The Festival of St. Luke, Evangelist
Posted on October 18, 2025 by under
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:5-11 (NKJV)
4:5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
9 Be diligent to come to me quickly; 10 for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica—Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.
Devotion
Mark and Luke: these two Gospel writers were not Apostles, but we must not think of them as “lesser” than Matthew and John, for they were faithful to their callings. In this text, St. Paul complains that all his companions have abandoned him, except for Luke, who is faithful. Mark he also desires to have with him, knowing that Mark is of great help to him. So, even though Mark and Luke are not Apostles, they have the endorsement of the apostle Paul for their labor and faithfulness.
Luke’s Gospel is unique because it was a collected account. Matthew and John wrote down their own eye-witness accounts. Mark’s Gospel is held to be the witness of Peter, written down by Mark. But Luke relied on those who were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word and, tracing the events from the first, makes “an orderly account” of them (Luke 1:1-3).
When we say that the Gospels are “inspired”, we do not mean, as some imagine, that the Holy Spirit “possessed” the hands of the writers and controlled them. God kept their free will intact and used their whole person—body, mind, will, skills, etc.—in a way that the final product was exactly what the Spirit intended, but truly written by men, who faithfully and intentionally labored in their own vocations.
Collect: 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.
Collect for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Lord, we beseech Thee, grant Thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow Thee, the only God; 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.
