Luke
The story of Jesus, told with an eye for whoever the room ignores.
Who wrote it: Anonymous; attributed to Luke, the doctor who traveled with Paul, from the second century on. Probably the 70s or 80s AD, though some date it to the early 60s. The same author wrote Acts.
What it is
Luke begins like a historian, telling a man named Theophilus that he has checked the sources and written it all down in order. Then he gives you the fullest Christmas story in the Bible: an angel visiting a priest, an angel visiting a teenage girl, two pregnant women singing, a census, a manger, shepherds on a night shift, an old man in the temple who has been waiting his whole life. Only Luke has the boy Jesus lost in Jerusalem at twelve.
When the adult Jesus starts preaching, his first sermon in his home town is from Isaiah: good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind. The crowd tries to throw him off a cliff by the end of it. That sets the tone. Luke keeps a running list of the people Jesus goes toward: a widow burying her only son, a woman with a bad reputation washing his feet, a tax collector up a tree, a criminal dying next to him. Women are named and present in a way that is unusual for the time.
The middle of the book is a long road to Jerusalem (chapters 9 to 19), and it holds most of the parables you have heard of, several of which are only in Luke. The Good Samaritan. The Prodigal Son. The rich fool. Lazarus and the rich man. The persistent widow. The Pharisee and the tax collector praying side by side. If you want to know what Jesus thought about money, Luke is the Gospel where he talks about it most, and it is uncomfortable.
The passion story follows the shape of the others with Luke's own details: Jesus healing the ear of a man in the party that arrested him, a conversation with Herod, the women of Jerusalem weeping, 'Father, forgive them', and the promise to the thief on the cross. Then Easter, and a story only Luke tells: two grieving disciples walking to Emmaus with a stranger who explains the scriptures to them, and whom they recognize only when he breaks bread.
Luke's Jesus is joyful. There is more singing, more feasting and more talk of rejoicing in this Gospel than in any other. It is also the Gospel that most insists the good news is for everyone, which is why the same author wrote a sequel about it leaving Jerusalem and reaching Rome.
Verses worth keeping
- Luke 4:18–19WEB
18“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, 19and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Gen Zsame meaning, your words'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he's chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He's sent me to heal broken hearts, to announce freedom to prisoners and sight to the blind, to set free the people who are being crushed, and to announce that the Lord's year of favour has come.'
Jesus reading Isaiah 61 in his home synagogue and then saying: this is about me, today. His mission statement.
- Luke 6:27–28WEB
27“But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.
Gen Zsame meaning, your words'But I'm telling you, all of you listening: love your enemies. Do good to the people who hate you. Speak well of the ones who curse you, and pray for the ones who treat you badly.'
Luke's version of the Sermon, given on a plain rather than a mount. No softer.
- Luke 15:20WEB
“He arose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsSo he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and his heart went out to him. He ran, threw his arms round his neck and kissed him.
The center of the Prodigal Son. The father is watching the road before the son has said a word of his rehearsed apology.
- Gen Zsame meaning, your words
'Because the Son of Man came to look for the lost and save them.'
Said at Zacchaeus's house, a hated tax collector, in front of a crowd that was muttering about it.
- Luke 24:32WEB
They said to one another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsThey said to each other, 'Weren't our hearts on fire while he was talking to us on the road, opening up the Scriptures to us?'
Two disciples, the evening of the resurrection, realizing the stranger they'd walked with was Jesus.
Read Luke
The full text, every chapter, from the World English Bible, a modern public-domain translation. Pick a chapter below. The highlighted verses are the place to start if you have never read it.
Luke 15
1Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him. 2The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”
3He told them this parable: 4“Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? 5When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
8“Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn’t light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it? 9When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost!’ 10Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”
11He said, “A certain man had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ So he divided his livelihood between them. 13Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living. 14When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. 15He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16He wanted to fill his belly with the pods that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any. 17But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! 18I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 19I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’
20“He arose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat and celebrate; 24for this, my son, was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.
25“Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26He called one of the servants to him and asked what was going on. 27He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.’ 28But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and begged him. 29But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’
31“He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’”
Questions about Luke
Why is Luke's Christmas story different from Matthew's?
Luke follows Mary; Matthew follows Joseph. Luke has the angel Gabriel, the census, the manger and the shepherds. Matthew has the dream, the star, the wise men and Egypt. Both agree on a virgin birth in Bethlehem to Mary and Joseph, of David's line, during Herod's reign. Historians argue about the census date. The two accounts are hard to fit into one timeline, and the Gospels do not try.
Was Luke really a doctor and an eyewitness?
Colossians 4:14 mentions 'Luke, the beloved physician' among Paul's companions, and the 'we' passages in Acts suggest the author traveled with Paul. But the Gospel says openly that its author was not an eyewitness to Jesus; he investigated and wrote it up (1:1-4). So: a careful second-generation writer, probably Luke, probably not present for any of it.
Is Luke anti-rich?
He records Jesus saying 'woe to you who are rich' (6:24) and telling a wealthy man to sell everything. He also records Zacchaeus keeping half. Jesus in Luke is not against money existing. He is relentless about what it does to people who hold it tightly, and about the poor being God's particular concern. Christians read this with varying levels of comfort.