Daily Mass Gospel Reflection - Apostolic Formation

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 01.21.22 | Aux. Bishop R. Barron

[MurphsLaw]

MEMORIAL OF SAINT AGNES, VIRGIN AND MARTYRTIME

MARK 3:13-19

Friends, today’s Gospel recounts Jesus selecting and appointing the Apostles.

Bible scholar and theologian N.T. Wright has explained why Jesus commissioned twelve disciples as Apostles. Wright tells us that when a first-century Jew spoke of the arrival of God’s kingdom, he was taken to mean something very specific. He was announcing that the temple was going to be restored, that the proper worship of Yahweh would obtain, that the enemies of Israel would be dealt with, and that, above all, the tribes of the Lord would be gathered, and through them, the tribes of the world.

Recall the great vision from the second chapter of Isaiah: "The mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain . . . All nations shall stream toward it." This is why Jesus chose twelve disciples, evocative of the twelve tribes. They would be the prototype and the catalyst for the gathering of Israel and hence the gathering of everyone. They would be the fundamental community and sign of unity.

[MurphsLaw]

+++And he went up into the hills, and called to him those
whom he desired;
and they came to him.
And he appointed twelve,[a] to be with him, and to be sent out to preach
and have authority to cast out demons:
Simon whom he surnamed Peter;
James the son of Zeb′edee
and John the brother of James, whom he surnamed Bo-aner′ges,
that is, sons of thunder;
Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew,
and Matthew, and Thomas,
and James the son of Alphaeus,
and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean,
and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.+++