Saint Luke

The Gospel of Saint Luke has been called the most charming of all books; and justly so. It is the Gospel of the God who, in loving mercy, visits sinful humanity. In exquisitely tender colors he depicts the Man of Nazareth as the Saviour and Healer, the Friend of sinners, and the Consoler of the afflicted.

In the abundance of its content and in the combination of words and deeds of Christ St. Luke's Gospel resembles that of St. Matthew. Both preface the Public Ministry with an account of His birth and infancy. In the story of the Galilean Ministry, St. Luke follows St. Mark rather than St. Matthew. In the description of the Passion, the three Synoptics run parallel.

The most marked difference between the Third Gospel and its predecessors is the long so-called Intercalation of St. Luke (9, 15-18,15), a diary, we might almost call it, of Our Lord's last journey to Jerusalem. In his account much more detailed than either Matthew or Mark. Twelve parables and six miracles are peculiar to St. Luke, who records, in all, twenty-seven parables and twenty miracles.

In style, command of language, and power of description, St. Luke far surpasses his fellow-Evangelists. The Prologue (1,1-4) in its simplicity, modesty and brevity is the model of a preface to an historical work. With the exception of the story of the Infancy and the account of the appearance of the Risen Lord to the disciples on their way to Emmaus, which are full of Hebrew idioms, due no doubt to over close adherence to his Aramaic sources, the Greek of St. Luke is singularly pure. Scattered throughout his Gospel there are masterpieces of narration, such as the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, unsurpassed in the literature of the world.

The Author. The name Luke occurs three times in the New Testament - Col.4,14; 2Tim.4,11; Philem.24 - and no doubt in all three the third Evangelist is the person spoken of. Combining Scripture with tradition, we get the following outline of St. Luke's life. He was born at Antioch in Syria, and was taught the science of medicine. The tradition that he was also a painter of no mean ability rests on the authority of late writers.

He was not a Jew by birth, for St. Paul (Col.4.11) does not name him amongst those "of the circumcision". He was probably a proselyte to Judaism and a convert of St. Paul. He joined St. Paul at Troas, and shared his journey into Macedonia. At least this is the most natural explanation of the sudden transition of the first person plural in Acts 16,10. The resumption of the third person on St. Paul's departure from Philippi (Acts 17,1) would show that St. Luke was now left behind. During the rest of St. Paul's second missionary journey we hear no more of Luke. But on the third missionary journey - about seven years later - the same transition from the third to the first person plural reminds us that Luke is again of the company (Acts 20,5-21,18), where St. Paul was apprehended.

He was with his master during his two years of imprisonment at Caesarea, and sailed with him on the memorable voyage t Rome (Acts 27). He remained at his side during his first imprisonment (Col.4,14; Philem.24). When St. Paul was imprisoned a second time, we again find St. Luke ministering to him. "Luke alone is with me", the Apostle writes to Timothy.

After the death of St. Paul, the movements of his faithful disciple are veiled in obscurity. He is said to have been martyred in Greece. In the year 357 his relics with those of St. Andrew were transferred to Constantinople. The Church celebrates his feast on the 18th of October.

St. Luke, author of the third Gospel. Ancient tradition unanimously ascribes the Third Gospel to the "beloved physician" Luke, the friend and companion of St. Paul.

In the early seventeenth century Ludovico Muratori discovered a list of the books of the New Testament in the Ambrosian Library at Milan. The author of this list or canon is unknown, but it must have been drawn up about the year 170 A.D. This list agrees with our present canon except for the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistle of St. James, and the Epistle of St. Peter, which are missing. The notes added to each title are of the highest importance. About the third Gospel the unknown writer affirms: "St. Luke the physician composed a Gospel in the name of Paul and in accordance with his teaching". St. Irenaeus bears testimony in almost the same terms: "Luke, the follower of St. Paul, wrote down the latter's Gospel-preaching in a book.".

The Gospel itself confirms the witness of tradition. In the third Gospel we everywhere recognize the hand of a disciple of St. Paul in style, in vocabulary - eighty-four words are found in Luke and Paul only - in sentence construction, and above all, in the conception of Christ's mission on earth.

In the master's Epistles and in the disciple's Gospel, the kingdom of Christ is worldwide; Jews and Gentiles, publicans and sinners, rich and poor, bond and free, are all called, for all is a place prepared. "God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim.2,4)" summarizes the message of both.

In many places in the Gospel, the author betrays himself as a medical expert. To take only one example: St. Mark, speaking of the sickness of St. Peter's mother-in-law, says that she "lay in a fit of a fever"; St. Luke, relating the same incident, remarks that she "was taken with a great fever". The expression "great fever" is found in the writings of the famous physician Galen, and probably means typhus; every word is medical. The only surgical miracle recorded of Our Lord is the healing of the ear of Malchus, and it is peculiar to Luke (22,50,51).

The Sources of St. Luke's Gospel. St. Luke does not claim the character of an eyewitness. From what sources, we may ask, did he draw his information? There were first of all, the many narratives in Greek and Aramaic to which St. Luke refers in his Prologue. In the company of St. Paul, he had abundant opportunity for seeking information from the "eyewitnesses of the word" who were still alive. Then there were the Gospels of Matthew and Mark to fall back upon for much material. Lastly, he had the preaching of his master, St. Paul, which according to the early Fathers of the Church, formed the groundwork of his narrative.

The Evangelist of the Greeks.

The Gospel of Women. The Gospel of St. Luke has been called the Gospel of Hymns, because the Hail Mary, the Magnificat, the Benedictus, the Nunc Dimittis, which figure in the daily Divine Office of the Church, are found in this Gospel only; and the Gospel of Prayer, because it alone records that Our Lord prayed on six different occasions: at His Baptism, after cleansing the leper, before calling the Twelve, at His Transfiguration, on the Cross for His executioners, and with His last breath; but it deserves to be called in a very special manner the Gospel of Women. A veritable galaxy of holy women passes before our gaze: Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, to whom we owe the words of the Hail Mary: "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb". Anna, the aged prophetess, "who departed not from the Temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day", and became one of the most enthusiastic heralds of the Incarnate Word: "she spoke of Him to all that looked for the redemption of Israel". The Women, "who ministered unto Jesus of their substance" out of gratitude for their deliverance "from evil spirits and infirmities", among them Mary Magdalen, "out of whom seven devils were gone forth" (8, 2). The "Sinful Woman" who anointed the Lord's feet in the house of the Pharisee, and heard from His lips the consoling words: "Thy sins are forgiven thee; thy faith hath made thee safe, go in peace" (7, 36-50). Martha, the sister of Lazarus, who receives her Lord into her house, loses the calmness of her spirit, is "busy about much serving", and "careful and troubled about many things", and needs the reproof, "But one thing is necessary". But her love, though imperfect in its form, is recognized as true, and she has the distinction of being one of those whom Jesus loved" (10, 38-42). Mary, Martha's sister, who sat listening eagerly for every word that fell from the Divine Teacher's lips. She had chosen the better part, the one thing necessary, in rising from the earthly to the heavenly, no longer distracted by the many things of earth. The Woman in the Crowd, who "lifted up her voice and said to Jesus: 'Blessed is the womb that bore Thee'" (11, 27). The Widow of Naim, whose only son Jesus raised from the dead (7, 11-17). The Woman who had suffered from a curvature of the spine for eighteen years, and whom our Lord delivered from her infirmity (13, 10-17). The Women of Jerusalem who met Jesus on the way to Calvary and "bewailed and lamented Him" (23, 27-31).

Among all these women, one stands out in imperishable loveliness in the pages of St. Luke - Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Her faith and humility are exhibited in her immediate surrender of herself to the divine will; her loving kindness, energy and earnestness in her journey from Nazareth to Hebron; her gratitude to God in her glorious song of joy; her "silent musing thoughtfulness" in her pondering over the shepherds' visit, and in her keeping her Son's words in her heart. St. Luke's picture of our Blessed Lady is that of the most tender, the most faithful, humble, patient, and loving of women. How thankful we are to him for those first two chapters of his Gospel; what should we know of Mary without them?