The Twelve and the New Israel

Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons - Catholic Preaching and Homilies

Bishop Robert Barron

Spirituality, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality:christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 4.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 July 2012

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

This week, Mark relays the story of Jesus giving the Twelve Apostles their "marching orders," the instructions on how they would go out and spread the word to the world. Notably, he tells them to go "two by two," laying the foundation for the communal nature of the Church. They are to bring nothing but the simple tools to keep them moving forward, and they are be resolute in fighting the demons of the world-injustice, corruption and dysfunction. These were as much instructions for the Apostles as they are instructions for us to fulfill the mission of the Church today.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Cardinal Francis George. I invite you to join me for the next two minutes to reflect
0:09.0	with Father Robert Barron on the Word of God, which is the Word on Fire. Word on Fire Catholic
0:14.2	Ministries is a non-profit ministry at the forefront of Catholic evangelization, using
0:18.9	new media to spread the faith and every continent. Father Barron challenges us to open our hearts
0:23.9	to the Word on Fire, which is God's Word of Love for each of us. If our hearts are open,
0:29.5	the Lord can change and transform us so that we might speak with love about the one who
0:34.6	is love. The global benefactors of Word on Fire with the support of the Archdiocese of
0:39.4	Chicago now present Word on Fire. Peace be with you. Friends, we have a great gospel
0:47.4	today from the gospel of Mark, and it deals with Jesus sending out the 12. It's so important
0:56.2	because it's about us, therefore. We are all, in some ways, the successors of the apostles were
1:02.7	all the descendants of these first disciples of Jesus. So here he's giving the marching orders.
1:08.7	What he wants his disciples to do, so we are meant to listen very attentively. Listen to what he
1:16.8	says. Jesus summoned the 12 and began to send them out two by two. Well, first of all, that
1:23.7	beautiful symbol of the 12, the 12 tribes of Israel. What's the church? The church is a new
1:32.2	Israel. What was Israel's purpose? It was by its own unity in praise and love to become a
1:40.0	magnet to the world. Israel was meant to be the gathering place for the whole world. That's the
1:45.8	essential marching order given to the church to this day. We're the new 12, the new Israel.
1:54.3	We have the same purpose. By the very compelling quality of our love and our praise to draw the
2:01.3	world to the true God. So that's our identity. He sends them out two by two. Christianity is just
2:11.3	inescapably a communitarian religion. We're implicated in each other. Communion, connection. God is
2:22.6	himself a communion of persons. The church is not a collectivity of individuals. It's a mystical
2:31.0	body. It's an organism. Therefore, it's so important that as they go out, they go out two by two,
	...

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