Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist (Oct. 18): reflection

Theme: God’s vineyard still needs your services.

Reading: Luke 10–1–9

On this feast of St. Luke, the Church recalls what Jesus told the seventy others as he was sending them out. He said to them: “the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.” The Church reminds us today, just as the early Church reminded her audience, that more labourers are still needed in God’s vineyard for this harvest.

St. Luke was among those who accepted the early invitation to enter the Lord’s vineyard and render their services. As a doctor and a well-educated man, St. Luke entered the service of the Lord with everything he had and contributed immensely towards the growth of the kingdom of God with his intelligence and talents. He gave the Church the third gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. He was a journey companion of St. Paul in his missionary journeys.

St. Luke, therefore, challenges us to welcome the invitation of Jesus for more labourers into the harvest; he wants us to understand that the vineyard of the Lord still needs our services and that we should render this service with everything we have: our time, intelligence, talents, and resources, just as he did.

One of the resources the contemporary world has gifted us is social media, which allows us to virtually connect with friends both known and unknown. Many people have been made to believe that their presence on social media is just for the purpose of catching a cruise and having fun with whatever they like, but we must remember that social media is also a part of our environment and so falls within the scope of the locations Jesus commanded us to spread the good news. So, if those who have the mandate to take the good news to the ends of the earth are on social media sharing/spreading indecent pictures and immoral conversations in order to get likes and traffic on their pages, it means God’s Kingdom has started suffering violence from those who should be building it up.

St. Luke’s life challenges us to use all our resources to build up God’s kingdom. Since social media is one of our resources, we should use it to win souls for the kingdom of God in our own little ways, rather than using it to drive them away from it. Through our presence and contributions on social media, we can offer God’s vineyard the services it demands.

Peace be with you.

Fr Isaac Chima