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There are two traditions about Luke that the Church universally accepts. He was a physician of some kind — a healer of the body. Saint Paul calls him the “beloved physician” in his letter to the Colossians. The other is that Luke wrote the third Gospel.
But who was Luke and where did he come from? How did he become an evangelist and, perhaps, later a martyr for the faith? Was Luke one of the seventy–two “others” in today's Gospel lesson sent out by Jesus? Some think that Luke was a well educated, Greek–speaking gentile who became a Christian during Paul's missionary journeys. Other traditions hold that he was actually a poor slave boy, who was educated by his owner to be a physician for the household, a common practice of the rich at the time. At some point, Luke became a freed man and, then, followed Jesus.
This latter story seems to jive better with the emphases in Luke's Gospel. It is a book full of “reversals”. The poor become rich. The sick become well. The sinner becomes forgiven. The foreigner becomes included. Mary's Magnificat extols that the humble are exalted, the hungry are filled, and the rich are made empty. The story of the rich man and poor Lazarus, the story of the good Samaritan, the story of the Samaritan leper who returned to thank Jesus, the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector, the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and the lost prodigal son — all are unique to Luke's Gospel. A one time slave who was given freedom would likely have a keen ear for these teachings of Jesus.
At some point, Luke became a Christian — like the rest of us — by hearing the Gospel and being given the gift of saving faith in Christ. He was blessed to be made an evangelist and physician of the soul. He was a physician sent into the harvest field of the Great Physician. Through Luke's pen and his efforts, God blesses His people with the healing medicine of Jesus, giving us Jesus in the Gospel and the Sacraments.
We do see Luke doing what Jesus had charged the seventy–two to do — not just during the little time in which Jesus had sent them on ahead of Himself. It is also clear that as he accompanied Saint Paul on his missionary journeys, all the way to Paul's end in Rome. They lived and taught in the same way. Listen to what Jesus charged them to do:
Go along. I am sending you, Jesus says, as sheep in the midst of wolves.
Bear not a money bag, not a travelling bag, not sandals. Travel lightly. The Lord will provide. Money and fancy clothes will not make the message more valid or more accepted. Faith will see the Lord Jesus in the message, who is the content of the message, and who has sent the messenger. Later on, Jesus asks if He was good to His word. “Did you lack anything?” Jesus asked. “Nothing,” they replied. (Luke 22:35–36)
Along the way, no one shall you greet or welcome. You are not to visit those you know or act as host. You are just a traveler and temporary guest. You do not make prior arrangements. You are not to become the center of attention. The Lord who sent the messenger is who is important. The message He sends is important.
Into whichever house you might enter, you first say, “Peace unto this house.”
And in the same house you are to stay, while eating and drinking among them. Worthy is the worker of his wages. Do not go across from house to house.
Be content, in other words, with where you are received and what wages God allows for the work you do. You'll be worthy of wages because of the message proclaimed and because of who sent you. The people who hear your message will, out of love for God and in thanks for His healing, provide all that you need.
And you are to heal those sick in the city you enter, and say to them: “The Kingdom of God has come near unto you.” It is a simple, humble, and yet profound task and message. Jesus is here. Your peace with God and your healing from God is here.
So once upon a time, Jesus sent a physician. Jesus heals and forgives and brings His Kingdom to his people, and from them He sends more like Luke — once slaves to sin, now freed in Him, all of them sons — sons of pastors, sons of teachers, former physicians, former slaves, former Pharisees, former teachers, lawyers, chemists, farmers, businessmen, salesmen, of all walks of life, of all backgrounds, of all races and of every tribe on this earth. Workers all in the Lord's harvest field.
I remember being impressed with the many former vocations that my classmates had at the seminary. I was amazed at what some of those men had given up in order to become a worker in the harvest. That is how great the harvest is. That is an indication of the necessity of preaching the Gospel. That is how seriously the Lord of the Harvest takes the Harvest. He takes men from vocations the world approves of and gives them this humble, simple, and yet most important of tasks — a task that is despised by the sinful world.
The harvest began at the Cross and the Easter Tomb. It is written by Luke and the other prophets, apostles, and evangelists, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. The harvest would go on and on around the globe from Jerusalem and for all time, and nothing will stop it.
Thank God it has. Thank God that He has sent you so many physicians of the soul and workers in the harvest, across your lifetime, to preach the Gospel to you. You would have rotted in the field, lost as you were in your sins. You are not able to heal yourself. You cannot say, “physician, heal thyself”, because you are not the Great Physician of body and soul on your own strength. Healing must come from outside of yourself. From Adam's bad harvest of bad fruit in the Garden, Satan had done his best to steal and ruin the Lord's harvest fields. That means that you have inherited Adam's sin, and you were born an enemy of God, lost and without hope of eternal life. You need the Gospel to come to you and heal you, to release you from your bondage to sin.
And think of the contradictory message this world preaches. Thank God the Lord of the Harvest sends His workers out to give His message. This world is preaching that you can save yourself, that you don't need the grace and mercy of God, that you can live life without God and His Word. This world is teaching our young people that homosexuality, homosexual “marriage”, evolution and the denial of God's creation of the world in six days, and abortion are okay; that there are no moral absolutes; that everyone is free to do and say and act however you want; that no one ought to criticize or call sinful behavior a sin. Especially, I am hearing from our young people that even in our local public high schools, right here in North Texas, left–wing teachers are espousing and freely teaching messages that directly contradict God's Word.
Indeed, the harvest is great, but the workers are few. The devil is working hard against the harvest. So the Lord of the Harvest wants us to pray that He would raise up more workers, because He promises to provide them. By His grace, the Lord is using us to raise up humble men like the physician and former slave, Luke, to be workers in His harvest field.
God's grace here has used our congregation to provide a School where our young men and women everyday are being incubated — are lovingly and tenderly being brought up in the way they should go, in the Word of God that is the power of salvation unto their souls. Every effort should be made to keep our children safe from the false messages out there. That's an important reason the Lord has provided a school and high school here — to keep our children safe, to teach them rightly. Nothing ought to stop us from taking advantage of those gifts, nor continuing to support those gifts. Our children need them, more than ever.
Here, in our school and congregation, true and faithful preachers and teachers and missionaries of God's Word are being raised up by God, like Saint Luke was once raised up. Here is where our young people are encouraged and shown the joy of being one whom Jesus sends out to do His work, to bring His healing, to proclaim and teach His message of forgiveness and peace. Nothing should be too good for that special task.
You've given the gift of a pastor to far off places like Storm Lake, Iowa, and Lexington, Missouri, in recent years. In April, two more gifts will be given to the Church from you. And two churches much like yours have given you the gift of two pastors to preach the saving Gospel to you, not to mention those places who sent you our teachers and school staff.
Think of the past — how the faithful pastors and teachers in your life have shaped you and saved you by the power of God's Word and His blessed Sacraments. Think of the future of the Church. The tools are the same. The message is the same. The Lord will raise up those to do the task just as He always has. Some of those men who will be preachers and teachers are here even now. Some of those young ladies who will be school teachers and serve in other vocations are here even now. And all of these young people will likely, even if not in a church vocation, be workers in the harvest field that will be their own families and their workplaces that God gives them in the future.
The Lord is raising up and giving His very best for you and for His Church. That's how He works. That's how important His harvest is to Him. He gave Himself to heal you and give you peace and give you His Kingdom. He gave everything He has and is for you, to pay for you, to atone for you, to free you from the slavery of sin, to save you for all eternity. He has given you all things. Nothing is too much for the Lord. No price was or is too great to redeem and bring you home in His eternal harvest.
The harvest is indeed great, and the workers are few. Pray that the Lord would enable you to respond with your very best for the sake of His Kingdom, that the Lord would have you respond to His salvation with joyful thanksgiving for all He has done by supporting the needs of those He has sent to preach to you and to teach you and our children. Our children, here and now, need our very best. Our children today need God's saving Word taught to them each day. You, here and now, need to continually hear and be comforted with the healing of the Great Physician. You and your neighbors need a safe and inviting place where you are gathered by the Spirit to hear Jesus' Word, to receive His healing in Baptism's waters and in His Holy Meal, and respond in His praises. You and your neighbors need laborers from Christ to bring you those gifts of His forgiveness. Nothing is too much for the Lord and His harvest. He will do it, rest assured.
The Kingdom of God has come near unto you. So, may He use us to raise up many more here in this place to work in His harvest — many more Luke's, if you will — for the sake of His Church. God the Father grant us His aid, His power for this task, and His healing, His forgiveness, without which we can do nothing. May our Heavenly Father grant it all for His Son Jesus' sake. Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
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