nobody but...
"I have no one with me but Luke." —2 Timothy 4:11
Are you the third one when "three's a crowd"? Are you the fifth wheel? Are you the one present when someone says, "Nobody's here"? St. Luke seems to have been in that situation. Paul looks forward to Timothy and even Mark joining him, but Luke's presence seems a mere footnote (2 Tm 4:9, 11).
Never mind; even if your mother forgets you, the Lord will never forget you (Is 49:15). No one who comes to Jesus will He ever reject (Jn 6:37). The Lord accepted and affirmed Luke, even if it seemed that no one else did. Luke responded by answering God's call to write more of the New Testament than any other person. God used Luke to write a Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Without Luke, we would be missing God's revelation of the Holy Spirit in the early Church.
Luke may have been a nobody, at least in some minds, but he was lifted up by the Lord in an exalted ministry of the Word. There's nobody here but an evangelist, saint, and the largest contributor to the New Testament. "The last shall be first and the first shall be last" (Mt 20:16).
Prayer: Father, may I not compare myself with others and may I not expect recognition. May doing Your will be my food (Jn 4:34).
Promise: "The harvest is rich but the workers are few; therefore ask the Harvest-Master to send workers to His harvest." —Lk 10:2
Praise: St. Luke was a professional and a Gentile, but embraced wholeheartedly the new Way, the Jewish Messiah.
Reference: (The Discipleship Retreat, Ethics of Life is scheduled for Nov. 4-5, 2005. For information or to register, call 937-205-0128 or e-mail retreats@presentationministries.com)
Rescript: †Most Reverend Daniel E. Pilarczyk, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, April 21, 2005
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