Luke 10: 1-9 The Mission of the Seventy
Luke was a medical man (Colossians 4:14). He is widely regarded as the patron of physicians and surgeons. One strong and ancient tradition suggests that Luke also was a painter. For centuries he has been regarded as the patron of artists. it is as the author of a Gospel and of The Acts of the Apostles that he is best remembered. As the only Gentile evangelist he portrays Jesus in his internation context, as Jewish Messiah but also Saviour of the world. We would be very much poorer without the material which is peculiar to Luke and which elicited from Dante the description of Luke’s first volume as the gospel of Christ’s meekness. Luke was deeply sensitive to the role of women: He alone tells us about Elizabeth (1:5-66), the woman who was a sinner (7:35-50), the widow of Nain (7:11-17), and the woman who blessed Christ’s mother (11:27). Mary also plays a most important role in Luke’s work. Luke records eight vital instances of prayer in our Lord’s life which are not recorded in the other gospels. Many of Luke’s unique passages show the Lord as one who is kind and deeply humane: Zaccheus, the repentant thief at Calvery, the women of Jerusalem, the Dives and Lazarus are fine examples of this element in Luke’s thought. Luke is also the New Testament theologian of the Holy Spirit, ‘For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say’ (Luke 12:12). An early writer tells us that Luke died in Greece at the age of eighty-four. “He served the Lord constantly, wrote his gospel in Greek and died full of the Holy Spirit”. His symbol in iconography is a winged ox.
Prayer of the Day
Gracious and loving God, you chose Luke the evangelist to reveal in his gospel the mystery of your love for the poor and outcast: unite in heart and spirit all who profess your name, and lead all nations to seek your salvation in Jesus Christ, your Son; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.