Wednesday in the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 12, 2023

Matthew 10, 1-7

Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. The names of the Twelve Apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus.  Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

S. Matthew gives his list of the Apostles about a third of the way through his Gospel.  St. Mark gives his list very early in his Gospel.  St. Luke presents his about a quarter of the way through the Gospel he authored.  St. John does not present such a list at all but mentions the names of specific Apostles only when they are acting or speaking.  The purpose of listing the Apostles seems to be establishing authority within the Church.  The Lord Jesus had many disciples, but these twelve were those authorized to preach and to govern.  Perhaps St. John does not feel the need to provide such a list because he is writing for the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, and he and St. Peter and St. James, the son of Alphaeus, are very much present there at that time, if not some of the others.  St. Mark seems to simply insert his list into his Gospel, but St. Luke reports the naming of the Twelve Apostles as a solemn act that Jesus performs after spending the previous night in prayer on a mountain.  St. Matthew does not mention this, but may allude to this when he says that Jesus “summoned” the twelve disciples.  Matthew refers to the Apostles is different ways.  For him, “the Apostles”, “the Twelve”, and “the disciples” are interchangeable terms, though the Lord Jesus was followed by a group separate from the Apostles whom the Evangelists also call “the disciples”.  These followed the Lord as students, but the Twelve were each called by Jesus on a particular occasion.

“Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out.”  Before he gives them the command to preach the Gospel to the nations, he gives them the authority to drive out demons.  This tells us of the importance of this ministry and also of the grave need for it.  He also gives them the authority “to cure every disease and every illness.”  The Lord Jesus excludes no disease or condition.  He shares his own power with them that they may perform the same deeds he has been performing.  These Apostles are not subordinates but partners and true representatives.  

“The names of the Twelve Apostles are these.”  It is noteworthy that the three Evangelists who provide lists of the Apostles generally have their names in the same order.  The few exceptions are interesting.  St. Mark, for instance, names St. Peter first, as do the others, but then lists St. James and St. John before listing Peter’s brother Andrew, whereas Matthew and Luke list Peter and Andrew together, presumably since they were brothers, but possibly also because Andrew was called first by Jesus, but Peter is listed first because he is older than Andrew but most importantly because he was the recognized leader of the Apostles.  Mark seems to list Peter, James and John together and then Andrew because the Lord often treated the first three as a group separate from the others.

“Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  The Lord begins first with the Jews and then, after they have largely rejected him, to the world.  But first, the Jews receive every possible chance to believe in him.  He says “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” on account of their abandonment by the priests who were commanded by the Lord to teach the Law to the people: “That you may teach the children of Israel all my ordinances which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses” (Leviticus 10, 11).

We rejoice in belonging to the one, holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church which the Son of God established to teach and to sanctify us so that we may enter into eternal life.