The Gospel according to Luke (6:12-19)
Jesus departed to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles:
Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew,
James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,
Simon who was called a Zealot,
and Judas the son of James,
and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground.
A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem
and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon
came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.
Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him
because power came forth from him and healed them all.
Reflection:
Now I will first say that I am not one who is in possession of a keen mathematical mind. I am fine on basic mathematic operations – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and I enjoyed statistics class in college. To my shock, I took and passed a very basic calculus class (“Calculus for Business”). I say that because when my kids asked me for help with their math homework, I was fine pretty much through Algebra 2, but beyond that, I was clearly out of my depth.
Still, numbers have always interested me, especially those that appear in Scripture. The number we hear about in today’s Gospel is the number twelve, symbolized in Jesus’ naming of His closest disciples, His Apostles – the ones He would send to carry on His message. The number twelve, also seen in the twelve tribes of Israel, symbolizes God’s perfect power and authority. Jesus Himself tells the Twelve that they will sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel (meaning all of God’s people).
I am heartened that the twelve that Jesus Himself chose were not perfect. No. They were fallible human beings, who doubted, who ran, and who failed Him. The important note is that Jesus never gave up on them. Even Peter, who denied that he even *knew* Jesus three times, was restored and forgiven. Each of us is likewise fully forgiven when we turn back to God, as long as we are truly sorry.
One other thing to add: even though the Twelve were fallible humans, through the Holy Spirit, they were given authority to act in Jesus’ name in being able to ordain bishops to follow them, and to forgive sins with Jesus’ own authority. When Jesus told Peter that he (Peter) was receiving the “keys of the kingdom”, it meant that Peter’s authority would be understood to be from Jesus Himself. To us, it means that we can trust in that authority, exercised by the successor of the Apostles and all of the bishops down through the centuries. When our current Pope, Pope Leo XIV, speaks in authority, it is with the power and authority of Jesus. May that give all of us a sense of peace and thankfulness that Jesus’ Kingdom is still present with us through our bishops and especially through the Holy Father.
Action for the Day:
Take a few minutes today to pray for our bishops, and particularly for Pope Leo, that as they shepherd God’s people on earth, they will know of how our prayers support them. And, how about quietly and deliberately praying the Our Father for that intention?
Link to the DEACON5 website: https://deacon5.com/
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