Your Word is a Lamp: Luke, by Monsignor James Turro

Luke was a Gentile and wrote for Gentiles. There is scarcely a reference in his writings that a Gentile could not understand. Unlike Matthew, he does not project his account of Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy -- an approach that only Jews could fathom. He regularly provides the Greek equivalent for Hebrew words that might occur in his account. So for instance, he refers to Kranion (the place of the skull) rather than Golgotha, the Hebrew name. In providing a genealogy, he traces Jesus' ancestry all the way back to Adam instead of doing as Matthew does, that is, trace Jesus back to Abraham, the forefather of the Jewish race. In virtually every way, Luke has the Gentile perception of things. Interesting for modern readers to note is the prominence Luke gives to women in his account of Jesus. So for instance, he sees and feels the birth of Jesus as Mary must have. There is a whole catalogue of women through whom we are made to see the life and work of Jesus -- Elizabeth, Anna, the widow of Niam, the woman who anointed Jesus at the house of Simon, a Pharisee. Then there is Martha and Mary and also Mary Magdalene. This attention given to women is striking especially when one considers that to this day in the Near East the role of women is very much muted. There is a mildness in Luke's prose that makes it particularly attractive. It is tempting to think that this graciousness reflects the attitude and personality of the man who wrote this Gospel.