The "Lukan Jump"

 This week in the Church we leave the Gospel of St. Matthew for the season (except for a few special Feast days), and we move to reading Sunday Gospels from the Gospel according to St. Luke.  In “Church lingo,” this is “the Lukan jump,” and it occurs every year in concert with the Feast of the Conception of St. John the Forerunner, which happens on 23Sep, this past Wednesday.

Why does this minor Feast change the Gospel?

To learn about this, it’s helpful for us to look at which Gospels are read in which seasons and for which reasons.

The Gospel of St. Matthew is read from the Monday after Pentecost (Spirit Day) until the ‘jump’ to St. Luke.  As you can envision, from year to year this duration varies, and so there are seventeen weeks allocated to the Gospel of St. Matthew, but in some years we read fewer (because Pascha comes late), and in other years we read more (because Pascha comes early).  This past year, we read through the 15th Sunday of Matthew, for instance.

The Gospel of St. Luke is divided over nineteen weeks, beginning on the Monday after the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross.

The Gospel of St. Mark is read during the Great Fast on Saturdays and Sundays, with the exception of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, on which we read the Gospel from St. John.

The Gospel of St. John is read in the Church from the day of Pascha until Pentecost Sunday.

So each of the four Gospels has its place in the yearly cycle of worship in the Church.

But back to the original question.  Why is this “jump” related to the Feast of the Conception of the Forerunner?

In the early Church, it was this Feast that marked the beginning of the new Ecclesiastical Year in the Church (now celebrated on 01Sep every year).

The reading of the Gospel of St. Luke is therefore related to the history of our Lord’s working salvation for the human race, for the conception of the Forerunner marks God’s “first step” towards the New Testament, the new covenant in Christ, as is contained in the hymnology from Matins for the Feast of the Conception of the Forerunner,

The sacred Forerunner has been born: the dove that loves the wilderness.  He preaches repentance and shows the incarnate Christ!  He is the intercessor for all sinners, ever helping all who are tossed by storms!  By his prayers, save Your world, O Christ!

As we see, from his conception, without uttering a voiced word, the Forerunner is already proclaiming the salvation to be wrought by Christ.

“OK, Father, but you still haven’t tied the conception to St. Luke.”

Search the Gospels.  St. Luke is the only one of the four to mention the conception of St. John (Luke 1:5-24), where in that 24th verse we hear, “Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived.”

As you already knew, there is always a reason for everything in the Church.

Now you can carry the story to others.  Go ahead, be an evangelist!!!!