2020-10-17 Eve of St. Luke - "Medicine of Immortality"

 2022-10-17     Eve of the Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist

Isaiah 35:5-82 Timothy 4:5-18Luke 10:1-9

In the name of the Father, +Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. 

As we gather today for the Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist, I do want to draw our attention briefly to the fact that today the church commemorates Ignatius of Antioch, Pastor and Martyr. Ignatius was the bishop of Antioch in Syria at the beginning of the 2nd century AD.  He was martyred for the faith. He was arrested during the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan and taken to Rome where he eventually was killed in the arena by wild animals for the amusement of the attendees. On his way to Rome, Ignatius wrote letters to the Christians at Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, and Smyrna. In his letters he stressed the importance of obedience to God and the resident Bishop. He also stressed the importance of sound doctrine. In particular he affirmed that Jesus is full man and at the same time fully divine.  He also confessed the Real Presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. 

In my mind, there is a significant connection between Ignatius and St. Luke.  In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Ignatius commends the church’s practice of regularly meeting together for fellowship and worship. And, he spoke of the Lord’s Supper in terms of medicine. He writes,

“Meet together in common - every single one of you - in grace, in one faith and one Jesus Christ (who was of David’s line in his human nature, son of man and son of God) that you may obey the bishop and presbytery with undistracted mind; breaking one bread, which is the medicine of immortality, our antidote to ensure that we shall not die but live in Jesus Christ for ever.”  

Ignatius articulates an understanding of the Lord’s Supper that persists through the ages. When we receive the Lord’s Body and Blood, we are receiving medicine.  The Lord’s Supper is given to us for our healing, it is medicine for our souls.  In receiving Christ, we receive the cure for our sin.  The only effective treatment for our sinful nature is Christ Jesus. His cross and resurrection arrest the finality of the powers of sin, death and the devil. Through faith in Christ Jesus, we receive the promise of peace with our heavenly Father, forgiveness of our sins, and everlasting life with God in paradise. We receive this promise with faith as it is told to us. We receive this promise with faith as we receive our medicine of Christ’s forgiveness in the Lord’s Supper.

Whereas Ignatius witnesses to Christ in his ministry of Word and Sacrament and through his letters to the churches, St Luke, the Evangelist introduces us to the ministry of Christ Jesus through the gospel that bears his name.  He also wrote the Acts of the Apostles and tells us how the church spread from Jerusalem into the Gentile world. 

And, the connection between Ignatius’ description of the Lord’s Supper as medicine of immortality and St. Luke, is that Luke is a physician.  In his gospel, he gives more detail than the other gospels about people’s medical issues. 

The description of St. Luke that is given in the Treasury of Daily Prayer is a useful summary to help us understand the impact of St. Luke on our understanding of Christ and the church. 

St. Luke, the beloved physician referred to by St. Paul in Colossians 4:14, presents us with Jesus, whose blood provides the medicine of immortality.  As his traveling companion, Paul claimed Luke’s Gospel as his own for its healing of souls according to Eusebius. Luke traveled with Paul during the second missionary journey, joining him after Paul received his Macedonian call to bring the Gospel to Europe (Acts 16:10-17).  Luke most likely stayed behind in Philippi for seven years, rejoining Paul at the end of the third missionary journey in Macedonia.  He traveled with Paul to Troas, Jerusalem, and Caesarea, where Paul was imprisoned for two years (Acts 20:5-21:18). While in Caesarea, Luke may have researched material that he used in his Gospel.  Afterward, Luke accompanied Paul on his journey to Rome (Acts 27:-28:16). Especially beloved in Luke’s Gospel are the stories of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), and the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14).   Only Luke provides a detailed account of Christ’s birth (Luke 2:1-20) and the canticles of Mary (Luke 1:46-55), of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79), and of Simeon (Luke 2:29-32). To show how Christ continued His work in the Early Church through the Apostles, Luke also penned the Acts of the Apostles.  More than one-third of the New Testament comes from the hand of the evangelist Luke.   

One of the sources used in the summary is Eusebius.  He lived from 230-340.  He is the first Christian to write a Church History. In the fourth chapter of his third book, Eusebius reports this about Luke. 

 

7. But Luke, who was of Antiochian parentage and a physician by profession, and who was especially intimate with Paul and well acquainted with the rest of the apostles, has left us, in two inspired books, proofs of that spiritual healing art which he learned from them. One of these books is the Gospel, which he testifies that he wrote as those who were from the beginning eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered unto him, all of whom, as he says, he followed accurately from the first. Luke 1:2-3 The other book is the Acts of the Apostles which he composed not from the accounts of others, but from what he had seen himself.

8. And they say that Paul meant to refer to Luke's Gospel wherever, as if speaking of some gospel of his own, he used the words, according to my Gospel. Eusebius, Church History, Book III, chapter 4. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm

As our sinful human condition has not waned through the centuries, Christ and the healing medicine of his Body and Blood continue to be desperately needed.  Any cursory glance at your news provider of choice will confirm this.  Anger, strife, war, selfishness, sickness of all kinds continue to manifest themselves.  But, one of the curiosities of the last couple of decades is that as people have become more “connected” electronically, people have also suffered more loneliness, isolation, depression, and mental illness.  Our fast paced, on the go, meeting on line, ain’t got no time for nobody, lifestyle does not seem to be working out so well for us as a nation.  

One of the cures for this is Jesus Christ. In order for us to have meaningful experiences with our Lord, we need to be a part of a congregation.  In the congregation, we not only receive His Word and his Medicine of Immortality, we also are sitting with, standing next to, and singing and praying with real human beings.  Given a bit of time, life long friendships develop.  In the course of our fellowship and meals together, we walk with one another through good and troublesome times.  We pray for and support one another. For many people, being a part of a congregation brings some of the most meaningful relationships that we can have. And for many, the congregation effectively becomes our family and our home. Before long, no more isolation or loneliness.  

One of the over arching themes of the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ needs to be shared.  The cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ is not the church’s secret. The message of Christ is intended by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to go out there into the world so that all people may know the joy of Christ and his healing powers. So, we invite our friends and family into our midst so that they too can know Christ as we know Him, as our Lord, Savior, healer, and friend. 

In the name of the Father, +Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. 

____  

The quote from Ignatius comes from a useful compendium of selections of the early Christian fathers edited and translated by Henry Bettenson.  

Bettenson, Henry, ed and transl. The Early Christian Fathers: A Selection from the Writings of the Fathers from St. Clement of Rome to St. Athanasius. Oxford University Press, 1958. 

The summary of St. Luke, Evangelist is from: 

Kinnaman, Scot A., and Henry V. Gerike, eds. Treasury of Daily Prayer. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House, 2008.