29TH Wednesday YEAR A: Homily – Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist

29TH Wednesday YEAR A: Homily – Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist

Theme: Just Following Instructions

By; Deacon Bill Frere

Gospel – Luke 10:1-9
Entrance to Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth

Sad to say, we pulled the very last zucchini of the season out of the garden last week! Sadly, it was just a baby and lacked the size I needed to bake a few more loaves of zucchini bread. But I can’t really complain; all in all it was a good garden season. 30 zucchini in total which translated to 10 dozen zucchini chocolate chip muffins and 40 loaves of zucchini bread! At this point in my life, the recipe is not just firmly ingrained in my head; my muscle memory goes into a strict process and it all seems a bit routine and automatic! I can almost close my eyes and ignore the instructions.

Jesus lays out quite clearly in today’s Gospel His own set of instructions, the recipe for being a disciple, a follower of Christ. Step by step, He tells us what to do, what not to do, what to bring, what not to bring. He instructs us how to handle rejection and how to respond to a welcoming faith. It’s all there; we just have to follow it step by step. Jesus sends out His disciples, 72 of them, on a journey, a missionary journey to spread the Word. This was a real physical mission and He gave them very specific instructions on what to bring, what to do and how to handle situations and rejection.
Is it any wonder then that we celebrate today the Feast of St. Luke, the author of today’s Gospel. He was a physician by trade, a Greek and a Gentile convert. Tradition tells us he was also the writer of the Acts of the Apostles as well as the travelling companion of St. Paul. He literally put into practice Jesus’ instructions to His disciples. He did go out into the world! He did spread the Word and preach the Gospel! He spent his life in witness with his words and his actions. His words today challenge us to do the same! Jesus has given us our instructions. We need only to follow them in faith!
But not all of us are called to that physical journey; not all of us will be traveling to other towns or even countries to spread the Word. Many of us are called to spread the Word right where we are and with the people we interact with on a daily basis, to share the Gospel message simply in our words and actions, in how we treat each other day in and day out.
I have always had a special affection for Luke’s Gospel. He shows a special concern for all the second class citizens of the world – the poor, the ignored and forgotten, the sick and the poor, the wounded and abused. Particularly when the situation in Israel and Gaza continues to worsen hour by hour and so many have seen their homes and their lives destroyed by violence, Luke’s words today challenge us to make our own journey of compassion, of prayer and hope! Jesus has given us our instructions. We need only to follow them in faith!

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