Luke
ST Luke Day; 2 Timothy 4:5---
" Watch thou in all things , endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist..I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing....Only Luke is with me..."
" Let us resolutely drive out all unbelief, and endeavor to get rid of doubts and fears.....there is no excuse for fear where God is the foundation of our trust." Charles Spurgeon
A final refusal to recant her beliefs landed Anne a conviction of heresy for denying the doctrine of transubstantiation and she was sentenced to death. Unable to stand, she was carried on a chair to Smithfield just outside the London Wall. She was fastened to the stake by a chain wrapped around her waist to hold her up and then burned alive alongside three fellow martyrs. These men were so greatly comforted by Anne’s “invincible constancy” and persuasions that “they did set apart all kind of fear.” ( theaquilareport.com)
“But as concerning your mass, as it is now used in our days, I do say and believe it to be the most abominable idol that is in the world: for my God will not be eaten with teeth, neither yet dieth he again. And upon these words that I base now spoken, will I suffer death.” 1 Anne Askew (1521 – July 16, 1546)
ST Luke was such a fellow as well. Not only was he a doctor, physician , he was a herald-healer of the soul. Have you ever heard of the Gospel of ST Luke or the Acts of the Apostles? He wrote both! His gospel tells of the childhood of Jesus, the home life of Jesus in Nazareth , has Mary's song of praise ( Magnificat), and the songs of Zacharias and the angels. Where do we hear of the Prodigal Son and the widow offering her two mites? Luke. It is a gospel of good news to all who will receive it. Luke was a Gentile and his is a gospel of including all people whatever their background or race by God's infinite love and grace.
Secondly , Paul calls Luke in his letter to the Colossians 4:14 , " the beloved physician". This was quite an commendation. He was beloved by God and Paul calls him beloved. What will be said about us? Are we resolute in our faith, trustworthy in doing the work of sharing the good news, the gospel ? Can God count on us? Can people count on us? Do we have resolute beliefs that come our faith in Christ and the Holy Scriptures, or do we drift with the times and the feelings of the moment? Do we look like the house built on rock or the house built on sand?
Lastly, A martyr is a witness. Mark Died in Alexandria , Egypt , after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead .
3 Luke Was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
4 John Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome . However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos . He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos . The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey . He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
5 Peter He was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
Last Friday was what we call in the Anglican Calendar ," Martyr's Day". On that day , OCT 16 in England we commemorate them:
The Commemoration
When Henry VIII of England died, he left three heirs: his son Edward and his two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. Edward succeeded to the throne and was a staunch Protestant (or at least his advisors were). Under his rule, the church services, previously in Latin, were translated into English, and other changes were made. When Edward died, the throne passed to his sister Mary, who was firmly Roman Catholic in her beliefs. She determined to return England to union with the Pope. With more diplomacy, she might have succeeded. But she was headstrong and would take no advice. Her mother had been Spanish, and she determined to marry the heir to the throne of Spain, not realizing how much her people (of all religious persuasions) feared that this would make England a province of the Spanish Empire. She insisted that the best way to deal with heresy was to burn as many heretics as possible. (It is worth noting that her husband was opposed to this.) In the course of a five-year reign, she lost all the English holdings on the continent of Europe, she lost the affection of her people, and she lost any chance of a peaceful religious settlement in England. Of the nearly three hundred persons burned by her orders, the most famous are the Oxford Martyrs, commemorated today.
Hugh Latimer was famous as a preacher. He was Bishop of Worcester (pronounced WOOS-ter) in the time of King Henry, but resigned in protest against the King's refusal to allow the Protestant reforms that Latimer desired. Latimer's sermons speak little of doctrine; he preferred to urge men to upright living and devoutness in prayer. But when Mary came to the throne, he was arrested, tried for heresy, and burned together with his friend Nicholas Ridley. His last words at the stake are well known: "Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man, for we shall this day light such a candle in England as I trust by God's grace shall never be put out."
Nicholas Ridley became an adherent of the Protestant cause while a student at Cambridge. He was a friend of Archbishop Cranmer and became private chaplain first to Cranmer and then to King Henry. Under the reign of Edward, he became bishop of Rochester, and was part of the committee that drew up the first English Book of Common Prayer. When Mary came to the throne, he was arrested, tried, and burned with Latimer at Oxford on 16 October 1555.
Thomas Cranmer was Archbishop of Canterbury in the days of Henry, and defended the position that Henry's marriage to Katharine of Aragon (Spain) was null and void. When Edward came to the throne, Cranmer was foremost in translating the worship of the Church into English (his friends and enemies agree that he was an extraordinarily gifted translator) and securing the use of the new forms of worship. When Mary came to the throne, Cranmer was in a quandary. He had believed, with a fervor that many people today will find hard to understand, that it is the duty of every Christian to obey the monarch, and that "the powers that be are ordained of God" (Romans 13). As long as the monarch was ordering things that Cranmer thought good, it was easy for Cranmer to believe that the king was sent by God's providence to guide the people in the path of true religion, and that disobedience to the king was disobedience to God. Now Mary was Queen, and commanding him to return to the Roman obedience. Cranmer five times wrote a letter of submission to the Pope and to Roman Catholic doctrines, and four times he tore it up. In the end, he submitted. However, Mary was unwilling to believe that the submission was sincere, and he was ordered to be burned at Oxford on 21 March 1556. At the very end, he repudiated his final letter of submission, and announced that he died a Protestant. He said, "I have sinned, in that I signed with my hand what I did not believe with my heart. When the flames are lit, this hand shall be the first to burn." And when the fire was lit around his feet, he leaned forward and held his right hand in the fire until it was charred to a stump. Aside from this, he did not speak or move, except that once he raised his left hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
written by James Kiefer
Prayer
Keep us, O Lord, constant in faith and zealous in witness, after the examples of your servants, ST Luke, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer; that we may live in your fear, die in your favor, and rest in your peace; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
" Watch thou in all things , endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist..I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing....Only Luke is with me..."
" Watch thou in all things , endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist..I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing....Only Luke is with me..."
" Let us resolutely drive out all unbelief, and endeavor to get rid of doubts and fears.....there is no excuse for fear where God is the foundation of our trust." Charles Spurgeon
A final refusal to recant her beliefs landed Anne a conviction of heresy for denying the doctrine of transubstantiation and she was sentenced to death. Unable to stand, she was carried on a chair to Smithfield just outside the London Wall. She was fastened to the stake by a chain wrapped around her waist to hold her up and then burned alive alongside three fellow martyrs. These men were so greatly comforted by Anne’s “invincible constancy” and persuasions that “they did set apart all kind of fear.” ( theaquilareport.com)
“But as concerning your mass, as it is now used in our days, I do say and believe it to be the most abominable idol that is in the world: for my God will not be eaten with teeth, neither yet dieth he again. And upon these words that I base now spoken, will I suffer death.” 1 Anne Askew (1521 – July 16, 1546)
ST Luke was such a fellow as well. Not only was he a doctor, physician , he was a herald-healer of the soul. Have you ever heard of the Gospel of ST Luke or the Acts of the Apostles? He wrote both! His gospel tells of the childhood of Jesus, the home life of Jesus in Nazareth , has Mary's song of praise ( Magnificat), and the songs of Zacharias and the angels. Where do we hear of the Prodigal Son and the widow offering her two mites? Luke. It is a gospel of good news to all who will receive it. Luke was a Gentile and his is a gospel of including all people whatever their background or race by God's infinite love and grace.
Secondly , Paul calls Luke in his letter to the Colossians 4:14 , " the beloved physician". This was quite an commendation. He was beloved by God and Paul calls him beloved. What will be said about us? Are we resolute in our faith, trustworthy in doing the work of sharing the good news, the gospel ? Can God count on us? Can people count on us? Do we have resolute beliefs that come our faith in Christ and the Holy Scriptures, or do we drift with the times and the feelings of the moment? Do we look like the house built on rock or the house built on sand?
Lastly, A martyr is a witness. Mark Died in Alexandria , Egypt , after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead .
3 Luke Was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
4 John Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome . However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos . He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos . The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey . He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
5 Peter He was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
Last Friday was what we call in the Anglican Calendar ," Martyr's Day". On that day , OCT 16 in England we commemorate them:
The Commemoration
When Henry VIII of England died, he left three heirs: his son Edward and his two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. Edward succeeded to the throne and was a staunch Protestant (or at least his advisors were). Under his rule, the church services, previously in Latin, were translated into English, and other changes were made. When Edward died, the throne passed to his sister Mary, who was firmly Roman Catholic in her beliefs. She determined to return England to union with the Pope. With more diplomacy, she might have succeeded. But she was headstrong and would take no advice. Her mother had been Spanish, and she determined to marry the heir to the throne of Spain, not realizing how much her people (of all religious persuasions) feared that this would make England a province of the Spanish Empire. She insisted that the best way to deal with heresy was to burn as many heretics as possible. (It is worth noting that her husband was opposed to this.) In the course of a five-year reign, she lost all the English holdings on the continent of Europe, she lost the affection of her people, and she lost any chance of a peaceful religious settlement in England. Of the nearly three hundred persons burned by her orders, the most famous are the Oxford Martyrs, commemorated today.
Hugh Latimer was famous as a preacher. He was Bishop of Worcester (pronounced WOOS-ter) in the time of King Henry, but resigned in protest against the King's refusal to allow the Protestant reforms that Latimer desired. Latimer's sermons speak little of doctrine; he preferred to urge men to upright living and devoutness in prayer. But when Mary came to the throne, he was arrested, tried for heresy, and burned together with his friend Nicholas Ridley. His last words at the stake are well known: "Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man, for we shall this day light such a candle in England as I trust by God's grace shall never be put out."
Nicholas Ridley became an adherent of the Protestant cause while a student at Cambridge. He was a friend of Archbishop Cranmer and became private chaplain first to Cranmer and then to King Henry. Under the reign of Edward, he became bishop of Rochester, and was part of the committee that drew up the first English Book of Common Prayer. When Mary came to the throne, he was arrested, tried, and burned with Latimer at Oxford on 16 October 1555.
Thomas Cranmer was Archbishop of Canterbury in the days of Henry, and defended the position that Henry's marriage to Katharine of Aragon (Spain) was null and void. When Edward came to the throne, Cranmer was foremost in translating the worship of the Church into English (his friends and enemies agree that he was an extraordinarily gifted translator) and securing the use of the new forms of worship. When Mary came to the throne, Cranmer was in a quandary. He had believed, with a fervor that many people today will find hard to understand, that it is the duty of every Christian to obey the monarch, and that "the powers that be are ordained of God" (Romans 13). As long as the monarch was ordering things that Cranmer thought good, it was easy for Cranmer to believe that the king was sent by God's providence to guide the people in the path of true religion, and that disobedience to the king was disobedience to God. Now Mary was Queen, and commanding him to return to the Roman obedience. Cranmer five times wrote a letter of submission to the Pope and to Roman Catholic doctrines, and four times he tore it up. In the end, he submitted. However, Mary was unwilling to believe that the submission was sincere, and he was ordered to be burned at Oxford on 21 March 1556. At the very end, he repudiated his final letter of submission, and announced that he died a Protestant. He said, "I have sinned, in that I signed with my hand what I did not believe with my heart. When the flames are lit, this hand shall be the first to burn." And when the fire was lit around his feet, he leaned forward and held his right hand in the fire until it was charred to a stump. Aside from this, he did not speak or move, except that once he raised his left hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
written by James Kiefer
Prayer
Keep us, O Lord, constant in faith and zealous in witness, after the examples of your servants, ST Luke, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer; that we may live in your fear, die in your favor, and rest in your peace; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
" Watch thou in all things , endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist..I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing....Only Luke is with me..."
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