NOTES for Luk 6:12-19

The evangelist notes something interesting: before choosing the Twelve, Jesus spends the whole night in prayer. Had He been an ordinary person, there would have been nothing surprising about this. It was a decision of the greatest importance, on which the Savior's earthly mission largely depended; before making such a decision, any ordinary person would probably have prayed all night, turning to God and trying to hear His voice and understand His will. But Jesus' contact with His heavenly Father was always perfect: He did not need to ask Him again or clarify the answer. Apparently, something else is at issue. What, then? For us today, prayer most often amounts precisely to a series of questions or requests addressed to God. And we must admit that the question of God's will is far from always first among them.

Even when it is, in our fallen condition knowing and understanding His will is usually, to say the least, difficult; accepting it is harder still. Naturally, Jesus had no such difficulties, nor could He have had them. Yet communion with the Father at such a moment was absolutely necessary to Him. This communion is the spiritual foundation of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is founded on relationships: those of its inhabitants with God and Christ, their relationships with one another, and, of course, Christ's own relationship with the Father.

It is this relationship, Christ's relationship with His heavenly Father, that supports the entire Kingdom. Before choosing the apostles, the Savior absolutely needed to activate this relationship and make it present not only for Himself—for Him it always remained deep and alive—but also for His chosen ones, whom He had to bring into His relationship with the Father, thereby bringing them into the Kingdom. He did so that they might not only carry out what He entrusted to them, but also understand from their own experience what life in the Kingdom is. For that is the only way it can be understood.