Why Luke? Luke was not, like the other three Evangelists, an eyewitness. He gives us, not a personal memoir, but a researched study that encompasses input from many eyewitnesses, undoubtedly interviewed as he met them on his travels with the Apostle Paul. We go to Matthew for Jewish background, Mark for narrative punch, John for pondered profundity. Luke gives us a unified synthesis of all three, put together with a scholar's eye and written in prose that, even in translation, sings the song of redemption with heart-piercing poignancy.

What does the church need to hear right now? We need what we always need: to get back to the Gospel. That means getting back to Jesus. That means getting back to an accurate vision of who He is. And there can be no better way of doing that than engaging afresh with this Gospel that so insistently asks the eminently pertinent question: "What manner of man is this?"