St Luke: Disciple, Physician and Evangelist

Luke, the author of one of the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, is believed to have been a native of Antioch, and that he was trained as a physician. His Gospel is one of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), and as such it reveals many of the same accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. But Luke, like the other Gospel writers, brings his unique perspective into the telling of the story, too. His chosen work as a physician was to care for and heal the sick, those who were suffering. Knowing this, it is not hard for us to imagine that Luke would have been drawn to the transcendent healing mission of Jesus, seeing in Jesus a physician like no other.

Luke’s Gospel is the only one that tells the healing stories of the raising of the son of the widow of Nain (Lk. 7:11-17), and the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:25-37), and the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15:11-32). It is in Luke’s Gospel also that we witness Jesus’ merciful, comforting response to the “good thief” who was crucified alongside Jesus and who recognizes Jesus for who he really is, even in his own physical and psychological pain. It is this ‘thief’ who hears Jesus’ promise to him that he would indeed be with him in Paradise that very day. Don’t we all have a deep desire to hear those words? What a balm that must have been to that wounded and repentant soul! What a comfort it is to know that, like that thief, we, too, can turn to Jesus in our degradation and hear that same merciful promise from the Word of life himself.

Luke also is the only one of the four Gospel writers to give the account of how Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant when Jesus was betrayed by Judas and arrested in the garden of Gethsemane (Lk. 22:47-51). He tells us how Jesus, even amid that chaos, responded by immediately healing the slave’s ear. That passage, alone, is worthy of many hours of prayer and meditation on our part. Through the eyes and memories of the apostle and physician, Luke, we, too, can come to know and trust in the healing powers of Jesus.

And in Luke 5:31-32 Luke we see: “And Jesus answering said, ‘It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.’” We are all sinners in need of the healing touch of Jesus. We turn to him in the midst of our suffering, just as the good thief on the cross next to Jesus did in the depths of his own suffering. For in Jesus, we find the perfect physician, the One who can heal us wholly and completely from our deepest wounds.

The Holy Spirit inspired Luke through the prism of his unique personality and life experiences. In doing so, Luke’s perspective gives us another way to encounter Jesus in our hearts and minds. Like Luke, we, too, are drawn to Jesus as the healer, not just of our physical and psychological wounds but to the One who has, by his cross and resurrection, healed us from the most troubling of our wounds: sin and death.