After Easter and our celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, this time in the liturgical calendar especially feeds my faith through the readings from the Acts of the Apostles. My education and career were focused in journalism, and I am drawn to, and appreciate, the detailed, journalistic style of the historical Acts.
The disciples, and especially the newly converted Paul, are busier than ever. They are preaching, reaching out, traveling, healing, breaking bread with Gentiles and Jews alike. They are being attacked and imprisoned, ridiculed and esteemed, all the while spreading Christianity and laying the groundwork for the fledgling Church.
The writer, and editor, of Acts was busy chronicling it all – for posterity, for God, for his fellow new Christians – and most of all to have as accurate an account as possible. That person has always been deemed to be Luke, close friend of Paul and a doctor and convert.
I envision him taking notes in real time, and sometimes scribbling his thoughts and recollections in the quiet of evening after a busy, chaotic day.
I imagine Luke, like any good journalist or historian, went back to sources to get more details and to confirm facts or correct misinformation. The details he captured are rich and lively, and we owe him a great debt of gratitude.
For example, today’s first reading chronicles Festus telling King Agrippa about the dilemma Paul presents.
Festus was the Roman procurator, or governor, of Judea, and Agrippa was the great-grandson of Herod the Great, governing the territories in northern Palestine. The quotes from Festus in today’s reading are extensive and informative.
“His accusers stood around him,” Festus tells the king, “but did not charge him with any of the crimes I suspected. Instead, they had some issues with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who had died but who Paul claimed was alive.
“Since I was at a loss how to investigate this controversy, I asked if he were willing to go to Jerusalem and there stand trial on these charges. And when Paul appealed that he be held in custody for the emperor’s decision, I ordered him held until I could send him to Caesar.”
When Luke wrote the Book of Acts, and his gospel, he had no idea where his words would lead or how long they would be remembered. He could not have imagined that millennia later, they are still reaching and teaching people.
Let us thank God for St. Luke and all the writers of the New Testament, and pray for their intersession.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thank you for the gifts you endowed upon St. Luke and all those who did their best to write testimonies concerning Jesus and his teachings. Thank you for their dedication and courage. St. Luke, and all writers of what became the New Testament, please pray for our writers, editors, historians, and theologians today, that they may seek, find, and share what is true and divinely inspired.
Cindy Murphy McMahon
I am retired after 17 years with Creighton’s University Communications and Marketing office, most recently as associate director of communications. I graduated in journalism from Creighton in the mid-’70s, and the skills I first learned there have provided a fulfilling career, including newspaper reporting, photography and editing; teaching; public relations and marketing; and freelance writing and editing.
A native of Chicago, I met my husband, Tom McMahon, in Omaha and we have been here for most of our married life. We have been blessed with three sons and seven grandchildren, and spending time with my family is my greatest joy.
I am grateful for the opportunity to explore my faith and the Scriptures by writing reflections for Creighton’s Online Ministries, and consider it a blessing and privilege. I enjoy hearing from, and learning from, people who read the reflections.
