The Sermon for the Festival of St. Luke the Evangelist, Sunday, October 20th, 2024
The Lessons: Ecclesiasticus 38:1-14; Psalm 147:1-11; 2 Timothy 4:1-13; Luke 4:14-21
The Text: Psalm 147:3
INTRODUCTION
Today, as we celebrate the Festival of St. Luke the Evangelist, the Patron Saint of our Church, we are thankful to the Lord for the gifts and ministry of healing, which He has given the Church through the Holy Spirit.
The 2019 Prayer Book, in its Collect for this Festival, emphasizes the spiritual aspect of healing:
Almighty God. Who didst call thy servant Luke to be an evangelist and physician of the soul: May it please thee, that by the wholesome medicines of the doctrine delivered by him, all the diseases of our souls may be healed; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
(p.632, The Book of Common Prayer, 2019)
This Collect differs remarkably from the Collect in our 1928 Prayer Book in that the latter refers to St. Luke as “the Physician” whom God inspired to show in the Gospel “the love and healing power” of His Son, and prays that God will reveal in His Church, the same power and love for the healing of our bodies and our souls. Whereas the 1928 Prayer Book Collect for St. Luke views God’s healing as extending both to our bodies and our souls, or the whole person, the 2019 Prayer Book emphasizes the healing of all the diseases of our souls, but remains silent about the healing of the body.
What we have to guard against in the Collect as we find it in the 2019 Prayer Book, is a tendency towards cessationism, with respect to aspects of healing. St. Luke does not in any way restrict healing to the healing of the soul, but portrays Jesus’ ministry of healing as very comprehensive. In the Acts of the Apostles, the healing ministry of the Apostles certainly includes the healing of bodily sickness, and even raising people from the dead. If God no longer heals diseases of the body, but only those of the soul, we should have heard this in some General Council of the Church. But reports still come in, and testimonies to God’s healing power. Since the Lord Jesus Christ performed miracles of healing during his earthly ministry, and continued to do so through the Apostles, He does so today, and will continue to do so throughout this age.
THE EXAMPLE OF ST. LUKE THE EVANGELIST
St. Luke the Evangelist sets us a noble example of the healing ministry, in that he was both a physician and the Evangelist who recorded the third Gospel and the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. In these ways, he showed us the value of healing through medicines as well as the supreme value of healing through the Lord Jesus Christ, and the power of healing that comes by receiving Christ through hearing the preaching of the Gospel. In his Gospel account and in the Book of Acts he also bears testimony to the supernatural healing gifts and graces that Christ has given the Church through the miracles wrought by the Apostles and others such as St. Stephen and St. Philip. He even demonstrates that these miracles and healings confirmed the power of God’s word to save souls.
PSALM 147:3 – GOD HEALS THE BROKEN-HEARTED
In today’s Psalter reading from Psalm 147, we find the statement that God heals the broken in heart and gives medicine to heal their sickness (Ps. 147:3). In the Hebrew, and in the Septuagint and Vulgate translations of this verse, the idea expressed in brokenness of heart is a complete crushing, affliction. God heals all such people who come to him for healing, and gives them the medicine that they need. If we think of our Church as a hospital for healing, then the principal medicines given here are the word of God and the sacraments. The Sacrament of Holy Baptism unites us with the Great Healer and Physician of our souls, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Sacrament of Holy Communion refreshes and strengthens the union we already have with the Lord Jesus Christ, and heals our souls.
To the Lord Jesus Christ we must all come daily for the refreshment, healing, and forgiveness that He alone can give, and this healing is often a gradual process, as this story illustrates:
A traveler was making his way with a guide through the jungles of Burma. They came to a shallow, wide river and waded through it to the other side. When the traveler came out of the river, numerous leeches were on his torso and legs. His first instinct was to grab them and pull them off.
This guide stopped him, warning that doing so would leave tiny pieces of the leeches under the skin. Eventually, infection would set in. The best way to rid the body of the leeches, the guide advised, was to bathe in a warm balsam bath for several minutes. This would calm the leeches, and soon they would release their hold on the man’s body.
Likewise, when I’ve been hurt by another person, I cannot simply yank the injury from myself and expect that all bitterness, malice, and emotion will be gone. Resentment still hides under the surface. The only way to become truly free of the offense and to forgive others is to bathe in the soothing bath of God’s forgiveness.
When I finally fathom the extent of God’s love in Jesus Christ, forgiveness of others will follow.
— Gary Preston, Character Forged
from Conflict (Bethany, 1999)[1]
Each of us must come to the Lord Jesus Christ for this healing, if we are to be effective instruments of His healing for others.
HOW CHRISTIANS ARE TO BE BEARERS OF CHRIST’S HEALING GRACE
Now if the Church is to be effective as a hospital for souls, its members must reach out to one another and to everyone with the love of Christ. Our vision statement emphasizes this point by saying that we try to welcome and accept everyone, and we reach out to others. In fact, our vision statement concludes with the idea that we must all become physicians of the soul and evangelists to everyone. This is a high calling, which requires each of us to live in close communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, abiding in Him, following Him, loving God most of all, and our neighbors as ourselves. This is important, as you can appreciate from this simple example.
Imagine a hospital in which all the staff, doctors, nurses and all the other health care workers were concerned only about what they would do after their workday had ended, and were talking continually about shopping, golf, eating out at restaurants, jogging, cycling, watching sports games, and engaging in other recreational activities. What would the patients think? Surely they would receive the impression that the hospital staff weren’t concentrating on their work or on the healing of their patients!
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, in applying this to our Church as a hospital for souls, I stress that it is extremely important that we show the love of Christ both to one another and to all who come in through our doors, and that our conversation reflects a concern for people. The priorities of our lives, as well as our way of life, must indicate that we are evangelists and physicians of souls.
[1] p.89, Craig Brian Larson & Phyllis Ten Elshof (General Editors): 1001 Illustrations that Connect. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, Christianity Today International, 2008.