10/18/2026
Here is the sermon for the commemoration of St. Luke, Evangelist; on Luke 1:1-4, 24:44-53; for October 18, 2026:
We don’t know too much about St. Luke, the person. He was not a first-hand witness of Jesus’ ministry; he learned about Jesus and came to believe because of others who had passed down what they had seen and heard. In that way, he’s just like us. He understood that the gospel was not only for the Jewish people, but for everyone. He may have been a gentile himself. He wrote beautiful Greek, but he also really knew his Hebrew scriptures inside and out. He may well have been the same Luke who travelled with St. Paul and was with him at the end. This is probably the same Luke that Paul refers to elsewhere as “the beloved physician”.
We don’t know much about Luke the person, but that’s okay. We have his books—the gospel that bears his name, and the book of the Acts of the Apostles. His gospel tells the story of Jesus, and Acts is a direct sequel that tells the story of the birth of the church and the rapid spread of the faith. Between his gospel and the book of Acts, Luke composed over a quarter of the New Testament. He may have been a physician, but he was definitely an evangelist, a person called to share the good news. He was a faithful witness who told the old, old story of Jesus and his love. And he told that story really well.
Strangely enough, the traditional symbol for St. Luke is a winged ox. This isn’t totally random; it’s based on the four living creatures described in Ezekiel and the book of Revelation. These heavenly beings support and surround the throne of God as they sing endless praise to the one on the throne. One has a face like a human, one like an ox, one like a lion, and one like an eagle. Pretty early on, Christians thought: hmmm, four living creatures, four gospels…maybe there’s a connection. John gets the eagle, Mark the lion, Matthew the human one, and by default, Luke gets the ox. Why? According to some of the early church fathers, it is because Luke tells the story of the fatted calf that is killed to celebrate the return of the prodigal son. Others say that it’s because Luke puts a special emphasis on the Temple and its system of sacrificial worship, including the offering of oxen… Well, somebody had to get the ox.
As you know, each of the four gospels tells the story a little differently. Luke himself says that he wants to provide an orderly account of all the things that have taken place. For him, the story of Jesus and his followers is part of God’s plan. Everything unfolds just the way it was supposed to; for Luke, Jesus is the fulfillment or completion of what the Hebrew scriptures have been saying all along. He composes this narrative for someone he refers to as the most excellent Theophilus. Now, Theophilus may have been a specific individual, but his name literally means “lover of God”, so really, this two-volume book is written for all of us who love and seek God.
Without the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, our faith would be so much thinner and poorer. We wouldn’t have the parables of the good Samaritan or the prodigal son. We wouldn’t have the rich man and Lazarus, or the Pharisee and the tax collector. We wouldn’t have most of the Christmas story—no angel Gabriel, no census, no journey to Bethlehem, no manger, no swaddling clothes, no shepherds keeping watch by night, no heavenly host singing glory to God in the highest. Only Luke records the presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple; only Luke tells about twelve-year-old Jesus losing his parents and teaching the elders in that same Temple. Without Luke, we wouldn’t have the good thief on the cross who says Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. We wouldn’t have the Easter story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who finally recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread. We wouldn’t have any account of the Ascension of Jesus, or of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Luke has given us some of the most beautiful songs of the church—the Benedictus, which was sung by Zechariah after the birth of his Son, John the Baptist. It begins: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has come to his people to set them free. Then there’s the Magnificat, Mary’s song: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my Spirit rejoices in God my Savior. And last but not least, there’s the Nunc Dimittis, sung by Simeon after he gets to hold baby Jesus: Now, Lord, let your servant go in peace, according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation. All three of these prayers have been sung by the church from its earliest days; they are still used in the daily prayer offices for morning, evening, and night prayer. Our hymnals still contain multiple musical settings of these songs composed by St. Luke.
Food was of particular interest to Luke. Every single chapter includes some reference to food or eating together or feasting. Luke also pays a surprising amount of attention to women. In his gospel, Mary is a major character in her own right. Then there is Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin and the mother of John the Baptist, who greets Mary by saying: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! Luke lifts up Anna, the prophet who welcomed baby Jesus in the Temple. He lifts up Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Susanna as disciples and financial supporters of Jesus’ ministry. Finally, Luke pays attention to the work of the Holy Spirit, who moves the whole story along. It is the Spirit who opens people’s hearts to believe and opens people’s lips to praise God and share the good news.
Because Luke has given us his well-ordered account, we too can be witnesses of all these things. We too can worship and live with great joy. Amen.
Rev. Jean N. Kuebler, October 15, 2026
