Blessed Memorial of St. Luke the Evangelist!
St. Luke famously dedicated his two part work, Luke and Acts, to a figure named Theophilus: “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, 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 concerning the things of which you have been informed” (Luke 1:1-4).
We do not know whether this dedication is to an actual historical figure. However, the name itself means friend or lover of God, and thus, we are not incorrect to understand Luke to be addressing all those who love God and seek relationship with Him through, with and in Jesus Christ, the Son of God Incarnate. What’s more, if we attend closely to the mirroring dynamics of Luke’s two part work, it seems he has a very specific understanding of what it means to be a “lover of God.”
This is tied to the symbol that the Tradition has come to associate with the Gospel of Luke, that of the calf, taken from the Book of Ezekiel (Ez. 1:10). St. Jerome teaches that the Gospel of Luke is appropriately signified by “the calf which prefigures that the evangelist Luke began with Zachariah the priest” (Commentary on Matthew, P.3). The calf, then, symbolizes the sacrifices that would be associated with Zechariah’s duties in the temple, a task which Luke tells us, “fell to him by lot…” (Luke 1:9). The idea here is that Zechariah was chosen by God for this service, and thus, it should not surprise that in the beginning of Acts, we find that Matthias is chosen to replace Judas in the very same way: “and they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias” (Acts 1:26). What follows in the Gospel of Luke is the fulfillment of the temple sacrifices by the Sacrifice of the Cross of Christ. In Acts, through the application of many parallels between the sacrifice of Christ and the martyrdom of St. Stephen, Luke makes obvious that those chosen to follow Christ must live as he did. The most intense form of imitation being the forgiving of one’s enemies.
We see this radical form of love exemplified by Jesus on the cross (Luke 23:34) and by Stephen as he was stoned to death (Acts 7:60). In contemplating these episodes Luke sets before us the vocation of the Christian as one of self-sacrificing love that is meant to make God’s healing power present to a world so deeply divided. Thus, when we see the symbol of the calf etched or carved into an ambo or depicted in stained glass, not only should we recall the Gospel of Luke, but Theophilus as well, the lover of God, each of us, who in unity with Christ, lives as God’s instrument of forgiveness and unity in the world.
St. Luke the Evangelist, pray for us, that united to Christ, we may become instruments of God’s forgiveness and saving love in the world!
Your servant in Christ,
Tony Crescio is the founder of FRESHImage Ministries. He holds an MTS from the University of Notre Dame and is currently a PhD candidate in Christian Theology at Saint Louis University. His research focuses on the intersection between moral and sacramental theology. His dissertation is entitled, Presencing the Divine: Augustine, the Eucharist and the Ethics of Exemplarity.
Tony’s academic publications can be found here.