Overview:

Saturday of the First Week of Advent

A Reflection for Saturday of the First Week of Advent

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Then he summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.

Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,
“Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse lepers, drive out demons.
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” (Matthew 9:35-10:1)

Find today’s readings here.

There are times when we read the Gospels when it becomes difficult to visualize the story being told. This is one of them. What does it mean that Jesus gave the apostles the authority to drive out unclean spirits and cure illnesses? The visual conjures up a scene that could be in a fantasy novel: Peter and the other apostles lay hands on the diseased and then a glowing healing force cures them of their ailments! It’s like they are casting divine magic to make the blind see and make the lame walk.

This type of visual can, at best, make conceptualizing the reality of Jesus’ ministry very hard and, at worst, make the Gospels seem like far-flung fantasias as opposed to something that was really happening in Roman-occupied Judea two thousand years ago. How do we reconcile this? What are we to do with these stories?

I find it helpful to keep in mind that miracles happen all the time. Proof of miracles are, after all, requirements for sainthood. There is a long history of Christians performing miracles. There are, of course, the classics: St. Anthony of Padua getting fish to listen to a sermon or St. Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata in emulation of Christ. Just recently, Carlo Acutis became the first millennial saint after two miraculous healings occurred after St. Carlo was asked to intercede. There is little reason to think that the apostles, of all people, would not have been capable of these same kinds of miracles or even greater ones.

There are many ways of reading the Gospels, but it is important to remember that they are, first and foremost, separate accounts of largely the same series of events. More importantly, they are divinely inspired and composed entirely of truth. They are not allegory or metaphor, but what actually happened. This is broadly true for the New Testament in general (at least until we get to Revelation) and differs significantly from the Old Testament, which is a collection of Jewish rabbinic teachings, accounts, songs and folk tradition.

The New Testament forms the bedrock of Christian tradition after Jesus’ initial ministry, but keep in mind that Christian history did not end when the Bible was finished. It has kept going, with new highs and lows, new miracles and tragedies, new saints and sinners, for nearly two thousand years and it shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.

Kevin Christopher Robles is the studio production associate at America. He was previously an O'Hare Fellow and intern.