Feast if Saint Luke, evangelist
(II
Timothy 4:10-17b; Luke 10:1-9)
St. Luke,
the author of the “third gospel,” also wrote the Acts of the Apostles. He interrelates both works in several
ways. Perhaps most importantly, in Acts Luke
writes about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ streams from Jerusalem throughout
the world. Today’s gospel passage anticipates
this movement.
Seventy-two
is not an arbitrary number for disciples.
It represents all the nations of the world in the Book of Genesis -- one
disciple for every nation. When Luke
quotes Jesus as saying, “… eat and drink what is offered to you,” he may have
in mind the non-kosher diet of the gentile nations. In any case, the disciples-missionaries are
not to shop around for fine accommodations.
Preaching the gospel requires letting go of comfort to concentrate on the
hard work of preaching that Christ will come soon.
Yet after
two thousand years he has not returned, at least in flesh and blood. Missionary-disciples have become rather
lax. We often hedge on doing what is
right. We are reluctant to share our
faith with those who need it. St. Luke
would remind us not to give up. He would
say that the gospel prospect of “the daybreak from on high… (shining) on those
who sit in darkness and death’s shadow, (guiding) our feet into the path of
peace” is slowly becoming reality.
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