The Universality of God's Salvation

The author of the Gospel of Luke and Acts wrote to a Church that was composed of subjects of the Roman Empire.  The Church hated Rome and believed that Rome was beyond redemption, and saw itself as a tiny remnant of purity set against Rome.

One of the overriding themes of Luke's Gospel and Acts is to challenge this manner of the Church's self-perception and perception of Rome.  God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world but to bring salvation to the world.  Rather than being called to condemn Rome, the Church was thereby called to bring peace and redemption to the world, and to Rome.

In his story of the birth of Christ, Luke proclaims that through the redemptive work of Christ, God seeks to bring peace to the entire world.  "Peace on earth" was a slogan of the Roman Empire; Rome also sought peace.  God thereby called the Church into being to bring Rome what it already wanted but did not yet know how to find.

The Church is not called to condemn the world, to be nothing more than a vehicle of hate and fear mongering.  The Church is called to proclaim peace both to itself and to the world.  The Church is not called to barricade itself within an oasis of purity, but enter into the world's suffering to bring God's salvation.