The Lord sends the disciples out on their apostolic mission. He sends them two by two. Why precisely two by two? Theophylact of Ohrid points us to Ecclesiastes: "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up..."
The Lord sends the disciples out on their apostolic mission. He sends them two by two. Why precisely two by two? Theophylact of Ohrid points us to Ecclesiastes: "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up" (Eccl. 4:9-10). This point is vital. Two. The words "where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in their midst" naturally come to mind (Mt. 18:20). They prefigure the Church, the parish, the community. They point to plurality: two, three - as though the first terms of the natural numbers, followed by a comma and ellipsis.
Yet the Lord sends precisely two (He does not say "two or three", but clearly "two"), so this dyad must also correspond to a definite reality in our lives. One possible, non-binding explanation is that it is an image of a person and his spiritual father. This kind of standing before the Lord is often difficult for educated, self-sufficient people. They need fellowship like everyone else, and their self-sufficiency can even help them form a parish or community. Yet the sacrament of confession can become an insurmountable obstacle for them. There a person and his spiritual father stand together before God and discern the paths of Christian endeavour, which must always be shared by the two of them to some degree. If one makes a mistake, the other must view it from outside and point it out in time.
In essence, we pass through this life as people sent by the Lord on an apostolic mission, and someone must be nearby. But, one may object, the apostles went as equals, while there is inequality between a spiritual father and his spiritual child, because the former guides the latter. First, one of each pair of apostles most likely emerged as the elder. Second, this inequality stands beside the words: "Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven" (Mt. 23:9). We must accept both truths despite their apparent contradiction.
The earlier words about two or three and today's words about two alone seem to address different spheres of our experience of life in God. These spheres enrich rather than contradict one another: one is the experience of community, the other that of our relationship with a spiritual father. There are also passages in which the Lord calls us to stand before Him alone, and everyone knows them well. This third aspect completes the picture, but it is not our subject now.
Another relatively difficult question is why they had to remain in one house. Theophylact of Ohrid explains: "He commands them to remain in one house, lest people think that they change places for the sake of gluttony, wandering from one household to another." Yet this is only a local historical aspect; there must be another meaning as well. Perhaps it lies in trust in God and in the ability to see His guiding hand behind apparently random events in life. If you have come to a certain house, then the Lord has led you there, and you must be faithful to His Providence. If the Lord has brought you to this church and this parish, then that is what He wanted. When we rush about in search of something better, we end up guided solely by our own will.
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12:18 For - A strong reason this why they ought the more to regard the whole exhortation drawn from the priesthood of Christ: because both salvation and vengeance are now nearer at hand. Ye are not come to the mountain that could be touched - That was of an earthy, material nature.
12:19 The sound of a trumpet - Formed, without doubt, by the ministry of angels, and preparatory to the words, that is, the Ten Commandments, which were uttered with a loud voice, Deu 5:22.