The Apostle Paul called Luke a “dear friend, the doctor” (Colossians 4:14). He was one of the four Gospel writers, whom we remember today. But who was he? He was a Gentile, well-schooled, having the training and skill to be a medical doctor in his day.
But, most of all, we remember Luke because he wrote “an orderly account” about Jesus for a man named Theophilus (Luke 1:3). Because of that, you are now receiving “the soundness of the instruction [that Theophilus had] received” (Luke 1:4).
Today, we praise the Lord of life for St. Luke, who was a doctor of the truth. Luke wrote all that he did, all so the truth, the truth of and the truth that is Jesus, could come to heal us. To do this, Luke went to the sources, “the original eyewitnesses and servants of the word” (Luke 1:2).
Luke was also a servant of that Word. He was no creative writer, inventing a stirring story about a religious hero. No; he became a historian, which led him back to Jesus’ first disciples, whom Jesus made Apostles, the first pastors in the Church. Luke’s Gospel, then, is genuinely apostolic: from the Apostles. His “orderly account” originated from those who were there and whose testimony was sure.
Luke wrote His Gospel so others could know Jesus and the truth of His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. For Dr. Luke knew that only Jesus was the medicine of immortality, of eternal life. Having Jesus, then, is having eternal life.
That’s why if you were to read through Luke’s Gospel in one sitting, you’d see how Luke shows that Jesus is God’s righteousness on earth. But Luke reveals that Jesus came to us in human flesh as God to save, not condemn. And so we find Luke quoting John the Baptizer’s father, Zechariah, in the first chapter of his Gospel.
Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come to His people and delivered them. God has raised up a mighty Savior for us from the family of His servant, David. He has shown the mercy promised to our fathers and remembered His Holy Covenant. He has rescued us from the hand of our enemies so we could serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. [Luke 1:67-75, quoted in part]
Luke shows that Jesus rescues us from our enemies. He gives us the power to serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness. Luke shows Jesus saving and healing us fallen creatures, whom the fallen seed of sin has infected. As Luke chapter 3 says, this was all so “everyone will see the salvation of God” (3:6).
So, Jesus came to heal everyone, even those outside of God’s Old Covenant. When an old man, named Simeon, saw the promised Messiah, he praised God! He said that Jesus would even be “a light that will reveal salvation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:31).
Then in Luke chapter 4, we see God showing mercy to non-Israelites—in the Old Testament! Luke told of the widow of Zarephath, whom God provided with food during a time of famine. Luke wrote of Naaman, the Syrian general, whom God healed of leprosy (4:25-27). In chapter 7, Luke tells us of Jesus responding to Roman centurion’s plea for Jesus to heal one of his sick servants. Of that centurion, Jesus said, “Not even in Israel have I found such great faith” (7:9)!
And so, we now arrive at Luke’s tenth chapter, our Gospel reading for today. Jesus sends out 70 men (or 72, depending on the Greek text you use) for a one-time mission. We know that’s the case because Jesus repeated what Moses did, showing that He was fulfilling the Old Covenant. In Numbers, chapter 11, we find God telling Moses:
Gather before me 70 men from Israel’s elders… Bring them to the tent of meeting [that was where God came to His people with His forgiveness] and have them stand there with you. Then I will come down and speak to you there, and I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put the Spirit on them…. Then the Lord came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses. He took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and placed the Spirit on the 70 elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but only this once. [Numbers 11:16-17, 25]
So, Jesus sends 70 men, which included Luke, according to Church tradition. Jesus sent them out, two by two, just like Moses did. They, too, were to prophesy, that is, to speak what Jesus had given them to say. So, what had Jesus sent them to say? They were to speak Jesus’ greeting to households they visited. They would say, “Peace be to this house!” Through them, Jesus was greeting those in that house, for Jesus had given them His authority to speak His greeting.
But those 70 only went where Jesus would soon visit. For everything they did and said was to direct others to Jesus. Everything they did and said directed others to a greater reality, to what Jesus would eternally fulfill in Himself. They were even pointing to Jesus’ final fulfillment of salvation, on the Last Day.
That’s when the “peace” that they spoke would take full effect. That’s the final restoration between God and man—when Jesus will return, and this fallen creation will be no more. That’s the eternal peace of which they spoke and to which they pointed.
Jesus also sent the 70 to heal the sick and say, “The Kingdom of God has come near to you” (vs. 9). That Kingdom of God was Jesus in the flesh, for He would soon go through the towns where He had sent the 70 to go.
But those physical healings also pointed to something greater—the eternal healing that Jesus would bring. For even those healed bodies would later get sick and die. But on the Last Day, Jesus will call forth sinless and incorruptible bodies from the earth to join with their sinless and incorruptible souls.
Now, for us, we like being healed of our diseases. That’s what we want! We can understand that. But eternal healing is far off and abstract. Yes, those healings by the 70 impress us, but they pale in comparison to the gift of eternal healing that Jesus will give to His saints on the Last Day.
But here’s the kicker: for our bodies to rise, Jesus must first die and rise Himself. For our resurrection of the body hinges on Jesus’ resurrection of the body. There’s no way around that. That’s why Jesus had the 70 do what they did right before Holy Week—when Jesus would die and rise! And Jesus died and rose, so after we die, He can call us forth, also to rise from the grave. The wages of sin is death. And for us to have the glory of God, our sinful flesh must be no more.
Right now, we’re living in Christ’s completed salvation for us. So, there’s no need for healing to point forward to what Jesus will carry out on the cross. He’s already done that. He brought about eternal healing by dying and rising, brought to its final fulfillment for us on the Last Day.
Now, if Jesus chooses to heal someone miraculously, we would praise Him. But He doesn’t promise to do that—not like He did with the 70. Those healings served their purpose.
Jesus even pointed to the time when the New-Covenant Church would be about the greater work of eternal healing, which Jesus carried out on the cross. Moving from the lesser to the greater, Jesus said: “I assure you: The one believes in me will do the works that I do. He will do even greater works than these because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). That more important work is the eternal healing that Jesus gives through those in His Church.
Jesus’ death to save us doesn’t look like God is His glory; it doesn’t seem like what we think salvation should be. But God had to shield His glory to save us. If He didn’t, we would all be dead because sinners cannot live in the presence of God’s full glory. That’s why Jesus came as God’s glory, hidden in human flesh. God’s glory hidden in such a way would not only not kill us; it would even give us life. For as a human, Jesus could pay the wages of our sin, by dying for us.
So, why would it be weird that Jesus would now choose to deliver His cross-won salvation to us in ways that also don’t look glorious? That’s how it was at the cross. It’s supposed to be that way, for God ways are not our ways. Yes, looks can deceive. That’s why we need the Faith that God has to give. As impressive as what we may think the 70 did, it only looks impressive with our earthly eyes, not with eternal eyes. What they did, directed others to something greater: the lasting peace that Jesus would bring, and the eternal healing that Jesus would give to us on the Last Day when He returns in glory.
Before Jesus rose from the grave, He had to die. Before the glory, came the cross. Our life mirrors the life of Christ. Our salvation looks like the opposite. And as Christ rose gloriously from the dead, so also will our glory come when our bodies rise from the dead.
Can we see past what looks like the lesser to see what is greater? Can we see God’s Kingdom coming near to us, here today, in seemingly unimpressive words, in water, in spoken forgiveness, and in bread and wine?
Our sinful flesh wants fireworks and likes to be impressed. But the new self, given to us in Christ, has the eyes of faith to see Jesus coming to us, hidden behind weakness, all to save us. That was God’s way 2,000 years ago. That’s also God’s way for us, here today. And faith says, “Amen,” awaiting the glory when Christ returns in glory. Amen.
