Christian faith: the preeminence of Jesus
The
apostles and the communion with Jesus
There is a fact according to the Acts and
other writings of the New Testament, that after the resurrection of Jesus, the
apostles kept an intimate relationship and communion with him.
We see them living together with Jesus as
with a real, living person, full of wisdom and power, and counting on him in
every instance. I might even say that Paul has some expressions about his
communion with Jesus that, in my opinion, are metaphorical, not real (Galatians
Communion is not a simple memory
The communion of the apostles with Jesus
was not a simple memory of him, as we may have with a loved one after his/her
death. It was a real communication with a living person.
This kind of communion was easier for the
apostles than it is for us, since they knew and experienced him as a human
being in his mortal life; we have only the experience of faith, without the
help of the physical experience that they had.
Why this communion - Jesus is unique
The first reason is very simple; if the
apostles "saw" Jesus alive after the resurrection, it was
"normal" for them to keep an active communication with him. It was a
kind of spontaneous relationship, out of the experiences they had.
This experience of the apostles was so
vivid, that even the new believers experienced Jesus in their lives as the
apostles did. It was a kind of "contagious" experience, I might say,
reinforced by the words of Jesus that he'd stay with his followers forever.
That was the way the early church experienced Jesus.
More in the book
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