Saint Luke, Physician of the Incarnation

In writing his Gospel, Saint Luke placed special emphasis on the human compassion of Jesus for the poor and suffering. Probably because Luke himself was a physician and experienced daily the brokenness of human life. He was a physician after Christ’s own heart, and only a physician who cared for both body and soul could present the humane and divine compassion of Christ so memorably. While Matthew focused more on Jesus’ fulfilment of Jewish Law and John aimed for the heights of theological insight, Luke’s goals were more earthy. That is why his genealogy of Jesus does not stop at Abraham like the genealogy in Matthew’s Gospel, but goes all the way back to Adam, the original human. The highest statement of the Incarnation is in John’s Gospel: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” But to know how deep was Christ’s understanding of the human condition, we go to Luke’s Gospel. John gives us the theology of Incarnation. Luke gives us the experience of Incarnation. That’s how I would put it.

Luke tells us more about Mary than the other three Gospels. Mary was Luke’s direct connection with the Incarnation. That’s why there is more of Mary in Luke’s Gospel than in the other three Gospels. It is not a coincidence that Church Tradition tells us that Luke was the first iconographer. Yes, it is said that Luke painted the first icons, 70 of them! Many of which were of Mary, the Theotokos. Some still exist in various churches and monasteries. Are they all really his icons? Is the Shroud of Turin really the burial cloth of Christ? We cannot prove any of it, just as we cannot prove the Incarnation, that the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. But we can believe the words of St Luke, and we can believe that he is a faithful witness to the impact the Incarnation and Passion and Resurrection of the Lord had on the first generation of Christians.

We say witness to the first generation of Christians because Luke was not one of the Twelve. He was not an eye witness of the Lord. That is why he begins his Gospel with this statement:

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word (αὐτόπται καὶ ὑπηρέται γενόμενοι τοῦ λόγου), it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the truth (τὴν ἀσφάλειαν) concerning the things (λόγων) of which you have been informed (κατηχήθης).”

Luke wrote like a scholar. He was a physician after all. Consider to the words he uses:

“eyewitnesses and ministers of the word” – not just eyewitnesses, but also ministers/servants (ὑπηρέται). They were not just witnesses, but they put their lives on the line for what they witnessed. And to whom and what did they witness? The Word, τοῦ λόγου. Is luke here echoing John’s Gospel which speaks of Christ as the Word of God? Perhaps, for the simple reason that a couple of lines later he speaks of ‘words’ in the plural, λόγων (translated as ‘things’ in the RSV version quoted above). The eyewitnesses saw the logos. Theophilus, the recipient of Luke’s Gospel, had been ‘informed’ the logous about the logos. Amazing how dense such a statement can be in Greek at the very beginning of Luke’s Gospel. And it’s even more dense: Theophilus had catechized (κατηχήθης) the words! He hadn’t received mere information, as the English translation renders it; he had received catechism, like a new believer in Christ would receive. So Luke appropriately says that what he writes guarantee the ‘truth’, the ἀσφάλειαν (the certainty, security), of what Theophilus has learned from other sources. This is the built-in authentication of Scripture that does not need the speculations of borderline believers as we have today in the schools of Biblical scholarship.

Do you see how careful Luke was to establish his credentials? Just like Saint Paul did in each letter that he wrote? This was very important to these men. The words they wrote were not of their own invention, not their opinions! They were the truths that had passed through human hands so as to be expressed in language that humans can understand. The genius of the Apostles and New Testament writers is precisely this, that their words reveal divine mysteries in language that we can understand. There are difficult passages in the NT, but it’s not because of philosophy; it’s because, well, because we are human! And the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, also was human. We heard the Lord today in the Gospel reading from Luke: “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” He saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven, and He gave the Apostles authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. and He tells them that far more important than their power over spirits is that their names are written in heaven.” How beautiful is that and what He also said “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.” That indeed is God’s gracious wish, that our names be written in heaven.

In the first two chapters of his Gospel Luke wrote about the Incarnation. But he begins with John the Baptist! Christ’s story begins with the miraculous birth of a child. There is a human history next to the divine history of Christ’s coming into the world. Just as the words of truth came into existence through human speech, so also the eternal Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. Luke goes on to describe the birth of Jesus according to the traditions of the Jews, as in His presentation in the Temple 40 days after His birth and the witness of two old people who were both filled with the Spirit Simeon and Anna and recognized who this 40-day old baby was.

Luke’s Gospel is our source for some of the most memorable images and teachings of Jesus: His reading of Isaiah in the synagogue of Nazareth; His preaching from a boat; the sinful woman who anointed and kissed His feet which inspired him to teach a Pharisee about love; the healing of the woman with the discharge of blood; the Parable of the Good Samaritan; Martha and Mary and Mary’s choosing of the good portion; the Parable of the Rich Fool; the Parable of the Lost Sheep; the Parable of the Prodigal Son; the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus; the healing of the ten lepers and the only one who came back to thank Him; the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector; Jesus and Zacchaeus; the widow’s offering; the two thieves crucified with Jesus; the road to Emmaus; the Ascension. And so much more.

Saint John Chrysostom tells us Christ comes to us saying, ‘I am a father to you, I am a brother, I am a bridegroom, I am a dwelling place, I am food, I am raiment, I am a root, I am a foundation, I am all that you desire. Be in need of nothing. I will serve you, for I came to minister, not to be ministered unto. I am a friend, and a member, and a head, and a brother, and a sister, and a mother. I am all things; only be intimately related to Me.’

Yes, let’s be intimately related to Him. He became as one of us in order to lift us to eternal family status. There is no other reason to be here and to be Orthodox Christians. Through Jesus Christ, our brother and friend, our dwelling place. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us so we can dwell in Him. Praise the Lord!

(The above was meant to be the sermon on Sunday, October 18th, 2026, which was also the commemoration of Saint Luke the Evangelist. The sermon was not delivered because of illness.)