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By Jack Dionne

f admire the persistence of the colored preacher, who, to make certain that his listeners should not forget his sermons, always repeated himself .twice, and explained his system in this way: "Fust, I tells ,em what I,m fixin' r'tell 'em; den I tells 'em; an' den I tells ,em what I done tole 'em." Thus he thrice drives home his thoughts.

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I have written about Doctor Luke, the Beloved physician, the Man who gave us Christmas, in these columns before. And, since those stories found so warm a reception and brought so pleasing a response from our readers, I am going to do so again; not in the self-same words, but the same hero nevertheless.

While practically .*r;". in the civilized world stops every year to make note in one way or another of the greatest of all holidays, Christmas, little thought is given, even in sermons, to the man on whom we rely completely for the Christmas story. When the story is told to wideeyed youngsters of the birth of a baby God, cradled in a manger, and of that sublime heavenly chorus tJrat attended the event, seldom if ever is mention made of the man who alone gave the world that treasure. So, every few years in this Christmas editorial space, I try to tell again of that vastly interesting man to whom all Christmas celebrators owe so much; Doctor Luke, of Antioch, the man who gave us Christmas. I feel, to paraphrase the old corny remark that "they haven't done right by our Luke.', Since we have a Christmas every year, it seems nothing but fair that the man responsible gets at least honorable mention. {<**

Who gave us Christmas? Who was it discovered the shepherds on the hills near Bethlehem? Who gave us the picture of the ange! who appeared to these simple shepherds to announce the coming of the King? \ll/ho, alone, of all the Biblical writers, told the emotional story of the blessed Babe who was born in a manger in a stable where these same shepherds found and worshipped Him? What man has thrilled the souls of humans for nigh two thousand years with his sublime words: "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will to men?"

His name was Docto, ;;.; Doctor Luke of Antioch. F{e was a Greek physician in his earlier years. And toward the end of his splendid life he wrote a long, long letter to a Roman scholar named Theophilus, concerning the birth, life, works, and death of an humble Jew, the Son of a carpenter. So it was that the most sublime story in the history of mankind came to us through the means of a long letter, written by a Greek, to a Roman, about a Jew. That letter is the Book of Luke.

For in the Book or n,l, ;a:t, there, do we find the story of Christmas. There, and there only, do we get the inspiration for the ringing joys, the sublime insoiration that we call the Christmas spirit. There, and there only, do we find Christmas. 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 about the birth of Jesus. Matthew does tell of that birth, of the wise men who came from the East and found the new born babe in a "house" in Bethlehem. But nothing about a stable, a 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. Ife was one who came after, and who, perhaps a generation after the crucifixion, gave us the beautiful Christmas story.

And not alone did n. ,r". :, ;. story of Christmas, but in the wonderful book that he wrote in the sunset of his life and after the death of Paul, he told us many other stories; the most beautiful stories that any religionist ever told. And, like the Christmas story, he alone related them. It was Luke alone who told the immortal story of the Good Samaritan. What would Christian history have been without this "exclusive" story? It was Luke who gave to religious preachers the most trenchant text for sennons the world has known; the story of the repentant thief on the cross. ft was Luke also who told the story of the Prodigal Son, concerning which humanity has talked ever since. Those three stories, along with the story of Christmas, all of them told only by Doctor Luke, have supplied the text for continuous religious thought, discussion, and writing since the Christian era began; and will continue to do so as long as the New Testament lives. We owe them all to Doctor Luke,

Luke was not only ,n. *rr,., r, ,n. most beautiful piece of literature the world has known-the Book of Lukebut he was likewise the greatest friend history has any record of. His friendship for the Apostle Paul, his loyalty and devotion throughout their 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 a man he was !

The great events of history happen fast. One day, a le of thousand years ago, a dozen substantial citizens of the Holy Land were plying their regular occupations' They were men of substance, and character, and position in the community. They had homes and families' One of them, Matthew, was an ofEcial of prominence, a taxgatherer. Along their way came a young man, one they had never seen before, or heard of. He was dressed in the garrrtents of the poor; had not a dime in His pockets' He 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 followed Him' It was that sudden. Think what sort of personality that young man must have possessed ! Give it a thought for Christmas. You will decide that He must have looked as no other man ever looked; walked as no other man ever walked; talked as no other man ever talked. Would the twelve have followed Him otherwise?

Many years pass. tn.;";rl.* n". fulfilled His mission. has been crucified, and is gone. A tough guy hamed Saul appears. He takes it on himself to root out and destroy the hated followers of Jesus. Saul is on the road to a place where he plans 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"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 ggspel of that young Man he met that day on the road to Damascus.

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Years later, still on his mission and magnificent in his power, he drops into a Greek city, named Antioch' Here 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, a man of means, culture, and education, dropped all that he had and followed Paul. He followed him over all the world, and ministered unto him, and befriended him, and waited on him even to Paul's death on a cross in Rome many years later. 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 ,:*;:."r Luke came upon the material for his later writings, the Book of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. In addition to Paul and many other Christians, Luke may have had the opportunity of meeting several of those who had known Jesus personally' He tells us in his writings that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was one of the Christian community in Jerusalem when he went there, and it is reasonable to suppose that he lrnew her, and talked with her about her Son. He could have known Mary, the mother of Mark, in whose house the last supper was held. He could have known Peter, 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 even these things would not explain the beautiful stories appearing in his books that are not found in the writings of the contemporaries of Jesus.

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And so many respected Biblical historians are of the opinion that after the death of Paul, Luke set out and taithtutty retraced the footsteps of Jesus; going up and down the Palestinian countryside, garnering from the humble people of village and field priceless jewels of teaching, p"r"bl", incident, preaching that the Great Teacher had scattered so prodigally to the wind during His life on earth' It was probably twenty to thirty years after Jesus that Luke followed in His footsteps. There must have been some mysterious magnetism about Doctor Luke that would cause people to confide in him, and relate to him their most precious memories of the eternal Wayfarer' "How did He look?" he would ask. "What did He say? How did He act? What do you remember?" It was Luke the historian now.

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We shall never know where Luke came upon the story of the Babe in the manger-the story of Christmas; or who poured into his ears those other wonderful stories that he alone gave to history' Was it from some later shepherd that he heard about the shepherds, and the angels, and the heavenly chorus, the Babe in the manger? Who were they that had treasured in their hearts the story of the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, and the Repentant Thief, and finally poured them into the ears of Luke?

Expounders of the Jri "lo"ra be Luke's greatest boosters, for he did much to supply them with the most precious sermon and lesson materials. Take the story of ihe last and humblest friend Jesus made on earth, the Penitent Thief. In his gospel, Matthew who was an eye witness, relates that both of the crucified thieves who were with Him reviled the dying Savior. Then, long afterward, along came Luke with his priceless story of faith and forgiveness. Luke says that one of the thieves reviled Jesus, but that the other had pity on Him, and the dying Carpenter said to him: "This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise." You don't hear any sermons about the Matthew version of the tragedy, but the story by Luke still thrills mankind.

So, wouldn't it be a matter of fairness for a service long since rendered and long forgot if, sometime during the Christmas season we should pause for a moment in rhoughtful contemplation of one of the greatest guys that ever lived, and say: "Thanks, Doctor Luke, and a merry Christmas to you, too."

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