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Sermon Preacher at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Granite Springs by the the Reverend Matthew Mead
October 18, 2009
The Feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist
Saint Luke (BCP/RCL): Ecclesiasticus 38:1-4,6-10,12-14; 2 Timothy 4:5-13; Luke 4:14-21; Psalm 147:1-7


Today is the feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist. Since the times of the early church, Saint Luke has been credited as the author of one of the Gospels – known as the Gospel according to Saint Luke – and the Acts of the Apostles.

Each Gospel begins in a very different way. Matthew begins with a long list of names starting with Abraham and continuing through King David all the way to Jesus. Mark opens his Gospel with the account of Jesus’ own Baptism. John begins “in the beginning” and traces the action of the Word from before creation until the incarnation of Jesus. I’ve always thought that Saint Luke begins his Gospel in an extraordinary way:

“Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.”

He opens his Gospel with two amazing admissions about himself. First, he is not the first person to write a Gospel. “Many have undertaken” such a task. Luke finds his place among other Evangelists who have gone before him. He does not claim that his account is any better or worse, simply that he has decided to write an orderly account for “you”, The you might be a man named Theolphilus or it might be anyone who speaks Greek and known that Theophilus means someone who loves God.

The second admission about himself: Luke is not an eyewitness. He was not one of the Twelve Apostles, he was not a follower or disciple of Jesus during his ministry, he was not present at the Last Supper or at the crucifixion, and he did not encounter the risen Lord before Jesus ascended into heaven. His story of Jesus is based entirely on what was handed down to him from eyewitnesses and servants of the word.

An evangelist is just a fancy word for someone who tells the goods news of Christ to others. Luke realized that the good news of Christ needed to be told again, with a different voice, to a different group of people. If you read his Gospel and compare it to the other Gospels, its easy to see that he’s telling the same story in a new and different way.

How does he tell the same story in a new way to a new audience? Sometimes Luke modifies some of the details to make sense to his own audience. In Saint Mark’s account, some people bring a paralyzed friend to Jesus for healing. When they can’t get into the house, the climb up on the roof. Mark tells us that they dug through the roof to lower their friend through to Jesus– clearly Mark is picturing a typical thatched style roof in Palestine. Luke modifies some of the details. In Luke’s Gospel they climb on the roof and remove the tiles. His audience is Greek speaking and not familiar with Judean customs or scenery – for them a roof has tiles and so Luke narrates the same miracle in a way that places it into their daily experience.

Luke is exactly like you and me. None of us was present during Jesus’ ministry. All of us learned about Jesus from the Gospel accounts, Letters and Epistles and other writing from Apostles that have been handed down to us.

The good news of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is something that Christians continue to tell others about. Every one of us knows people who need to hear about Jesus in a way that makes sense in their daily experience. Like Saint Luke, all of us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can be Evangelists. What does today’s Gospel account say: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim the good news!” That scripture was fulfilled when Jesus read it that day 2000 years ago… and it is just as true today. By the power and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Luke the physician, became Saint Luke the Evangelist. Through prayer you and I change from so and so the teacher or so and so the lawyer or so and so the priest to Saint so and so the Evangelist.

The question is not what do you say: we all already know the story that has been handed to us. The question also is not how do I say it: You and I each have our own style, we speak to different groups of people in different ways. The question is: who do I tell? I have one answer: Tell the person you most want to see here next week. It can be someone who hasn’t been here in years. Or someone who hasn’t ever been here before. Tell that person about Jesus. Start with the most obvious people and move on from there.

Note for all sermons: The text published here and what was actually preached from the pulpit may vary considerably. Think of this version as the published draft.