DELEGATED AUTHORITY

DELEGATED AUTHORITY
Homily for Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time,
20 Jan 2023, Mk 3:13-19

I imagine the reaction of the disciples who were appointed as apostles when they were called to go up to the mountain. Jesus usually went up to the mountain for a retreat, especially when he had to make a very important decision. He did what Moses and Elijah themselves did very often to get a “good connection.” Don’t we hear of soldiers assigned in far-off places in Mindanao, having to climb mountains just to be able to get a good signal in order to be able to send a text to their loved ones?
Jesus seems to have found his own good spot where he got his full connection to his Father. Through prayer, he got connected to his basic power source, which flowed freely in his teaching, healing, and exorcising activities. And now he was ready to share, not just the power, but the power source itself. I therefore imagine the shocked reaction of these twelve when they were personally selected to go up to the mountain, and when they realized what it was for—that Jesus was delegating his authority to them. That he was going to allow divine power to be experienced by more people through these men, each one of whom had his own flaws and idiosyncrasies.
Simon was hard-headed; that explains why he was called Rocky or Peter. James and John were ambitious young men who were also hot-headed and impulsive. The other Simon and the other Judas were too politically involved and ideologically tainted. Thomas and Bartholomew (a.k.a. Nathanael) were never easy to convince. Matthew had worked for the Roman government. Andrew and Philip were recycled disciples from the Baptist group.
In the TV episode THE CHOSEN, Dallas Jenkins portrayed James son of Alpheus as a person with a disability, who limped around and walked with a cane. Like all the others, he was shocked when he learned that he had been included in the core group of twelve that was being deployed to other towns and villages to do what