Monday, 29 June 2015

LUKE, one of the chosen ones.

A physician and faithful companion of the apostle Paul. The name appears three times in the New Testament. (Col.4:14; 2 Tim.4:11; Phlm.24). Traditionally identified as the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.
Luke did not speak of himself as an eyewitness of the events in the life of Christ that are recorded in his  Gospel account. (Luke 1:2). He became a believer sometime after the Festival of Harvest (Ex.23:16) or Festival of Weeks (Ex.34:22), or called also "the day of the first ripe fruits." (Num.28:26). Pentecost was a later name used to denote the Festival.
The Festival of Pentecost came at the end of the early harvest of the year. The Israelites were not allowed to begin harvest until the first fruits of the barley had been presented to God on the month of Nissan, the second week of the month. Every male was required to attend, and, in connection with this Festival, it is also stated: "You must rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter and your man salve and your slave girl and the Levite who is inside your gates and the alien resident and the fatherless boy and the widow, who are in your midst, in the place that the Lord your God will choose to have his name reside there." (Deut.16:11).
The first fruits of the wheat harvest were to be treated differently from the barley first fruits. Two-tenths of an ephah of fine wheat flour (1/8 bushel; 4.4 liters) was to be baked into two loaves along with leaven. They were to be "out of your dwelling places," which meant that the service of those chosen from the wheat harvest were to be on daily basis and not expressly for holy purposes. (Lev. 23:17).
By way of characterizing Luke, 2 Tim. 4:11 highlights Luke's faithfulness in comparison with some who are said to have deserted Paul. In Phlm. 24 Like is identified as a "fellow worker," not simply one of Paul's "traveling companions" or "assistants," but a person of comparable stature, a "missionary colleague." Col.4:14 refers to Luke as "beloved physician." Apparently, his knowledge and skills as a  healer had won his respect, placing him in the company of those physicians known in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, who enjoyed high status as students of medicine and philosophy.
In the Book of Acts, Luke is referred to in an indirect way by the use of the pronouns "we" and "us."
(Acts 16; 20; 27). He was with Paul at Troas on the apostle's second missionary tour and accompanied him from there to Philippi, where he remained until Paul's return on his third missionary journey.
Luke accompanied Paul to Palestine at the end of that missionary tour (Acts 21) and, while the apostle was imprisoned for about two years at Caesarea, Luke wrote his Gospel account there.
He accompanied Paul on his trip to Rome for trial (Acts 27; 28), completing the Book of Acts in Rome.
Luke joined Paul in sending greetings to Christians at Colossae when Paul wrote to them from Rome and the apostle identified him as "the beloved physician." (Col. 4:14).
In writing to Philemon from Rome, Paul include greetings from Luke, referring to him as one of his "fellow workers." (Philem. 24). Luke stuck close to Paul and was with him shortly before the apostle's martyrdom is evident from Paul's remark, "Luke alone is with me." (2 Tim 4:11).

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