Sermon: St. Luke the Evangelist - 2020

18 October 2020

Text: Luke 10:1-9

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Today we honor St. Luke the Evangelist.  Tradition says that he was martyred at the age of 84.  St. Luke was not an apostle, but he wrote more than a quarter of the New Testament (the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts).  He is also considered to be the first iconographer of the church, having painted the first icons of Jesus.  St. Luke was a doctor, and his historical writing rivals that of the great historians of antiquity.

St. Luke is also remembered as being one of the seventy-two men who were sent out in groups of two to preach and to prepare people in the towns where Jesus was planning to visit.  St. Luke was also a companion to St. Paul in his missionary journeys.

Even in these very early days of the Church, our Lord’s called ministers and preachers were a diverse group.  Most scholars believe that Luke was a Gentile, a Syrian Greek.  He was a man of letters, an intellectual, a skillful wordsmith with an eye for detail, a man who carefully researched before putting pen to paper.  And he was himself an eyewitness to many of the events about which he wrote.

How different from St. Paul, the Jewish Pharisee convert, who was a learned rabbi, a Hebrew scholar, and an expert in Greek philosophy.  And how different from St. Peter, the fisherman who as far as we can tell, had no classical education at all.  Our Lord’s apostles and evangelists were not a monolithic group of men, but yet, they were brothers in Christ united in their faith in the Holy Christian Church, serving in the same Office of the Holy Ministry, all called to preach the same Gospel, the same Christ.

And to this day, the words penned by St. Luke, inspired by the Holy Spirit, testify to our Lord Jesus Christ – his birth, ministry, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension, and the Acts of the Apostles – covering both the ministries of Peter and Paul.  In St. Luke’s words, Christ is present, and is proclaimed in our midst.  Because of His work as an evangelist, in a very real way, St. Luke continues to proclaim Christ to this very day.

In today’s Gospel from Luke’s Gospel, the Evangelist records his sending forth to preach of the coming Christ across the countryside.  When our Lord sent them, He said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

We continue to pray this prayer today.  For the Church still needs pastors.  We still need men to proclaim the Gospel, whether they are laborers with calloused hands like St. Peter, or doctors and writers and artists like St. Luke.  The Lord’s army of preachers remains a diverse crowd – men of every ethnicity and culture, men of differing interests and abilities – all called to preach Christ and Him crucified, for the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus is still calling preachers and telling them, “Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.”

And their calls are as diverse as they are: some are sent to large congregations in the suburbs, some to tiny struggling parishes in the city.  Some are sent to sparse rural areas, others to the mission field in foreign lands.  Some are called to military chaplaincy, others to serve the sick and dying, or those in prison.  But their call is still the same, being sent as lambs among wolves, being called to shepherd the sheep, and to protect them from the crafts and assaults of the devil.  They preach and teach, they baptize and consecrate the Lord’s Supper, they lead worship, they hear confessions, they absolve the penitent, and they speak truth to power by means of God’s Word.

St. Luke’s cohort was given specific instructions: “Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.”  His ministry was truly an act of faith.  Jesus placed Luke at the tender mercies of those to whom he was called to bring the Word of God.  He was instructed to depend on their kindness and provision.  The life of the parish pastor today isn’t exactly the same, but there are indeed similarities.  To be part of a local parish is an act of faith for pastor and laity alike.  There is much that we don’t know.  We cannot predict what will happen in the future.  But this much we do know, dear friends, the Lord has placed us here in this place, preacher and hearers, all of us confessing together the Gospel and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ – who works through each one of us in our various callings.

Pastors are indeed to repeat our Lord’s Easter greeting of “Peace.”  Luke brought this greeting when he arrived to his own destination: “Peace be to this house!”  And the Lord said, “If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him.  But if not, it will return to you.”

The preacher of Christ is a bringer of peace, for he brings the Prince of Peace in Word and Sacrament.  He brings the peace of God that passes all understanding.  He brings the peace between God and man that was restored at our Lord’s crucifixion, when the veil in the temple was torn, when the blood of our Lord became a sacrificial offering, pleading to the Father on our behalf.  He brings the peace that is the promise of the New Heaven and the New Earth, in which all creatures of God will coexist in harmony and love, without conflict, without contention, with no prey and no predator, without sin and without death.  This is indeed the peace won for us by our Lord, and delivered to us from Him, through His pastors of every place and every age – right to the present, and even unto the end of the age.

St. Luke was commanded to “Heal the sick,” yet not like he did as a doctor.  As a preacher, he is healing those sick with sin, healing them permanently, healing them in a way that transcends death itself.  And while we give thanks and praise to God for physicians who are called to heal us of our bodily ailments and relieve our pain, we give thanks to God even more for our Great Physician, our Lord Jesus Christ, who cures death itself by removing sin from us as far as the east is from the west.

Our Great Physician has charged St. Luke, even as He continues to commission men for service as proclaimers of the Gospel, to say, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”

What magnificent news this is, dear friends!  This is what the Greeks and Latins called the “Evangel” – the Good News.  We call it the Gospel.  And St. Luke is known to this day as Luke the Evangelist.  

“The kingdom of God has come near to you,” dear brothers and sisters, for the King has come to you.  He comes not to condemn, but to save.  He comes not to lord over you, but to serve you.  He comes not to tax you and send you off to war, but rather He comes to pay your debts and go into battle for you.  This is a different kind of kingdom that St. Luke has come to proclaim.  For this is a different kind of King that comes to you today – in Word and Sacrament.  

We thank God for the life and ministry of St. Luke, whose proclamation still reverberates in this church, and in churches all over the world – and will do so until the King returns in glory, bringing with Him the peace of God that will no longer be delivered by evangelists and pastors, but rather by the Great Physician and Good Shepherd Himself, even Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.