Of St. Luke
This year St. Luke’s Day falls on a Sunday, so it’s an ideal opportunity to have a bit of refresher about St. Luke and about his gospel.
Here’s what we know about the man. He was a young doctor, very likely in Antioch. St. Paul calls him a “beloved physician” (Col 4:14). At some point, however, it appears to have occurred at Troas, he began to accompany St. Paul. So he gave up his medical career in order to become a “co-worker” of St. Paul. He loyally stays with St. Paul until the bitter end, being the sole coworker in prison with the apostle at the end of his life. There’s no indication at all that he was a leading light during St. Paul’s missionary journeys. He was simply a companion and a helper. But after St. Paul died, he wrote down for a friend — Theophilus, which might have been one person, or many — what he remembered. He had no way of knowing that here in Western Victoria we would be reading his gospel. He just wanted to share the faith and God did the rest. Then he continued the story with a second book, a sequel, about how the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles and the early Church to continue Jesus’ mission.
Here’s what we know about his writing
St. Luke wanted to write things down so that we would be certain about the things of the faith. Through the lens of St. Luke’s gospel we see very clearly that the Master is above all mercy full. We see this by remembering some of the things that are unique to Luke Gospel. Some of the details about John the Baptist’s conception and birth. The scenes of the Annunciation, Visitation, Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Finding of Jesus in the Temple. The beautiful scene of the raising of the only son of the widow of Nain. And without St. Luke we wouldn’t have entered Bethany with Jesus to hear Jesus’ words to Martha and Mary about choosing the better part and the one thing necessary. We wouldn’t have the scene of the healing of the ten lepers, the encounter with Zacchaeus, Jesus’ interrogation by Herod, or two of Jesus’ seven last words. We wouldn’t have the scene of Emmaus, which in some sense, summarises all that Jesus continues to want us to do. To walk with Him, to converse with Him, to break bread with him and then to go and tell others.
St. Luke’s gospel is all about how Christ has come as the Divine Physician to share his healing mercy with us and this is very good news. In Zechariah’s Benedictus the point is how the “Lord … has visited and brought redemption to his people,” he has come “to show mercy to our fathers” and John would “go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God by which the daybreak from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” And in Mary’s Magnificat, Mary exclaims that God’s “mercy is from age to age to those who fear him” and that he has “helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers.” We see his mercy in the Parables of the Good Samaritan, the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son, all unique to Luke. We see the importance of mercy in the blithe omissions of the Rich Man with Lazarus at his gates. We see Jesus’ will to forgive seen in the scenes with the grateful leper, with Zacchaeus, and with the Good Thief. We hear it in his crying out from Calvary, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
On this day, we give thanks to God for St. Luke who reminds us that we love a merciful God. It’s also a bit of a nudge for us to become St. Luke’s in our own place and time. No matter who we are, God wants us to accompany him and his apostles. He wants us first to become their coworkers. He wants us to use whatever skills we have to pass on the faith. If we’re truly friends of God, then we can’t help but speak of him to the Theophiluses of our own day. As one Christian leader put it. “What kind of love would not feel the need to speak of the beloved, to point him out, to make him known? We know well that with Jesus, life becomes richer and that with him it is easier to find meaning in everything. This is why we evangelise.”
On this feast of St. Luke, it’s important for us, as friends of Jesus, to seek to make him known and loved, to speak of his splendour, of his love, of his grace, and the difference it makes in our life