Festival of St. Luke, Evangelist
Posted on October 18, 2022 by under
Scripture: Deuteronomy 10:12-21 (NKJV)
10:12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? 14 Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it. 15 The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. 16 Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. 18 He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name. 21 He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.”
Devotion
On this Festival of St. Luke the physician and Evangelist, we have the Lord’s prescription for His people. In the question, “What does the Lord your God require of you?” let us not miss what is already there: the requirement won’t gain God’s favor and make Him their God; they have already been chosen and made His own. The Lord has no need of gifts and praise, because it all belongs to Him already. What He requires is to live in the light of what He has done for you. The surgery performed outwardly on eight-day-old baby boys as the Old Testament Sacrament pointing forward to the great Serpent Crushing Descendant of Eve, that surgery must be performed on the hearts of those who have received that gracious gift. To put it in New Testament terms: you who have been Baptized, set your heart (by His Word) to live according to that washing of forgiveness He has given you!
As Jesus will further say (Luke 6:36), show yourself to be a true child and heir of your Father in Heaven, being merciful as He is merciful. Serve Him by serving others, not seeking praise from men, but having the Lord ever as your praise. For all of the awesome things Moses points to in our reading, how much greater He has done for us! He allows us to live when His promise has already been fulfilled and we can look with full confidence to the cross of Jesus, because we know the resurrection of Jesus (2 Pet. 1:19–21; Luke 10:23–24).
Prayer: O God, forasmuch as without Thee we are not able to please Thee: Mercifully grant, that Thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Festival of St. Luke, Evangelist
O Almighty God, Who hast instructed Thy holy Church with the heavenly doctrine of Thy Evangelists: Give us grace, that being not like children carried away with every blast of vain doctrine, we may be established in the Truth of Thy holy Gospel; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
