Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
(Hebrews 8:6-13; Mark 3:13-19)
When President Harry Truman campaigned to keep his residence at the White House in 1948, he took to the rails. He crisscrossed the country speaking to the people in every town with a train station. The tactic gave the president access to large numbers of citizens and also pictured him in their minds as one like them. The railway campaign was a symbol not only saying something about Harry Truman’s character but also accomplishing his purpose of being reelected.
We can see Jesus choosing twelve men as his core disciples or apostles in a similarly dynamic way. Jesus does not choose twelve because it is a number divisible by many other whole numbers, much less because he has only twelve men qualified for the job. No, he chooses twelve to symbolize the twelve tribes of the Kingdom of Israel which Jesus has come to restore. The Kingdom of Israel is to serve as the foundation of the wider Kingdom of God that is bringing peace to the whole world. The men are also to help realize the kingdom through their preaching and healing.
Sometimes we satisfy ourselves thinking that Jesus came to save individual souls for a heaven above and beyond the world. This is not the picture the gospels present us, however. Although we believe that we have an eternal destiny beyond our deaths, we need to recognize that the Kingdom which Jesus has inaugurated is a new world order where men and women live amicably together under God’s righteous rule. This vision remains the true Christian hope.
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