St. Luke: Proclaiming the Great Physician
With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. Say to those with fearful hearts,
"Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you." (Isaiah 35:3-4 NLT)
Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist. He was the beloved physician, Paul’s medical advisor who first appears at Troas during Paul’s second missionary journey and remains with the Apostle on mission for most of the rest of his life. He faced with Paul many perils and endured them patiently. “Only Luke is with me,” writes Paul towards the end of his life, in Rome (2Tim 4:11). Celebrating Luke gives us an opportunity to thank God and pray for the medical profession – giving thanks for the growth and advancement of health-enhancing technology and personnel: specialists, general practitioners, nurses, lab technologists and technicians, pharmacists, dentists, anaethesiologists, medical students, various physiotherapists, dieticians, social workers and all who support them. May the Lord strengthen them to continue in this important stewardship.
Nevertheless, we recognize the limitations of the medical practice. It has been and is still growing, with more being discovered – cures, vaccines, diagnostic tools, equipment and procedures. In Job’s days, the available resources could not diagnose and treat Job’s terrible ‘skin cancer’. He told those who came to assist him, “you are worthless physicians, all of you!” (Job 13:4). And even our days have cases that are simply relegated to care givers, beyond any hope for medical intervention. This is the place for patient endurance, and the hope of the believer is that God is with you even there, and there is eternal life beyond the wasting away of our bodies. The Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 35 is encouraging and hope-reviving for those who are tired, weak and fearful: “Be strong… for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.” He is the Great Physician.
Beyond his medical practice, Luke observed divine healings as Paul prayed and laid his hands on the sick. One time, Paul survived a lethal snake bite when a viper fastened itself on his hand! It was as miraculous as Daniel surviving the den of lions. Luke witnessed healing power beyond the provisions of his profession; he went ahead to write the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, truly proclaiming the Great Physician.
Three prayers: I call upon you to love, support and pray for our health workers who walk in the shoes of Luke the beloved physician; secondly to grow in godly patient endurance in situations that go beyond the help of our health workers; and thirdly, to hope in and hold onto the Great Physician, our Saviour Jesus Christ, at all times – who never fails, but promises eternal life where there will be no more pain, no more sadness, no more suffering, no more tears, no more sickness, no more death. God bless you.