2023/09/11

108. Successors of the Apostles, Part 3

In the last issue, I mentioned that through Jesus' resurrection, the "charge I have received from my Father" (John 10:18) was fulfilled, and "Death and Hades" (Revelation 1:18) were resolved. This time, we will discuss this topic further. 

The "serpent," man's accidental information (cf. blog № 4), first appeared in Genesis, when man became plural, created as male and female. Here, God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Genesis 2:16-17), whereas what the "woman" remembered was as follows: "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die'" (Genesis 3:2-3). This contrast shows that in the memory of the two, the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" was replaced by the "tree in the midst of the garden," and the words "neither shall you touch it" were added. 

The confusion in their memory eventually developed into the specific act of "taking" and "eating" of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, with God's words "you shall die" replaced by the words of the "serpent" "You will not die" (Genesis 3:4). Later, they had their first experience of man's "dying" when Cain killed Abel. But at this time, the words "You will not die" were affixed to their memory as human knowledge. For this reason, people must have developed an image of the afterlife, even as they have performed burial rites and acknowledged people's death. 

Jesus reiterated the words "You will not die" as the Word by saying, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die" (John 11:25-26). He overwrote the words of the "serpent" in Genesis with the Word of God. He also attested to this fact by resurrecting after his Passion and Death. 

Jesus, at the last supper, took bread, blessed it, broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is my body" (Matthew 26:26) and gave it to his disciples. The words "this is my body" suggest Jesus' words testifying about himself (cf. John 6:51). Believers, by remembering what it was that Jesus commanded to "take and eat" and by "taking" and "eating" the Eucharist with their own hands following his command, will atone for the two in Genesis who "took" and "ate" against God's command. For believers are the successors to the Word of Jesus. The words of Jesus' testimony are as follows:

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh" (John 6:51). 

To be continued.

Maria K. M.

 2023/09/25

110. Successors of the Apostles, Part 5

As we have examined, Jesus atoned for the faults and sins of the people described at the beginning of Genesis with his words. That is also why the prayer "Give us this day our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11) is placed in the middle of the Lord's Prayer. 

This prayer derives from the words God decreed in Genesis, "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19), after Adam "have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,'" (Genesis 3:17). Adam said to God, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate" (Genesis 3:12), meaning that he not only disobeyed God's command but also made a double fault because he attributed the cause of his disobedience to God. 

God said to Adam, "[I]n toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life" (Genesis 3:17), and required him to atone for these faults by eating bread "In the sweat of your face." That is the reason why Jesus chose men to be Apostles. Jesus trained them and wanted them, male like Adam, to accept the work of the new covenant so that they could continue his work of redemption. Therefore, at the last supper, he entrusted them with the work of giving birth to the Eucharist in collaboration with the Holy Spirit, saying, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19). That was a work of continuing to perform the sign of bread, as Jesus did, in response to the prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread", by eating bread "In the sweat of your face." 

The first 'woman' also disobeyed God's words, being deceived by the 'serpent.' God said to the 'serpent,' "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15), and added to the woman's body the function of conveying to her descendants the 'enmity God put' so that people could sense the 'serpent' henceforth. This heavy responsibility caused the women to bear children in pain (cf. Genesis 3:15-16). By these women, the successors of the Apostles, who would carry on Jesus' work of redemption, would be born. Jesus, therefore, bestowed also on women the words that his heavenly Father revealed to Peter the Apostle: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). 

That happened in a conversation between Jesus, who had come to Bethany to raise Lazarus, and Martha, who had come out to meet him. This time, Jesus rewrote the words "You will not die" that the "serpent" said to the woman in Genesis into the Word of God by telling it as the Word (cf. blog№108). That is as follows:

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?' She said to him, 'Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.'" (John 11:25-27). 

To be continued.

Maria K. M.