Jesus calls the twelve as apostles

October 28, 2015 

Saint of the day : Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles 

Readings    

Letter to the Ephesians 2:19-22

19So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, 20built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the capstone.[1]

21Through Him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; 22in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Psalms 19:2-5

2The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament proclaims the works of His hands. 3Day unto day pours forth speech; night unto night whispers knowledge.

4There is no speech, no words; their voice is not heard; 5A report goes forth through all the earth, their messages, to the ends of the world.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6:12-16

12In those days He departed to the mountain to pray[2], and He spent the night in prayer to God.[3] 

13When day came, He called His disciples to Himself, and from them He chose Twelve, whom He also named apostles:[4] 14Simon, whom He named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,[5] 15Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, [6] 16and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, 8 who became a traitor.[7] 

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Notes on Readings

[1] Ephesians 2:11-22 - The Gentiles lacked Israel's messianic expectation, lacked the various covenants God made with Israel, lacked hope of salvation and knowledge of the true God (Ephesians 2:11-12); but through Christ all these religious barriers between Jew and Gentile have been transcended (Ephesians 2:13-14) by the abolition of the Mosaic covenant-law (Ephesians 2:15) for the sake of uniting Jew and Gentile into a single religious community (Ephesians 2:15-16), imbued with the same Holy Spirit and worshiping the same Father (Ephesians 2:18). The Gentiles are now included in God's household (Ephesians 2:19) as it arises upon the foundation of apostles assisted by those endowed with the prophetic gift (Ephesians 3:5), the preachers of Christ (Ephesians 2:20); compare with (1 Corinthians 12:28) . With Christ as the capstone (Ephesians 2:20; compare with Isaiah 28:16; Matthew 21:42), they are being built into the holy temple of God's people where the divine presence dwells (Ephesians 2:21-22).

[2] Luke 6:12 - Spent the night in prayer: see the footnote on Luke 3:21

[3] Luke 6:12-16 - See the footnotes on Matthew 10:1- 11:1 and Mark 3:14-15.

[4] Luke 6:13 - He chose Twelve: the identification of this group as the Twelve is a part of early Christian tradition (see ⇒ 1 Cor 15:5) (see 1 Corinthians 15:5), and in Matthew and Luke, the Twelve are associated with the twelve tribes of Israel (Luke 22:29-30) ; (Matthew 19:28). After the fall of Judas from his position among the Twelve, the need is felt on the part of the early community to reconstitute this group before the Christian mission begins at Pentecost (Acts 1:15-26). From Luke's perspective, they are an important group who because of their association with Jesus from the time of His baptism to His ascension  (Acts 1:21-22) provide the continuity between the historical Jesus and the church of Luke's day and who as the original eyewitnesses guarantee the fidelity of the church's beliefs and practices to the teachings of Jesus (Luke 1:1-4). Whom He also named apostles: only Luke among the gospel writers attributes to Jesus the bestowal of the name apostles upon the Twelve. See the footnote on Matthew 10:2-4). "Apostle" becomes a technical term in early Christianity for a missionary sent out to preach the word of God. Although Luke seems to want to restrict the title to the Twelve (only in Acts 4:4; 14), are Paul and Barnabas termed apostles), other places in the New Testament show an awareness that the term was more widely applied (1 Corinthians 15:5-7); Galatians 1:19; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 9:1; Romans 16:7).

[5] Luke 6:14 Simon, whom he named Peter: see the note on ⇒ Mark 3:16 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__PW5.HTM .

[6] Luke 6:15 - Simon who was called a Zealot: the Zealots were the instigators of the First Revolt of Palestinian Jews against Rome in A.D. 66-70. Because the existence of the Zealots as a distinct group during the lifetime of Jesus is the subject of debate, the meaning of the identification of Simon as a Zealot is unclear.

[7] Luke 6:16 - Judas Iscariot: the name Iscariot may mean "man from Kerioth."