The Gospel 

according to 

St. Luke 

During this Liturgical Year, we will hear and reflect upon the life and ministry of Jesus - as recorded by St. Luke.  He writes in the prologue to the Gospel: “Many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events which have been fulfilled in our midst.  I too have carefully traced the whole sequence of events, and have decided to set it in writing.”  According to Colossians 4:14, Luke was a physician.  He was a gentile born in Antioch who accompanied Paul on various missionary journeys.  The Gospel was written in Greek, and has many similarities with the two other synoptic Gospels, Mark and Matthew.  One of the primary themes of Luke’s Gospel (and The Acts of the Apostles) is that Jesus brought salvation not just to the Jews but also to the Gentiles: “A Savior has been born to you, the Messiah and Lord” (Lk 2:11). 

Luke was a gifted writer and a man of great sensibility.  One of the most inspiring features of Luke’s narrative is his picture of the compassion of Jesus Christ toward the outcast and sinners.  The author contrasts the Lord’s tenderness for the lowly and the poor with His “severity” towards the proud and the powerful of this world. Luke addresses the Gospel particularly to non-Jewish readers, and uses the overarching theme of “Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem.”  This theological framework allows him to set up the Holy City as the pre-ordained stage of the drama of salvation.  “We must now go up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man is to come true” (Lk 18:31).   

While confronting the evildoers, Jesus does not utter words of condemnation, but calls them to repentance and lavishly offers mercy and forgiveness.  Spiritual growth requires a detachment from the passing things of this world: “Sell what you have and give alms.  Get riches for yourselves that eternally endure” (Lk 12:33).  St. Luke records the Lord’s emphasis on the necessity of regular and fervent prayer: “Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you” (Lk 11:9).  Luke the Evangelist gives the Holy Spirit the prominence we find in the Letters of St. Paul and in the Acts of the Apostles.  Jesus rejoices in the power of the Holy Spirit as He discerns and proclaims the fulfillment of the Holy Scripture in His messianic mission of redemption: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; therefore He has anointed me.  He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and release to prisoners; to announce a year of favor from the Lord” (Lk 4:18-19). 

In Christ’s abundant Life! 

Fr. Stanley