St Luke the Evangelist
Sermon by Reader Christopher Ward
Readings: Isaiah 35:3-6; Psalm 147:1-7; 2 Timothy 4:5-17; Luke 10:1-9
May I speak in the name of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today the Church celebrates Luke, at first glance a rather unlikely figure to become such a key and enduring influence in the Church. We know from Paul’s Letter to the Colossians that Luke was a Gentile, and a physician. He wrote both the Gospel that bears his name, and also Acts. From the way he writes, and other clues, he was almost certainly Greek, and probably came from Antioch. And it is clear from the opening verses of his Gospel that Luke never encountered Jesus personally: throughout his Gospel he writes in the third person. It is not until around half way through Acts, when he sailed with Paul from Troas to Macedonia, that Luke describes something he was personally involved in. And it is likely that it was to Paul that he was originally drawn. He accompanied Paul on many of his travels, and was the last person to remain with Paul during his final imprisonment in Rome, as recorded by Paul in today’s passage from 2 Timothy.
To me, Luke is a wonderful example of how God can use people. His Gospel enriches our understanding of Jesus’ ministry, not least with its six unique miracles and eighteen unique parables, and in Acts he gives us an interesting picture both of the earliest days of the Church, and of the tireless ministry of Paul to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Gentile world.
Now I want to fast-forward nearly two millennia to say a few words about a lady I know only as Em. Our paths crossed several years ago, but we never met. I know only two things about her: at the time, she was shortly to be married, and that she had occupied the rear passenger seat of a car parked next to mine in the car park of a hotel on the outskirts of Cardiff, just off the M4. I know all this because the car was decorated, inside and out, in a particular characteristic way, carried the message ‘Em’s Hens’ prominently above the rear window, and Em’s seat was marked out with a circle and arrows drawn on the window.
So, what might link Luke and Em’s hens? The answer is that they are both examples of evangelists. The word (as, incidentally, does the word ‘angels’) derives from a Greek word meaning ‘bearer of good news’. Luke gave us his Gospel and Acts; Em’s hens wanted the world to share the good news that she was shortly to marry the love of her life and that they were celebrating with her. And if we needed any reminding about the Good News of God, we have only to reflect on the words we heard this morning from Isaiah about what follows salvation from God, and those of the psalmist,
“it is he who heals the broken in spirit and binds up their wounds.”
And we have a third example of evangelism in our Gospel reading today. The seventy two sent out ahead of Jesus’ visit to the places concerned were very much intended as bearers of good news – the Kingdom of God has come. Luke makes clear that this message was delivered both where they were made welcome and where they were not, but with a small, but important, difference in the two situations. Where the evangelists were made welcome, they were to add the words, “upon you”, and they would heal the sick. The message where they were not welcome omitted these two words and, of course, would then carry not good news, but an implicit threat that judgment might be imminent. And it is interesting that Jesus did not intend the seventy two to seek to change the minds of those who were hostile. His was a message to those whose hearts were open to receive it; the choice rested solely with the people concerned.
We also have a fourth example of evangelists here today, and it is sitting here in front of me and behind me, and looking in on Zoom. Yes, each and every one of us is, by virtue of our faith, a bearer of the good news of Jesus Christ. As we collectively charged Leo Pollouro only a couple of weeks ago, we are to ‘shine as a light in the world to the glory of God the father’.
But what is it that makes bearers of good news become sharers of good news? Good news is surely intended to be shared, as Em’s hens demonstrated, and Jesus told the seventy two. But the process of such sharing can surely be a daunting task. As Luke makes clear to Theophilus at the start of his Gospel, he set out “as one who has investigated the whole course of these events in detail”, to “write an orderly narrative for you … so as to give you authentic knowledge …”Given the impact that Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection must have had (and we know from Luke that many other writers had also sought to record the events concerned) this must have been an enormous and difficult task, a task not made any easier by Luke’s claim as to the unique quality of his Gospel. Likewise, the seventy two also had a daunting challenge; to go to what was almost certainly a strange place, and to knock on the doors of complete strangers and offer them the Peace of the Lord. And what is it that can help us to share the good news that we have by the grace of God?
I think it can be summed up in a single word, courage. Luke will have been under no illusions that there would not be those who would challenge the authenticity of his text. The seventy two were willing to face rejection and hostility as they sought to pass on their good news. And Em’s hens were willing to risk ridicule for their garishly decorated car in order to get their message across to drivers on the M4.
And where does that courage come from? Again, I offer a single word answer, faith, faith borne out of our encounters with God, in the Scriptures, in prayer, in the Eucharist, and in our daily lives. So let us pray, as we remember how God used Luke so wonderfully to share the good news of Jesus Christ, that through faith we will find the courage to be used by Him to share the good news of Jesus Christ, whatever that may involve.
Amen
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