Luke begins his gospel with an explicit purpose statement: he wants his friend Theophilus “to have certainty concerning the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:4) about Jesus and, “the things that have been accomplished among us” (Luke 1:1). To provide that certainty, Luke wrote an “orderly account” about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus based upon eyewitness testimony.

Like a good investigative reporter, Luke tracks down the full Gospel story of Jesus and his mission to seek and save the lost. Through these stories, we learn of God’s plan of salvation for all, Jew and Gentile alike, as accomplished in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We learn what a follower of Jesus is called to be, how we are called to proclaim the good news of Jesus, and how we are called to live in a world hostile to that proclamation. We learn, too, of God’s heart for the outcast, and the welcome all sinners can expect when they run home to God.