Saint Luke the Evangelist Feast Day – October 18

Luke was an Evangelist, but he never actually met Our Lord in person. It was through the personal interviews of eyewitness accounts, that he came to know about Jesus’ life, death, and Resurrection. Luke was both a Greek physician and a gentile. During his life, he had the privilege of traveling with, and being instructed by Saint Paul during Paul’s second missionary journey. It is also said, that Luke was the only person to remain with Paul during his imprisonment in Rome and stayed with him until Paul’s execution.

Luke's gospel is known to be unique and shows a special sensitivity to evangelizing Gentiles. For not only do we hear the parables of the Good Samaritan; but also about Jesus praising the faith of gentiles such as the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian (Lk.4:25-27), as well as the story of the “one grateful” Samaritan leper out of ten, who returned to Jesus to give thanks. (Lk.17:11-19).

In addition, Luke is the only author to provide us with personal information about Jesus’ mother, Mary. It is only in his gospel that we hear the five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary; the Annunciation, Mary's visit to Elizabeth including the Magnificat, the Birth of Jesus, the Presentation, and the story of the three-day search in Jerusalem. It is because of Luke, that we have the Scriptural parts used for Our Lady’s Prayer: "Hail Mary, full of grace" spoken at the Annunciation, and "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus"; spoken to Mary, by her cousin Elizabeth. Beyond the gospel, Luke also authored the Acts of the Apostles. In Acts, he tells us about coming of the Holy Spirit during Pentecost along with the work of the Apostles, and Saint Paul; as well as the growth of the Church. Including both the gospel and the accounts of Acts, Luke wrote 27 percent of the New Testament; more than any other author, including Paul.

Having been a physician, he is considered to be the patron saint of doctors as well as being the patron saint of artists. It is believed that he painted the famous portrait of Mary, called “The Advocata”. (visit the upper room web page by going to ollvenice.org link, tab upper room to see this picture)

Historical note about the Samaritans – What produced such hatred between the Samaritans and the Jews?

Things were never on good footing after the separation of the country into two kingdoms; Northern/Israel and Southern/Judea. When the Assyrians came and conquered and sacked Jerusalem; and the prized survivors were dragged back to Persia. Whatever remaining population was left, occupied Samaria and intermarried with other races and religions during the exile. When Cyrus of Assyria finally permitted the conquered Jerusalem Jews to return from the exile, the Samaritans were ready to welcome back their brothers in blood. The exiles, however, despised the Samaritans as mix-race renegades. So, when the Samaritans wanted to join in rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem, their offer of assistance was rudely rejected. The Samaritans were no longer considered to be “Jewish enough”, even though the returning exiles had probably just as much mixed blood in their line, considering they lived in a foreign country for 70 years. With the rejection, came both hostility and political opposition. The Samaritans then tried to undermine the Jews with their Persian rulers to slow the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its temple. Nehemiah tells us (Nehemiah 13:28-29), that a grandson of the high priest, Eliashib had married a daughter of the governor of the province of Samaria. For defiling the priesthood by marrying a non-Jewish woman, Nehemiah drove Eliashib from Jerusalem and forbade the Samaritans from worshiping at the new temple in Jerusalem. According to the historian Josephus, the Samarian governor, then had a temple built on Mount Gerizim in which his son-in-law Eliashib, could perform his function as a priest. Apparently, this is when the full and final break between Jews and Samaritans took place.

The fact that there was such dislike and hostility between Jews and Samaritans is what gives the use of the Samaritan in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37) such force! The Samaritan is the one who is able to rise above the bigotry and prejudices of centuries, and show mercy and compassion for the injured Jew, after the Jew’s own countrymen pass him by!