The apostles of Jesus of Nazareth and their mission

According to the Christian religion, the apostles were the men chosen by Jesus of Nazareth so that they would be in charge of multiplying his word in every corner, that is, they acted at that time as fishers of men since they went from person to person carrying a message, that is, That is why in this post we are going to know the mission of the apostles.

mission of the apostles

At the time of Jesus on earth, he gave him the task of gathering twelve men who would be known as his apostles or disciples, once they had the power and authority to expel all the demons that roamed the world and from heal the sick that they will find in their path, after that he sent each one of these twelve men to preach his word throughout the kingdom of God and be guarantors that each one of those people who will listen to his word understand in household but also sent to cure all the sick who will need him. Before sending Jesus to preach his message, Jesus of Nazareth told them:

Do not take anything for the road. Neither cane, nor backpack, nor bread, nor money, nor two tunics. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you come out. If you are not received well in any city, get out of there and shake the dust off your feet, as a testimony against them.”

Each one of his twelve took him at his word and left for all the villages they found in their path to thus announce the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and give all the good news they had for them and they also had the task of healing everyone. the sick that they found on their way, each one of them were chosen by Jesus since they had the gift of being able to announce the gospel and expel demons.

Jesus of Nazareth gave the following words to his apostles so that in this way they would be prepared in mind and heart to transmit his message and gospel to all the people who will be on their way and that in this way through them many of those people they will be able to transform their lives and begin to live without fear and trusting in our God since he is loving and kind to each and every one of his children and never abandons them:

Go all over the world, announce the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved. He who does not believe will be condemned. And these wonders will accompany those who believe: they will cast out demons in my Name and they will speak new tongues; they will be able to take the snakes with their hands, and if they drink a deadly poison it will not do them any harm; They will lay hands on the sick and heal them.”

In the gospels that we usually read today we can see the imperative mandate that Christ made to all his apostles so that they go out to all the nations of the world with the sole mission of preaching and announcing his word, this apostolic mission is incumbent, so especially to the successors of the apostles, who are the bishops in communion with the Pope, Peter’s successor.

Not only did the apostles have the objective of preaching the word of God everywhere, the church was also instructed to be in charge of preaching and transmitting the message of the Kingdom of Christ in all places on earth and that in this way everyone would be Witnesses of the glory of God the Father for all the inhabitants of the earth and that in this way they may all participate in the saving redemption of our Heavenly Father forever and ever.

It should be mentioned that the apostles have various functions which are known, but nevertheless they had a single apostolic mission since Christ gave them the ministerial power of the ministry to teach, sanctify and govern by their own name and authority.

«Jesus went through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom and healing every illness and disease» With those few words, Matthew makes the mission of Jesus very clear: The Word of the Father, the son of Mary has come to that world just to tell us how God loves us and consequently how he goes out of his way to spread happiness everywhere. But Jesus, after announcing this Good News, will seal it with his death on the cross and then resurrect and establish himself at the “right of the Father” to be eternally glorified.

Matthew was taken as a model for the other apostles who were given the mission of evangelizing, he was the representation of the instructions that were given by Jesus and that the actors of this mission were each of the apostles that he selected to go for him. world imparting his word.

These twelve apostles or disciples, as they may be called, felt in the depths of their being the call that Jesus of Nazareth made to them to evangelize, each one of them, upon feeling this call, assumed this immense responsibility that was granted to them to have as a mission to evangelize and impart the word of God our Lord Jesus Christ to all the nations of the world.

(Mr 6:7-13) “Then he called the twelve, and began to send them out two by two; and he gave them authority over unclean spirits. And he ordered them to take nothing for the journey, but only a staff; neither bag, nor bread, nor money in the belt, but they wear sandals, and they did not wear two tunics. And he said to them: Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place. And if in any place they do not receive you or listen to you, go out from there, and shake the dust that is under your feet, as a testimony to them. Truly I say to you that on the day of judgment, the punishment for Sodom and Gomorrah will be more tolerable than for that city. And going out, they preached that men repented. And they cast out many demons, and anointed many sick with oil, and healed them.”

Meditation of the Holy Father Francis

The word apostle derives from a Greek word that means sent or envoy, that is, then an apostle is a person who is sent to be sent to do a specific task or assignment, which is why it should be mentioned that the apostles were the people chosen to attend the call of Jesus and in this way continue with his work which is to pray and this is considered as the first task of an apostle, the second task that is attributed to them is to announce the gospel wherever they will come just as Jesus had taught them.

The safest thing is that we think that the apostles only had the specific mission of announcing the gospel and doing other types of works that were known at the time, however it is important to mention that this is so since in the beginning there were a series of setbacks with the church since the apostles were people who were entrusted with countless tasks which they had to fully comply with, that is why by this time they constituted the deacons, so that in this way the apostles had much more time to fulfill to the letter his mission which was to pray and announce the word of God throughout the villages of the world.

When we ask ourselves who are the successors of the apostles, we must keep in mind that they are the bishops and even the fathers, since they, like an apostle, have the mission of praying in the first instance but they are also people in charge of announcing and proclaiming the gospel and the word of God everywhere, then it is said that praying and evangelizing is being an apostle and it is for this reason that the church is considered to be apostolic since bishops and popes are also apostles sent by God to earth to evangelize at all times of his priestly life.

If each one of us wants to be apostles, we have to ask ourselves the following questions and try to solve them. Do I pray for the salvation of the world? Do I announce the Gospel? This is the apostolic Church! It is a constitutive bond that we have with the Apostles.

Meditation of the Holy Father Emeritus Benedict XVI

It is no longer a secret to anyone that Jesus had the initiative to send twelve men whom he appointed as apostles with a specific mission, as mentioned above, the word apostle itself means a person who is sent or sent to carry out some task or some activity, the vocation of each of these twelve apostles lies fully after the resurrection of Christ where he obtained that wonderful gift of the holy spirit at Pentecost.

It is worth mentioning that from the moment they are given this important mission, Jesus wants each one of them to get involved in the action and to take it as a kind of learning that will serve them for all the responsibility that comes later.

The mere fact that Jesus Himself was in charge of recruiting, so to speak, many of these disciples to put them in charge of this mission spoke volumes about the love that he feels for each one of his children and that he always has them in mind since he He was in charge of searching and finding the best people to be in charge of going around the world evangelizing and that his word reaches all the people who still do not know him for various reasons.

He does not disdain the help that other men can give to his work; he knows his limits, his weaknesses, but he does not despise them; moreover, he confers on them the dignity of being his envoys.

Jesus sent his apostles two by two and gave them clear instructions that the evangelist summarized in a few clear words; The first of these words refers to the spirit of detachment and says that none of the apostles under any circumstances should be attached to material things, that is, neither to money nor to the comforts that this implies.

In this way, Jesus of Nazareth warns all his men, they will not always be well received wherever they go, however they must take it with great humility and leave without lending or entering into an argument with anyone for any reason, he tells them with great love that several occasions they will be rejected and that they can also be persecuted by people who do not share their ideals.

In the second, the evangelist makes a clear reference that Jesus taught his disciples that at all times they should evangelize and preach his word under his name and always mentioning and making clear the kingdom of heaven, and that they should not worrying about whether their words are successful or not, they simply have to speak from love and from the heart, just as he did with each one of them in his teaching moment, that is why he tells them at all times to only preach with love Leave success to God.

(Ec 4:9-12) “Two are better than one; because they get better pay for their work. Because if they fall, the one will raise his companion; but woe to the solo! That when he falls, there will be no second to pick him up. Also if two sleep together, they will warm each other; but how can one warm himself? And if anyone prevails against one, two will resist him; and a cord of three folds does not break soon”

The apostles in the cenacle

Once the divine savior ascends to heaven, the apostles return from the mount of olives to Jerusalem and proceed in this way to withdraw from the cenacle, it is a large room where they used to meet in order to enter into prayer. . Here they met the very Virgin Mary and hundreds of other people who were praying at all times and thus waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit as Jesus had promised them at the time, while they were all in this place together. Pedro as supreme head of the church exercised his authority and addressed those present here indicating the following:

My brothers, it is necessary that what the Holy Spirit predicted regarding Judas, who was the chief of those who killed Jesus, be fulfilled. He betrayed his divine Master and already received the reward for his iniquity: he hung himself from a tree, and his belly bursting, his entrails spilled out on the ground. More as it has been announced that another should succeed him in the apostolate, it is necessary that we choose one of those who have been with us all the time that the Lord lived in our company.