We read from Luke every Christmas season, because Luke simply tells the story best. Mark is the urgent reporter of the gospel. Matthew is the keeper of the Messianic tradition who pays painstaking attention to details. John is poetic and mystical. But Luke conveys the dramatic importance of this particular narrative and its saving power. His opening paragraph, as my study notes tell me, “displays the author’s mastery of the complex Hellenistic art of introducing a narrative. The literary elegance of these verses reflects the mode in which Hellenistic histories were often written.” He is the master story-teller of the gospel writers. ` I also want to note that as Luke begins to tell the story of salvation, he addresses the telling of this amazing drama to “Theophilus” which we may suppose to be a particular person, quite possibly the author’s patron or publisher so to speak; however, this Greek name translates as “the one who loves God,” so today I simply want to read you this story again from that point of view.

This is the story that Luke has written for those who love God…

(READ LUKE 1:1 – 2:20)