Luke: A Friends Illuminated Commentary

Luke’s Gospel opens with the Spirit’s work: Mary’s Magnificat proclaiming the scattering of the proud and the lifting of the lowly, Jesus reading in Nazareth that the Spirit has anointed him to bring good news to the poor. This emphasis on the Spirit’s social and economic dimensions connected directly with Quaker experience and conviction. Early Friends understood their movement as a renewal of Pentecost — the Spirit poured out on all flesh, daughters prophesying alongside sons, servants and handmaids receiving the gift of ministry. Luke provided the biblical narrative for that understanding.

The commentary explores Luke’s distinctive portraits: the Good Samaritan as a challenge to the boundaries of community, the Prodigal Son as the story of divine welcome that cannot be contained by religious respectability, Zacchaeus as evidence that transformation produces restitution. It draws on early Quaker writers who saw in these stories both description and demand — descriptions of how God acts, demands on how the community of Friends must live. The free Group Study Guide accompanying this volume is designed for congregational study and individual devotion alike.