NOTES for Luk 9:1-17

When the Lord sends the twelve apostles out to preach, He charges them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to bear witness to those who are willing to receive their testimony. At the beginning of the next chapter He gives the same charge to the seventy apostles. Both the Twelve and the Seventy are called to rely on God and not to take unnecessary provisions for the journey. The characteristic distinction noted by the evangelist Luke is that the twelve apostles also receive the power and the charge to cast out evil spirits and heal diseases. This is precisely why the next generation of Christians already spoke of Christ as having “established His Church on the foundation of the twelve apostles.” For He endowed them with His own power and authority and gave them the commission that He Himself fulfilled in His ministry. The distinctive feature of the charge to the twelve apostles indicated by Luke is important because it characterizes not only their task at that particular moment but also the essence of the Church the Lord is building. Like the apostles, the whole apostolic Church continues Christ’s ministry on earth: proclaiming the Kingdom and healing damaged human nature.