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(This editorial appeared in our christmas issue of December 15th, 1946. since that time a succession of friends have asked that we repeat it. so here it is.)

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Christmas?

Who was it discovered the shepherds on the hills near Bethlehem?

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Who gave to mankind the picture of the angel who ap- peared to these simple shepherds to announce the coming of the King?

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Who, alone of all the biblical writers, told the emotional story of the blessed Babe who was born in a manger in a stable, where those same shepherds found and worshipped Him?

What man was it who has thrilled the souls of men for nigh two thousand years with his sublime words: ,,And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heav_ enly host praising God and saying, ,Glory to God in the highest and on on earth g*ood will to men, ,, ?

Because of this one writer, the world pauses once a year to celebrate in various ways the birthday of the Son of a carpenter. Without his writings alt this beauty, all this inspiration, would have been lost to man. For this m:rn gave us Christmas.

His name was Luke; Doctor Luke, of Antioch. He was a Greek physician in his earlier days. And toward the end of his splendid life he wrote a long, long letter to a Roman scholar named Theophilus. And the litter concerned the birth, life, works, and death of a humble Jew, the Son of a car.enter

Thus it happened that the most sublime story in the history of mankind came to us through the means of a letter, written by a Greek, to a Roman, iborrt a Jew. Won_ derful, isn't it?

One of the saddest sins of man is ingratitude. What is true of the individual, is true of the race. So I have long nursed the feeling that the entire human race, or at least the Christian world, has been guilty of gross ingratitude toward Doctor Luke by completely forgetting and seldom if ever mentioning his name in connection with the holiday and holy day of Christmas; a day of which, except for Doctor Luke, we would i."f Y". heard.

Because in the Book of Luke, and only in that beautiful book, do we find the story of Christmas. There and there only do we learn the thrilling story of the shepherds, the angels, and the holy Babe who was born in a manger. There, and there only, do \r'e get the ins'.piration for the ringing joys, the sublime inspiration that we call the Christmas spirit. There, and there only, do we find Christmas' t :r. t

We depend for our history of Jesus and the religion He founded, on the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the Acts, all in the New Testament. Mark and John tell us nothing of the birth of Jesus. Matthew does tell of that birth, and of the wise men who came from the East and found the newborn child in a house in Bethlehem. But nothing about the stable, the manger, the shepherds, and the glorified angelic chorus; nothing of the things that gave us Christmas. Matthew, Mark, and John were contemporaries of Jesus. Luke was not. He was one who came after, and who, at least two generations after the crucifixion, gave us our beautiful Christmas story.

It is my conviction that the Christian world owes more to this man Luke than to any other man in biblical history. Not alone did he give us the story of Christmas, but in the wonderful book that he wrote in the sunset of his life, he told us many other stories; the most beautiful stories that any religionist ever told. And, like the story of Christmas, he alone related them.

It was Luke, and only Luke, who told the story of the Good Samaritan. ft was Luke who gave to religious preacher6 the most trenchant text for sermons the world has known-the story of the repentant thief on the cross. It was Luke who told us the story of the Prodigal Son, concerning which the world has talked ever since. Those three stories, together with the story of Christmas, all of them told only by Doctor Luke, have furnished the text for countless religious discussions and writings since the Christian era began; and will continue to do so as long as the new Testament exists. We owe all these to Doctor Luke. And we never even say thank you, or mention his name, or tip our hats to his -i*ltt;

Who was this Doctor Luke? He was not only the writer of the most beautiful piece of literature the world has known-the Book of Luke-but he was likewise the greatest friend that history has any record of. His friendship for the Apostle Paul, his loyalty and devotion throughout their long lives and even unto the death of Paul, makes the love of Damon for Pythias seem like a transient and weakly acquaintance, by comparison. The more you think of this fellow, Luke, the more you admire him; the more you wish you could have known him. That's the way he appeals to me. What " t*ot*n"**""t

The great events of history happen fast. A dozen substantial citizens were plying their regular occupations in the Holy Land a couple of thousand years ago. They were men of substance, and character. They had homes and families. One day a young Jew they had never seen before, dressed in the garments of the poor, with not a dime in His pockets, came in from the outer country and passed them by. And as He passed He beckoned to each of the twelve. He said "Come with me." And they dropped everything they had, and all that they were doing, and they followed Him. It was that sudden. Have you stopped to think what sort of personality that young Jew must have had? Give it a thought for Christmas.

Many years pass. The young Jew has fulfilled His mission, has been crucified; and is gone. A tough guy named Saul appears. He takes it on himself to root out and destroy the hated followers of the young Jew, Jesus. Saul is on the road to a place where he is going to kill some more Christians, when he meets a young Man he has never seen before. The same look that won the twelve apostles must have met the killer, Saul. For he bowed his head and said to that young Man-or His spirit-"What do you want me to do?"

Again with the speed of light, Saul the killer becomes Paul the Apostle, the greatest salesman, the greatest preacher the world has known. And he starts out to cover the civilized world and preach the gospel of that young Man he met that day on the road to Damascus. years later, still on his mission and now magnificent in his power, he drops into a Greek city named, Antioch. In Antioch he meets another young man, a practicing physician whose name is Luke. And, just as the Twelve followed Jesus, and just as Paul had done likewise, Doctor Luke dropped all that he had, and followed paul; followed him over all the world, and ministered unto him, and befriended him, and waited on him, even to his death on a cross in Rome many years after. The same suddenness as in the previous events related here.

In his writings Paul refers to his devoted friend as "Luke, the beloved physician," and as such, history has come to name him. Now let us consider how Luke came upon the materials for his later writings. In addition to Paul and other early Christians, Luke had the bpportunity of knowing personally many of those who had known Jesus well. He tells us in his writings that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was one of the Christian community in Jerusalem when he first went there, and it is reasonable to suppose that he lmew her, and talked with her of her son'***

He could have known Mary, the mother of Mark. He could have known Peter, James, John, James the brother of Jesus, Silas, Mark, and others, who were in position to tell him much about the life of the carpenter's Son. But that would not explain the beautiful stories appearing in his books that are not found in the writings of the contemporaries of Jesus. Many historians therefore believe that after the death of Paul, Luke set out and personally followed the footsteps of Jesus, going all over the Palestine countryside, talking to those he met, asking questions about Jesus. .How did He look? What did He say? How did He act? What do you remember? And making notes of the things he heard.

We shall never know where he heard the story of the Babe in the manger; the story of the thief on the cross, who pitied the dying Jesus; where he picked up these wonderful stories. Remember, this was now twenty or thirty years-according to historians-after the crucifixion. But Luke gathered his material, and then he wrote the Book of Luke, and his other book, the Acts of the Apostles. And both were addressed to a Roman scholar named Theophilus. ***

Ministers of the gospel should be Luke's greatest boosters, for he did much to supply them with sermon and lesson materials. Take the story of the thief on the cross, for example. Matthew, who was one of the Twelve, and who was evidently within close range when Jesus was crucified, says that both the thieves between whom Jesus was crucified, reviled the dying Savior. But long afterwards, along came Luke with his incomparable story. He says that one of the thieves reviled Hlm, but that the other had pity on Him, so that the dyrng Carpenter said to him: "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise." You don't hear any preaching about the Matthew account of the matter, although Matthew was an eye witness. But the story by Luke, a man who came tol***a:r, still thrills the world.

So wouldn't it be a matter of fairness for a service long since rendered and long forgotten if, sometime during the Christmas season, we, who have so much to be grateful for at this time, should pause for a moment in thoughtful ccintemplation of one of the greatest guys that ever lived, and say: "THANKS, DOCTOR LUKE, A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU. TOO.''