Word to the Wise
Monday, October 18, 2021 - Oct. 18 - St. Luke, evangelist
[2 Tim 4:10-17b and Luke 10:1-9b]The Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. [Luke]
We celebrate today the author of the Gospel According to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. While scripture scholars today debate whether or not he is the Luke mentioned in today's first scripture and a couple of other places in the Pauline literature, there is little question of the value of his witness. A simple example may be found in the first five "mysteries" of the Rosary, all of which are drawn from the infancy narrative in Luke. His narrative of the birth of Jesus shapes our celebration of Christmas. He alone provides us with the parables of the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan, the Rich Man and Lazarus, and the Rich Fool. The Acts of the Apostles provides us with an enormous source of information about the early years of the church and the ministry of Sts. Peter and Paul. All of this is wrapped into a broader framework of the spread of the gospel from a small town of Capernaum in Galilee to the Roman Empire as recounted in the Pentecost story [Acts 2:5-11]. The Lukan church is a missionary church and his portrait of Jesus and narrative are meant to broaden our vision. The question of the role of Jewish observance is settled in Acts. 15 which allowed the church to respond to the faith of non-Jewish converts. He also warns all missionaries to expect hardship and challenge. His gospel is often called the Gospel of the Holy Spirit because of its emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit in proclaiming the message of Jesus. He also gives the strongest narrative of the role and influence of women in the earliest days of the church. His post-resurrection story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, gives us a snapshot of our own liturgical celebration today. As one writer sums it up: "Gather the people, tell the story, break the bread."
Our debt to this evangelist is deep. It is fitting that we should celebrate his contribution to our understanding of Jesus and why Christianity spread from a small corner in first century Palestine to become a worldwide message of salvation. AMEN