Apostles Types

 

In our celebration of the Apostles' Fast and the

Apostles' Feast, we find that our fathers the apostles

were of so many types. Each of the apostles was of a

type: Peter was different that Thomas and both were

different from John the beloved. And in reality these

types were not only different among the apostles but

among all the characters of the Holy Bible, not only

that but they are in the human society surroundings.

Because not all people in the world have the same

psychology or the same mind.

Therefore, God did not specify a single road that

leads to His Kingdom, but there are many roads, and

they all must be good roads.

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So among the apostles we find Peter the eagerly,

who when asking the Lord a question rushes himself

into answering it. And we find Mathew who was

originally a chief tax collector and Thomas who

doubts everything by nature. Then they were joined

by Saul of Tarsus (St. Paul the apostle) who at the

beginning of his life was prosecuting the church then

after believing became one of its big defenders and

he has served the church in strength and spread…

This variability can also be found in the story of

the birth of Jesus and the visit of Virgin Mary to

Elizabeth. We see that the pure Virgin, Elizabeth the

married and pregnant, Zachariah the priest and their

son John the Baptist who was filled with the Holy

Spirit from his mother's belly. And they all are saints

and members. And in the same story we find Joseph

the carpenter, Samaan the Elder and Hannah the

widow the prophet and they are all saints.

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And on the mountain of the Transfiguration, we

find with the Lord Christ Moses and Elijah and they

were of different types too: Elijah is an example of a

man living on the mountain and Moses is an example

of a man living in the city and of service. Elijah

represents violence where he killed the priests of the

Baal. And said to the two captains of fifties let fire

come down from heaven and consume you and your

fifty men… Elijah represents virginity and Moses

represents marriage… And although both are of

different types, they were accepted before God and

considered saints.

So no one may say that Moses is right and Elijah

is wrong, if he likes meekness more!! If you like

meekness then praise him but do not say that he who

is not meek is not walking through God's road

because everyone has his nature and style.

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Women who followed Christ were of different

types. There was Mary the servant, the mother of St.

Mark the apostle whose home was the first church.

Among those women, there was also Mary

Madeline from whom he got out seven devils.

And we find one of the relatives of the ruling

house: the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward.

We also find Mary and Martha: Mary represents

the life of meditation and Martha represents the life of

service and both were accepted before God.

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And across history we find other various types,

varying in education, age, raising and nature. For

example from the point of view of education: we find

Athanasious the man of Theology, the well known,

the twentieth of the Popes of Alexandria. Also Paul

the apostle, the educated the well known of reading

many books. We also find Luke the doctor and

Arsanious the tutor of the kings' sons. And side by

side with all these people we find a group of the

apostles the fishermen about whom the bible said

that they are the foolish things that put shame on the

wise.

And from the point of view of raising we find

Deborah the judge (Jg 4,5), and Ruth who used to

collect from the sides of the field what the harvesters

left.

And from the point of view of age we find David

the lad, Mark the youth and Samaan the elder and

God chose all of them and assigned them services.

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And from the point of view of repentance, we find

a number of repentants, each with a story that varies

from the other: Augustine's story varies from that of

Moses the black and they both vary from the

repentance story of St. Mary the Coptic.

And we find, among repentants, that some spent

many years in sin until they repented. And some were

taken away by the grace at once. And some reached

repentance after a long struggle. And some did not

know until the eleventh hour or maybe until a quarter

to the twelfth hour like the right hand side robber.

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We notice in all the sins that God accepted that

He knew the weakness of our nature (Ps 103:14).

And know that the nature has become more tending

to the sin ever since the days of our father Adam. And

yet, those sinners who were accepted by God like

Zacchaeus and Moses the black did not continue as

sinners but He lead them to repentance.

As for their sins, He did not reproach them

for them, and He even forgotten it.

 

And so, He said in Jeremiah's book "For I will

forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no

more" (Jr 31:34). It is a comforting verse for every

human who committed a sin in his life and his

conscience is annoying him because of it.

And about repentance He said (in prophet

Ezekiel's book): "he shall surely live; he shall not die.

None of the transgressions which he has committed

shall be remembered against him" (Ez 18:21, 22).

And says in the psalm "Blessed is he whose

transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not

impute iniquity" (Ps 32:1, 2). And out of St. Paul

admiration of this verse he quoted it in his Epistles to

Romans (Ro 4:7, 8).

All these statements calls for hope and

encourages every person who is facing desperation

that is trying to kill him. God does not only forgive

the sin but also covers the sin and erases it and does

not remember it again… All these are comforting

statements…

And from the side of women, He chose Sara the

barren, and choose Leah the baring woman. And from

the side of children He called Samuel the child and

called a child to Him, set him the midst of them and

said: "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are

converted and become as little children, you will by

no means enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 18:2, 3).

And we read about a baby who was filled with the

Holy Spirit while he was in his mother's belly, I mean

John the Baptist.

And here we notice in all the samples or types we

mentioned:

First, that God gives a chance to all, so that no

one gets despaired from going to Heaven. And

second, He puts before us many types and each of us

can choose what suits him… So he who loves

meekness has the example of prophet Moses (Nm

12:3). And he who has toughness in his nature has

the example of prophet Elijah.

The most important thing is that God wants to

lead everyone to salvation regardless of their types.

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The strange in all what we mentioned is that we

find for example of Rahab the harlot and how the

bible mentioned here in the genealogy (Mt 1:5). God

allowed that to give hope to everyone. Even this

Rahab had that hope.

And you may say: Count me, o Lord, among any of

those. The important thing is that I reach you. Or just

count me as smooth stone in David's sling for you to

hit a target that you want(1 S 17).