October 18: Saint Luke the Evangelist

The Collect of the Day

Almighty God, who inspired your servant Luke the physician to set forth in the Gospel the love and healing power of your Son: Graciously continue in your church this love and power to heal, to the praise and glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Almighty God, who didst inspire thy servant Luke the physician to set forth in the Gospel the love and healing power of thy Son: Graciously continue in thy church the like love and power to heal, to the praise and glory of thy Name; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Sirach 38:1-4,6-10,12-14 or Ecclesiasticus 38:1–15
Psalm 147 or Psalm 147:1-7 or Psalm 114
2 Timothy 4:5-13 or 2 Timothy 4:5–15
Luke 4:14-21 or Luke 4:14–21

According to tradition, Luke was a physician, and one of Paul’s fellow missionaries in the early spread of Christianity throughout the Roman world. He has been identified as the writer of both the Gospel that bears his name, and its sequel, the Acts of the Apostles.

Luke seems to have either been a Gentile or a Hellenistic Jew and, like the other New Testament writers, he wrote in Greek, so that Gentiles might learn about the Lord whose life and deeds so impressed him. In the first chapter of his Gospel, he makes clear that he is offering authentic information about Jesus’ birth, ministry, death, and resurrection, as it had been handed down to him from those who had firsthand knowledge.

Only Luke provides the very familiar stories of the annunciation to Mary, of her visit to Elizabeth, of the child in the manger, the angelic host appearing to shepherds, and the meeting with the aged Simeon. Luke also includes in his work six miracles and eighteen parables not recorded in the other Gospels. In Acts he tells about the coming of the Holy Spirit, the struggles of the apostles and their triumphs over persecution, of their preaching of the Good News, and of the conversion and baptism of other disciples, who would extend the church in future years.

Luke was with Paul apparently until the latter’s martyrdom inRome. What happened to Luke after Paul’s death is unknown, but early tradition has it that he wrote his Gospel in Greece, and that he died at the age of eighty-four in Boeotia. Gregory of Nazianzus says that Luke was martyred, but this testimony is not corroborated by other sources. In the fourth century, the Emperor Constantius ordered the relics of Luke to be removed from Boeotia to Constantinople, where they could be venerated by pilgrims.

According to Orthodox Christian tradition, Luke was also the first iconographer. He is traditionally regarded as the patron saint of artists and physicians.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

Psalm

¹Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God! *how pleasant it is to honor him with praise!

²The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem; *he gathers the exiles of Israel.

³He heals the brokenhearted *and binds up their wounds.

⁴He counts the number of the stars *and calls them all by their names.

⁵Great is our Lord and mighty in power; *there is no limit to his wisdom.

⁶The Lord lifts up the lowly, *but casts the wicked to the ground.

⁷Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; *make music to our God upon the harp.

⁸He covers the heavens with clouds *and prepares rain for the earth;

⁹He makes grass to grow upon the mountains *and green plants to serve mankind.

¹⁰He provides food for flocks and herds *and for the young ravens when they cry.

¹¹He is not impressed by the might of a horse; *he has no pleasure in the strength of a man;

¹²But the Lord has pleasure in those who fear him, *in those who await his gracious favor.

¹³Worship the Lord, O Jerusalem; *praise your God, O Zion;

¹⁴For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; *he has blessed your children within you.

¹⁵He has established peace on your borders; *he satisfies you with the finest wheat.

¹⁶He sends out his command to the earth, *and his word runs very swiftly.

¹⁷He gives snow like wool; *he scatters hoarfrost like ashes.

¹⁸He scatters his hail like bread crumbs; *who can stand against his cold?

¹⁹He sends forth his word and melts them; *he blows with his wind, and the waters flow.

²⁰He declares his word to Jacob, *his statutes and his judgments to Israel.

²¹He has not done so to any other nation; *to them he has not revealed his judgments. Hallelujah!

Psalm

¹Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God! *how pleasant it is to honor him with praise!

²The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem; *he gathers the exiles of Israel.

³He heals the brokenhearted *and binds up their wounds.

⁴He counts the number of the stars *and calls them all by their names.

⁵Great is our Lord and mighty in power; *there is no limit to his wisdom.

⁶The Lord lifts up the lowly, *but casts the wicked to the ground.

⁷Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; *make music to our God upon the harp.

Psalm

¹Hallelujah! When Israel came out of Egypt, *the house of Jacob from a people of strange speech,

²Judah became God’s sanctuary *and Israel his dominion.

³The sea beheld it and fled; *Jordan turned and went back.

⁴The mountains skipped like rams, *and the little hills like young sheep.

⁵What ailed you, O sea, that you fled? *O Jordan, that you turned back?

⁶You mountains, that you skipped like rams? *you little hills like young sheep?

⁷Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, *at the presence of the God of Jacob,

⁸Who turned the hard rock into a pool of water *and flint-stone into a flowing spring.

Epistle

Gospel

¹Honour physicians for their services, for the Lord created them; ² for their gift of healing comes from the Most High, and they are rewarded by the king. ³ The skill of physicians makes them distinguished, and in the presence of the great they are admired. ⁴ The Lord created medicines out of the earth, and the sensible will not despise them. ⁵ Was not water made sweet with a tree in order that its power might be known? ⁶ And he gave skill to human beings that he might be glorified in his marvellous works. ⁷ By them the physician heals and takes away pain; ⁸ the pharmacist makes a mixture from them. God’s works will never be finished; and from him health spreads over all the earth. ⁹ My child, when you are ill, do not delay, but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you. ¹⁰ Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly, and cleanse your heart from all sin. ¹¹ Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice, and a memorial portion of choice flour, and pour oil on your offering, as much as you can afford. ¹² Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him; do not let him leave you, for you need him. ¹³ There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians, ¹⁴ for they too pray to the Lord that he will grant them success in diagnosis and in healing, for the sake of preserving life. ¹⁵ He who sins against his Maker will be defiant towards the physician.