‘Dr Luke’

(88 days)

We are going to be journeying through Luke’s Gospel over the coming months. This is a deep, rich and thorough account of the life of Jesus that reflects the following points about who Luke was:

Luke was a doctor: he gives detailed description of the healing ministry of Jesus. John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard movement, was once asked ‘How do you prepare for a healing meeting?’. (He had a very powerful and prominent healing ministry). He replied, ‘I read Luke’s Gospel’.

Luke was a historian: he wanted to show how Jesus is the fulfilment of the covenant that God made with humanity, stretching back through history to the creation of the world.

Luke had an eye for detail: whilst Luke recognises the other excellent accounts, he wanted to go back to the early eyewitnesses as he put his account of the life Jesus together, calling it ‘an orderly’ account of the things that occurred.

Luke was Greek (probably): this is reflected in the emphasis that is placed on how salvation was for everyone; for the poor, for sinners, for the despised Samaritan, for women and for the gentiles!

As you read keep in mind that the Gospel of Luke is divided into 4 parts:
Chapters 1-2 The Birth of Jesus and John the Baptist
Chapters 3-9 Jesus and the ‘Upside-Down’ Kingdom.
Chapters 10-19 Whilst Jesus welcomes all people (including the outsiders in that culture), the religious leaders reject him.
Chapters 20-24 Confrontation, Crucifixion and Resurrection.
Luke also wrote the book of Acts (it’s kind of part two to the Gospel) so you may want to keep going on into Acts once you have finished reading the Gospel.

The Bible Project has produced some excellent introductory films that you may want to watch.

Luke Part 1
https://youtu.be/XIb_dCIxzr0?si=QtgUFWl01CYlab6CLuke
Luke Part 2
https://youtu.be/26z_KhwNdD8?si=f8yk44ruqQVaKp5I

Tom Wright has also put together an accessible commentary which will give you a comment on each of the sections, it is called ‘Luke for Everyone.’