Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us, even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus; that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed. Â Â Â Â Â Â Luke 1:1-4 (WEB)
“Many†have written about Jesus… but Luke decided to write his Good News any way! Yes, it is the Good News of Jesus Christ but when I share Jesus’ Good News – it becomes a part of me, too. There are many people who find (what they call) “discrepancies†of the four gospels – upsetting. These “discrepancies†have caused people to deny their faith. They have a need for all the ‘facts’ to line up and match. This has not been a problem for me. Have you ever been involved in a – situation? You were some place and something happened out of the expected. I was at the mall one day and suddenly two women started screaming at each other. What could only be called a ‘cat fight’ happened in the middle of a mall! The 20 or so people who saw it, if asked to write down what they observed, would not write down the same facts. And if asked to write it down now, ten years later, I know that we would probably have more differences, even the day and time that it happened. That would not mean the event did not happened, just that those who were remembering were fallible humans. God uses fallible humans. That does not seem to bother Him much.
Luke was a doctor. Many consider medicine a science. It isn’t. It is an art. There are few 100% absolutes in medicine because the primary factor in medicine is human and no two humans are exactly the same. Luke says he investigated. Luke, the doctor, wanted to find out as much as he could about the events that he had been told. I can see him sitting with Mary, Jesus’ mother, and asking questions and then just sitting quietly as she relayed her memories. Maybe there were tears in her eyes as she remembered that moment when she first felt the baby move inside of her or the difficulties of the journey to Bethlehem and giving birth without the support of the women in her family. Luke gave his testimony of the events as he learned them from those to whom he spoke. He did it for Theophilus. He did it for one but it rippled to many millions over the next 2000 years.
God hasn’t asked me to write a witness statement that will affect many millions. Or has He? Did Luke know that ‘big picture’? No, he didn’t. Luke did what was in his heart to write. He wrote what was the ‘fire in his bones’ that he had to write. The experience that Luke went through as he investigated was a blessing to himself first! It taught him and encouraged him. Then it taught and encouraged Theophilus. That may have been all that Luke knew until the day he stood before Jesus and was shown the ‘big picture’.
God asks us to be His witnesses. We may be a doctor who becomes a writer. We may be a nurse who becomes a teacher. Or a student who becomes a leader. The question that God asks is: “Are you willing?†It is God’s hand who grasps me and makes me into an extraordinary tool. My usual cluelessness is because God is the One with the plan. Am I willing? … to spread the Good News.
