St. Luke, the beloved physician referred to by St. Paul (Colossians 4:14), presents us with Jesus, whose blood provides the medicine of immortality. As his traveling companion, Paul claimed Luke’s Gospel as his own for its healing of souls (Eusebius). Luke traveled with Paul during the second missionary journey, joining him after Paul received his Macedonian call to bring the Gospel to Europe (Acts16:10-17). Luke most likely stayed behind in Philippi for seven years, rejoining Paul at the end of the third missionary journey in Macedonia. He traveled with Paul to Troas, Jerusalem, and Caesarea, where Paul was imprisoned for two years (Acts 20:5-21:18). While in Caesarea, Luke may have researched material that he used in his Gospel. Afterward, Luke accompanied Paul on his journey to Rome (Acts 27:1-28:16).

Especially beloved in Luke’s Gospel are the stories of the Good Samaritan (Luke 16:29-37) and the prodigal son (Luke15:11-32). Only Luke provides a detailed account of Christ’s birth (Luke 2:1-20) and the canticles of Mary (Luke1:46-55), of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79), and Simeon (Luke 2:29-32).

To show how Christ continued His work in the Early Church through the apostles, Luke also penned the Acts of the Apostles. More than one-third of the New Testament comes from the hand of the evangelist Luke. (From The Treasury of Daily Prayer, Concordia Publishing House)

“What’s in it for me?” It’s easy to look at life through the lens of that question, to make decisions based on perceived personal benefit. Perhaps at times we look at Christianity through that lens, wondering what we will gain from following Christ. “What’s in it for me?” Jesus’ first disciples asked that question. They hoped that following Christ would bring prestige and honor. They assumed following Christ would make life easier. But it doesn’t work like that. Followers of Christ are called to sacrifice for the well-being of others.

“What’s in it for me?” Everything! Because of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice, followers of Christ have the peace of His forgiveness. Followers of Christ have the joy of meaningful purpose. Followers of Christ look forward to an eternity of glory in Christ’s heavenly kingdom. In Spirit-wrought gratitude, followers of Christ make selfless sacrifices with joy.

People think that establishing priorities is about ranking things in order of importance. But it is more than that. We do not have unlimited time and energy. So, establishing priorities enables us to say “no” to things which might be good yet not truly important. Without proper priorities, one inevitably will pursue that which is nice while downplaying that which is needed.

Throughout Scripture believers are urged to prioritize. It is the heart of the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Jesus calls for prioritization when He says, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Good news: followers of Christ maintain proper priorities. Even better news: followers of Christ receive His forgiveness for all the times their priorities have been improper.

Love can cause harm. Consider the wife whose husband wants little to do with church. She loves him and does not want to upset him. So, when her husband wants her and the children to stay home Sunday morning, she complies without protest. That wife’s love for her husband hurts him, her children, and herself. Or consider the father who loves his child so much that he gives the child everything that child asks for. That father’s love is toxic. It is shaping that child to be a selfish, entitled adult.

In our families, it is not enough that there is love. We need to rightly love, to love in a way that leads to blessings for those we claim to love. This illustrates the need for followership. In Jesus we see perfect, self-sacrificial love. Jesus loves us as we are. He also loved us too much to leave us as we are. So, in love he gave his life up so that we might be holy and blameless. His love for us shapes the way we love our spouse, our children, our parents. Today we see that followers of Christ know how to love their family.

Humility and pride are polar opposites. Pride exalts self at the expense of God and others. Humility exalts God and others at the expense of self. Pride is the essential vice, for it increases one’s hunger for all other sins. Humility increases one’s hunger for the forgiveness and healing found in Christ. The one who is proud demands to be served. The one who is humble is not content unless serving others. St. Augustine described it this way: “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”

As we see all Christ did to serve us, our hearts melt. Within us grows a Christ-like obsession to serve others, without counting the cost, without any desire to be repaid. Those who are in positions of Christian leadership understand that their leadership can only be achieved through service. For followers of Christ are humble servants.

Power is neither inherently good nor bad. Fire is powerful. The chef uses fire to create meals. But the arsonist uses fire to destroy homes. Nuclear fission is a powerful force. The engineer harnesses it, producing abundant electricity. The tyrant harnesses it, threating others with nuclear weapons. What matters is the purpose of the one who has that power.

Jesus has limitless power, as the numerous accounts of his miracles demonstrate. Those who witnessed those miracles understood that Jesus used his power for good. That doesn’t mean they all understood Jesus’ true purpose. Some thought Jesus’ purpose was to make this temporal life better. And while Jesus did that at times, his ultimate purpose was to save us from sin and give us the gift of eternal life. Followers of Christ see the true purpose of his power.

A loving father gives his son and daughter a list of rules and regulations. Chores, curfews, civilities, dress code—the father makes his will clearly known. The son strives to follow the rules for two reasons. 1) He wants to get his allowance. 2) He is afraid that if he breaks the rules, his father will punish him. The daughter strives to follow the rules, also for two reasons. 1) She believes her father established those rules not to control her but for her safety and blessing. 2) She wants to demonstrate how much she loves and trusts her father. Those two children’s actions might look almost identical. Their hearts are very different!

Likewise, following Christ is not simply a matter of outward observance of laws. It is a matter of the heart. The Law was given so we could see God’s heart and demonstrate how his heart has affected our own. The followership Christ seeks flows from hearts that have been radically transformed by God’s law and gospel. Christ wants his followers to be less like the son described above, and more like the daughter. This week we see that followers of Christ obey his law from the heart.

There are many different theories about the healthiest way to eat. There’s the old food pyramid, built on a foundation of whole grains. There’s the Mediterranean diet, the Atkins diet, the Paleo diet, and many others. We can debate which is best, but what is undebatable is that whatever your diet, you are going to die. Perhaps a vegetarian diet is indeed easier on your heart. Still, your heart is going to stop eventually. But in his Bread of Life discourse, Jesus offers food that enables us to live forever.

There are foods you might never have tasted without someone working hard to convince you to try them. Likewise, this spiritual food that Jesus describes is something no one finds appealing at first, but distasteful. And so today Jesus explains that we need God to work within us, so that we have the wisdom to see that this food gives life and the faith to find this bread most delicious.