at all levels. Jesus’ willingness to associate with those that others considered to be lesser people serves as an example, and Christians ought to be willing to do the same even if it means that one may be ridiculed for doing so as Jesus was.

Lord, you came to seek and save everyone, not just some.
Teach me to be universal in my vision for the lost!