The Apostles

Here is a nice bit of news. National Geographic magazine has as its cover story this month, an article about the Apostles. It is very timely, since this is Lent leading up to Holy Week, and we will be thinking about The Last Supper when Maundy Thursday rolls around.

The article tells what we know from the New Testament, and also what the Early Church tradition has told us, about those followers of Jesus who did what Jesus said, in spreading the Gospel. We find it in Matthew:

Matthew 28:16-20 - The Great Commission

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

And in Acts 1:6-9

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.