JESUS CHOSE HIS APOSTLES
Introduction
The worship of the old regime of the Law was insufficient, for it had to be replaced. It had only led on the part of the people to legalistic observance. But now comes the new covenant, written in peoples’ hearts, with Jesus as the mediator. There, Jesus will speak from the heart: “I came to do your will.”
Jesus summons those he wants to work with him. The Twelve, reminding us of the twelve tribes of Israel, were to be the leaders, his intimate companions, and they were to be the foundations, the pillars of his Church, except for Judas, the traitor. Today, he summons us all, but to some he gives special tasks in his Church. Yet, we all have the task of building up the Church.
Heb 8:6-13
But Jesus’ priestly work far surpasses what these other priests do, since he’s working from a far better plan. If the first plan—the old covenant—had worked out, a second wouldn’t have been needed. But we know the first was found wanting, because God said,
Heads up! The days are coming
when I’ll set up a new plan
for dealing with Israel and Judah.
I’ll throw out the old plan
I set up with their ancestors
when I led them by the hand out of Egypt.
They didn’t keep their part of the bargain,
so I looked away and let it go.
This new plan I’m making with Israel
isn’t going to be written on paper,
isn’t going to be chiseled in stone;
This time I’m writing out the plan in them,
carving it on the lining of their hearts.
I’ll be their God,
they’ll be my people.
They won’t go to school to learn about me,
or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons.
They’ll all get to know me firsthand,
the little and the big, the small and the great.
They’ll get to know me by being kindly forgiven,
with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.
By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust.
Mk 3:13-19
He climbed a mountain and invited those he wanted with him. They climbed together. He settled on twelve, and designated them apostles. The plan was that they would be with him, and he would send them out to proclaim the Word and give them authority to banish demons. These are the Twelve:
Simon (Jesus later named him Peter, meaning “Rock”),
James, son of Zebedee,
John, brother of James (Jesus nicknamed the Zebedee brothers Boanerges, meaning “Sons of Thunder”),
Andrew,
Philip,
Bartholomew,
Matthew,
Thomas,
James, son of Alphaeus,
Thaddaeus,
Simon the Canaanite,
Judas Iscariot (who betrayed him).
Prayer
Lord God, our Father,
you let your Son, Jesus associate with him helpers
in carrying out his work
of bringing about a new world and a new humanity.
We thank you for the men and the women
you choose in the sacred history of your people
to guide and lead and inspire us.
We too wish to cooperate today
toward this new world, and so we ask:
Make us close companions of Jesus,
inspire us through your Spirit
to cooperate with those who shepherd us,
and lead us to your future of joy.
Grant this through Christ, our Lord.
Reflection:
20 January 2023
Hebrews 8:6-13
I will no longer remember their wrongs
In the first reading today, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews begins to deal with one of the great biblical ideas – that of a covenant. There is a curious point which William Barlclayexplains very well.
The Greek word usually used to refer to a covenant or agreement between two parties is suntheke. This is the word for a marriage covenant or for an agreement between two states. But the author of the Letter to the Hebrews uses a different Greek term diatheke, which does not mean an agreement but literally means a will. Why does the author use a special term for the new covenant?
The reason is – suntheke always describes an agreement entered into on equal terms by equal parties. They can bargain with the other. But God and man do not meet on equal terms. In the new covenant that God enters with humanity, the whole initiative comes from God. Man cannot bargain with God; he can only accept or reject the offer that God makes.
A large part of today’s first reading is taken from a passage from the prophet Jeremiah, through which the author of the letter argues that the new covenant that God has entered into with humanity through Jesus Christ is superior to the covenant of the Old Testament.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 reads: “The Time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers…”
There is need now for a new covenant because the people of the past did not observe the first one, and distanced themselves from the Lord. We read that history of Israel’s infidelity in the books of Samuel and Kings.
In the promise of the New Covenant, God’s precepts will become the inner principles which will enable his people to rejoice in doing the will of God; God and his people will have an intimate fellowship; Sinful ignorance of God will be removed forever; and finally, as an icing on the cake, Forgiveness of sin will be an everlasting reality. God will show compassion for their past sins and even forget them entirely. As we know from Jesus in the Gospel, God only sees us as we are at the present moment. Where our past is concerned, he has a very bad memory!
The Law given to Moses was written on the Stone, but the precepts of the New Covenant will be written in the hearts of the people of God. “I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts”. And then comes the covenant promise: “I will be their God and they shall be my people.”