By Popular Demand

It's unanimous.  100% of you said Luke, so here goes

Luke 1:1-4

I've always felt like the fact that the gospels were written years after the events actually happened wasn't really a big deal.  That doesn't mean the material didn't exist.  People probably had some stuff written down, the important stuff at least.  There were enough people around who were witnesses that the collective memory kept things alive, too.  It wasn't like these were tales that people pulled out once in a while.  They devoted their lives to telling and re-telling them.  I'm sure they were coloured a bit over time, but the essence remained the same.

Much is sometimes made of the similarity between the Matthew, Mark and Luke (and difference with John).  But I think it adds credibility.  They used those existing resources that were available to them.  They weren't writing new stories, they were editing and compiling what already existed.  The original material isn't available to us now, but it doesn't need to be.  You don't need to see the scrap notes and rough drafts of my songs or stories in order to appreciate them or know what I'm trying to say.

I think Luke's intro is telling.  Others had tried to summarize things, but Luke felt like it wasn't up to snuff.  So, he took it upon himself to put an account together, one carefully.  Well, let's see how well he lived up to that goal.