Wednesday, July 6, 2016

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.’

Jesus gave the Twelve his authority over demons and to cure disease and illness and it is through this authority that they acted. They could do nothing on their own. Later Jesus would pass on all of his authority including the authority to forgive or bind sin. The Twelve would give this authority on to their replacements who passed it on to their replacements who would become the bishops. This is Apostolic Succession. The bishops today derive their authority through an unbroken chain leading all the way back to Jesus himself.

I do nothing on my own authority. I don’t even preach the Gospel without the permission of my bishop. The authority within me is the authority bestowed upon me by my bishop. Because of this I am not free to teach whatever I believe. I must teach only those things passed on to me by those with the proper authority who came before me. I am not entitled to express my opinion where it differs from official Church teaching on the matters of faith and morals.

This ensures that the Catholic Church has a universal message no matter where you go in this world. We are not a Church of a billion popes. We are often shown as a three legged stool of Holy Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium guided by the Holy Spirit with Jesus’ promise that the Church he created will never fail. One will never contradict another.

In the beginning Jesus did not open his Church to everyone. He started by delivering his messaged that the Messiah has come to the Judeans who were waiting for the return of David’s kingdom. Only after his message was rejected by the majority did he open it up to all people.

Makes you wonder what would have happened if the Judeans would have embraced his message instead of rejecting him.