Simon the Zealot and Jude Thaddaeus, two of the Twelve whom Jesus named Apostles, are honoured together by the Church on this feast. Our difficulty is to believe that a mission born in a night of prayer can belong to a crowd on the plain. The readings lead us from the house built on the apostles to the mountain, and from the mountain down to the people waiting below.
And it happened that, in those days, he went out to a mountain to pray. And he was in the prayer of God throughout the night. And when daylight had arrived, he called his disciples. And he chose twelve out of them (whom he also named Apostles): Simon, whom he surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James of Alphaeus, and Simon who is called the Zealot, and Jude of James, and Judas Iscariot, who was a traitor. And descending with them, he stood in a level place with a multitude of his disciples, and a copious multitude of people from all of Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast, and Tyre and Sidon, who had come so that they might listen to him and be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled by unclean spirits were cured. And the entire crowd was trying to touch him, because power went out from him and healed all. (Lk 6:12-19)
Paul, the apostle writing to the church at Ephesus, speaks first of a house, and he speaks to people who were once visitors. They are told that "you are no longer visitors and new arrivals", and the reason follows in the same breath: they have been built upon the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets, with "Jesus Christ himself as the preeminent cornerstone". So the feast begins where every building begins, at its base, and the first thing we learn is that this house holds a place for everyone who has become a citizen among the saints.
The psalm lifts our eyes to the heavens. The heavens describe the glory of God, the firmament announces the work of his hands, and "night to night imparts knowledge". Even where no speech is made, these voices are heard, and their sound goes forth through all the earth. But the Gospel today names one night in particular, and it tells us who kept it awake.
Luke, the evangelist, sets the choice of the Twelve in a strict order: first the mountain, then the night, and only at daybreak the names. Jesus "went out to a mountain to pray. And he was in the prayer of God throughout the night." Before he sends, he listens, and before he acts, he prays. That is why the mission of the apostles is not an enterprise launched by men: it is the communion of the Son with the Father, opened to others.
When daylight arrived, Jesus called his disciples and "chose twelve out of them", naming them Apostles, which means those who are sent. Twelve recalls the tribes of Israel, so a people is being renewed, and it is a people that will not keep its gift for itself. The list that follows holds a zealot, a publican and even a traitor, Judas Iscariot. Jesus gathers the available, and he calls each of them by name.
Two of these men are the ones we honour today. Simon, whom the Gospel calls the Zealot, burned with a passion for action, and Jude, listed as Jude of James, was a quiet and trusting disciple. They did not resemble each other. And yet the Church keeps their feast on a single day. Their difference is not a flaw in the foundation: it is part of the building, for the house that Paul describes is framed together from stones that were never alike.
Then he comes down with them. On a level place a multitude is waiting, people from all of Judea and Jerusalem and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to listen and to be healed. Jesus shares what he has received, with Jews and pagans alike, and the entire crowd is trying to touch him, because "power went out from him and healed all". The communion of the night has become a gift given to all.
In the spirituality of Bethlehem, the road to the nations begins with named, ordinary men, because God starts small, as he did in a town where a Child was born, and he transforms the world through hearts that are available. The Gospel gives twelve names on a hillside, and the psalm sends the word of the heavens through all the earth. Between the two there is no program, only a call, spoken to each one by his name and answered.
We are invited to climb before we descend: to give the night of prayer its place in our days, so that what we carry to others has first been received from the Father. And we are invited to remain the persons we are, with our passion or our reserve, because the Lord calls each of us by name and builds with what he finds.
That is why the Church sets two such different men before us on a single day. Let us go down, then, from the mountain of our prayer to the level place where others wait, in our families, our parishes and our workplaces, and let us go with the Lord who healed them all.
Scripture text: Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV), public domain.
Prayer of the Day
Lord Jesus, Child of Bethlehem, you spent a night in prayer before you called the Twelve by name, and you came down to the crowd on the level place. Build us together as one house upon the apostles, with you as the cornerstone. Teach us to listen before we go, and to go with all our differences, so that your power may reach everyone who waits. Amen.
For Meditation
- Do we give the night of prayer its place before we speak and act, or do we send ourselves?
- Which of our differences do we still count as a flaw in the foundation, when the Lord builds with them?
- To which level is he asking us to go down, and who is waiting there to touch him?
