In Luke’s Gospel, alongside the account of the Twelve being sent out, he speaks of Seventy-Two being sent out by Our Lord with a very similar mandate. Luke probably identified with the Seventy-Two; the needs of the Gospel were expanding and more help was needed. As today’s First Reading reminds us, Luke accompanied the apostle Paul in some of his missionary work. In the Acts of the Apostles, written by St. Luke, the narrative switches from speaking about Paul to speaking about where “we” were and what “we” did. Luke never imagined the special collaboration he would have with the Apostles: he was not just a co-worker, he was an evangelist.
He was probably a second or third generation Christian, so while he lived at the same time as the Apostles, he also knew the Church would continue after their passing. In addition to recalling the life of Our Lord in his Gospel he left us the Acts of the Apostles to see how the Apostles carried on Our Lord’s mission after his Ascension, spurred on by the Holy Spirit. He was well aware that soon his generation would carry on the mission, just as the Apostles had done.
Luke reminds us on his feast day that just because we’ve come after the first generations of Christians doesn’t mean we should be less engaged in continuing Our Lord’s mission. Luke was not an optional evangelist, and he even went beyond the evangelist mandate by giving us the Acts of the Apostles. Let’s ask him to help us see how we can bring the Church’s work of evangelization forward.
Readings: 2 Timothy 4:10–17b; Psalm 145:10–13, 17–18; Luke 10:1–9.
