Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Monday, September 2, 2013 Some concluding remarks about the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts Now that we have come to the end of the book of Acts it may be well to reflect back over the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts and identify some themes and make some finally judgments about our author. First of all it is important that we recognize that the books of Luke and Acts belong together. We need to read them as a unit. One is not complete without the other. Luke likely envisioned them as one work. He likely conceived them together in his mind and intended them to be read as one story. They are forever hooked together. As we reflect back over the story Luke has told us in his gospel and in the book of Acts it becomes clear that one of the things Luke wants his readers to know is that the Jewish people did receive the Messiah. He tells story after story of faithful Jewish people who were waiting for the Messiah to come and who did welcome Jesus. In the beginning of the gospel we meet Zechariah and Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna, and Mary, the mother of Jesus. Along the way we meet others like Joseph of Arimathea and Barnabas and Ananias of Damascus. Luke tells us of a great number of Jewish believers whose number has grown so large that at the end of the story they are beyond counting. Luke wants his readers to know that there were a great number of faithful Jewish believers. Of course the dark side of that same story is that there were other Jews who did not receive the Messiah – who did not welcome the visitation of God to his people as Luke would put it. But that is not Luke’s emphasis. His emphasis is on the fact that Jewish people did welcome God’s visitation to them.