“…it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus…” ~ Luke 1:3
If you’ve ever written a very long research paper, you know how much work is involved. It’s a serious undertaking!
Like other research papers, the book of Luke is fairly long. It’s around 25,650 words, or about 40 pages in a normal print New American Standard Bible. Typed out in Times New Roman, it’s more than 50 pages. And, remarkably, hand written, it would take more than 100 pages.
What’s more, Luke didn’t have access to BIC pens, simple notebook paper, or a nice desk lamp. Instead, he wrote on parchment, with quill and ink, in dank quarters.
He tells us in the introduction that he had ‘investigated everything’. He had spent countless hours interviewing Mary, speaking to Peter, talking with the other disciples. He had taken notes, carefully transcribing statements and events. He had traveled to find all this information on his own, in order to have exact knowledge of the events of his Gospel.
Thousands of hours of research, hundreds of pages of carefully organized information, hunched over parchment by candle light, compiling this text. It’s truly remarkable.
And what’s more stunning is that he wrote it all for another Gentile—one man, now lost to history named Theophilus. His name means ‘one who loves God’, and Luke wrote all this (and the book of Acts as well!) for this one man to read, in order that he might know the truth.
But perhaps the most shocking thing about all this work and labor is not that Luke did it, or that he did it for a Gentile, but that it’s all about a poor Jewish carpenter.
The Romans looked down on the Jews. They were tolerated, but frowned upon, and the Romans saw them as substantially inferior. Luke was a well-educated Greek, and Jesus was a Jewish carpenter—a low class Jew, worthy of no one’s attention.
And yet, Luke took this all upon himself.
Why? Not because Luke was particularly humble, or because his friend Theophilus had an interest in Jewish thought. No - the answer is very simple. Luke does all this because he knows and loves this Jewish Messiah, and knows with all his heart that this Jewish Messiah loves him.
Luke’s labor of love is not about himself, and it isn’t about Theophilus. No - this Gospel is about Jesus, and Luke loved Jesus because Jesus loved him.
As we approach this book consider how glorious this is - Luke spent his life researching and writing in order to communicate these things to us. He did it because he loved Jesus, and his hope for us is that we would love Jesus because of what he wrote.
This month, as we walk through these pages, our hope is the same. Does the story of the Incarnation fill your heart with love for Jesus? Does His love for you thrill your heart so that, like Luke, you’ll devote yourself to helping others know Him?
If not, read these pages with new eyes - the eyes of a Gentile man who loved Jesus, and who longed for you to love Him too!
