St. Luke, Evangelist (Remembrance Day Ocober 18)

"Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which are most surely believed among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed." Luke 4:1-4

It used to matter very much what a man did with his life. This was reflected in the word that was used to describe a life's profession; it was a vocation, from the Latin word meaning "to call". This calling was none other than the divinely ordered purpose that God had for the life with which He was entrusting them. But as life became less sacred and more secular, men replaced a vocation, with an occupation. The divinely ordained purpose of life became only a means of making a living. Quite a difference in perspective! But there have always been men whose souls were sensitive to the voice of the Lord, and who were willing to leave every part of their life behind in order to embrace God's choices for their life when these became evident. Such a man was Luke, by occupation a physician, by vocation an Evangelist.

From Eusebius' History of the Church (Book III, Section 4) we learn that Luke was "by birth an Antiochene and by profession a physician"; that he "was for long periods a companion of Paul and was closely associated with the other apostles as well. So he has left us examples of the art of healing souls which he learnt from them in the two divinely inspirited books, the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles." Some of this we can also glean from the Scriptures. In Colossians 4:14 Paul calls him "Luke, the beloved physician." We learn from Colossians 4:10-15 that he was a Gentile, for he is not named by Paul as a fellow worker for the kingdom of God who were of the circumcision. Some say that his name Luke, was a shortened version of the Romanized name Lucanus. That he was familiar with Antioch in a way that could indicate it as a hometown is implied from his frequent and detailed references to the city and the Church within it (see Acts 11:19-30, Acts 13:1, Acts 14:19-28; Acts 15:22-35; Acts 18:22-23). Also, when he listed the seven deacons chosen in Acts 6:5, only one, Nicolas from Antioch, had his hometown mentioned.

He was well educated as is evidenced by the two books which he wrote, in which he demonstrates his knowledge of the Septuagint, and his proficiency in both Greek and Aramaic. His calling as an evangelist is clearly put forth in the introduction to His gospel. In any but a true servant of the Lord the words we read here might seem prideful, but for Luke they were nothing more than the setting forth of his calling. His purpose was never more than that his audience might know the certainty of those things which were contained within his books. He addresses both the Gospel and the Acts to Theophilus, which in the Greek translates as "the friend of God". Whether this was a specific person or not is unimportant for now. What is important is that it clearly establishes that the message of the gospel is given freely to those who are lovers of God. To these alone is it the good news of salvation. Eusebius further indicates that Luke and Paul were closely knit in the spreading of this good news. He claims that when Paul refers to "my gospel" (such as in Romans 2:16, 16:25 or II Timothy 2:8), he is referring to the gospel as recorded by Luke. This could be entirely possible, for Luke credits his source as the ministers of the word to whom it was first entrusted as eyewitnesses, and he spent most of his evangelism with Paul. Although he is only mentioned by name four times in the New Testament (Colossians 4:14, II Timothy 4:11, the subscript to II Corinthians, and Philemon 24), his life and calling is interwoven in the Acts of the Apostles beginning in Acts 16:9-10 when he writes that "the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.” With Paul it was said also of him in Acts 16:17 that "these men are the servants of the Most High God who proclaim to us the way of salvation." It is evident that he went with Paul to Rome in Acts 27 (since he is mentioned in the books of Colossians and Philemon, which were written by Paul during imprisonment in Rome), and by Paul's testimony that Luke had remained faithfully with him to the very end (II Timothy 4:11). So close was this relationship that Paul refers to Luke as the beloved physician, and Jerome (writing about A.D. 400) maintains that Paul speaks of Luke in II Corinthians 8:18 when he refers to "the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches."

Julius Africanus, writing in A.D. 165 records that Luke wrote his gospel in Achaia. Perhaps this occurred during the two years that Paul ministered at Ephesus (Acts 19:10), before Luke was reunited with him in Macedonia as recorded in Acts 20:1-6. According to Africanus, Luke died at age 74 in Boeotia, a city in Central Greece. He was not held to have been a martyr, although he was certainly acquainted with the suffering that comes at the preaching of the gospel. His name has been tied to preaching in Italy, Dalmatia, Macedonia, Asia Minor, and all of these are certainly possible if we trace the missionary and Roman travels of Paul, his companion. The Church represents him by the symbol of the calf, the sacrificial animal, for his gospel account begins with Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, performing his priestly duties in the temple. Little more do we know with certainty.

When we look around us, we see people struggling for identity, seeking to carve out their niche in the world, but all of it is in vain if it is apart from God. And yet in Luke we see none of this striving after wind, although he could have sought fame as a physician, a historian, a chronicler of the Mediterranean, a writer trained in the classical tradition. What we rather see in him is the fulfillment of Paul's words recorded in II Timothy 2:5 "But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." Those words must have cut him to his heart, for his identify was found in his vocation, and his vocation was not found in the world, but received from God's hand....Evangelist. Because of his openness to the calling of God the world may have lost a first-rate physician, but we are the richer for having that remarkable record of "all that Jesus began both to do and to teach." The Gospel of Luke moves us inexorably from a manger in Bethlehem to a cross in Jerusalem, the Acts of the Apostles from the Mount of Ascension into "Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." May the ministry of Luke always remind us of our own callings as evangelists, those whose lives are imprinted by the good news. Wherever our feet trod then becomes a mission field, each day is another opportunity to bear witness to Jesus Christ. Lord, grant to us to fulfill our true vocations in Your will. We must, after all, be about our Father's business, not our own.