Jesus went up 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.
Lectio (Reading)
Read the passage twice and get a sense of what it is saying. Pay attention to what strikes you.Meditatio (Reflecting)
Slowly read the passage again, pausing on words or phrases that stands out. Take time to consider the meaning. particularly in your life.When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles:
Oratio (Responding)
Read the passage again, slowly. Consider how God has spoken to you and respond back to Him. You may want to consider how this passage is asking you to act differently.Sometimes I wonder why there are readings like this in the lectionary. But they do help us to better understand the structure and authority of the church among the people in it. Everything in Gods kingdom is based on power and authority. We Americans like to think that everyone is equal, and while the Lord does love us all the same, He is also just.
Imagine for a moment, a man that spent his entire life an atheist, hating and reviling the church, but on his death bed converts, and repents, and is forgiven. Our church teaches that he will be in heaven, after he makes reparations for his sins in purgatory. But I don’t think that it would be just to expect him to have the same stature among the saints in heaven, as compared to someone that gave their entire life to the service of God, like one of our great saints or a martyr. Those saints, and disciples that loved God more, understand His will better than those that spent their lives rejecting Him. They are closer to Him both here and in heaven, and it would make sense that the rest of us, that have questions and disputes to settle regarding Gods teachings would look to those that are closer to God for answers.
This is why Jesus gave us a pope, and bishops, and priests. To help us to get closer to him, but to also have people in position to settle arguments as they come up. Authority, ultimately brings unity. When Arias was teaching heresy, the people were being divided. But when the church decided, that Arias was wrong, some stayed with him and were separated from the church, but the great majority returned to communion with the faith. But if there was no authority, then Arias would not have been stopped, and many more would have followed him into schism.
This is what Luther did, and continues to do. Since there is No authority in the protestant world, any time a dispute happens, the two divide, and one of the two disputing parties creates a new church. To the point that there are now 100’s of thousands of unique churches all with their own individual “pseudo” authority, at least until someone disagrees with them.
This is not what Jesus wanted, and it is so important that we help people to come to know and love the genius, and beauty of Jesus’ plan for church unity, through authority. Jesus is God, I don’t know why we human always think we can do things better than He did. But we do
Contemplatio (Contemplating)
Take time to simply remain in the presence of God.Resolutio (Resolving)
Make a resolution that will improve your life, your relationships, or your faith. Make it small and attainable, and do it.Oh lord, help me today to be humble and to respect the authority of the church that you setup for us. But please lord, save us from bad prelates.