May 19, 2010 – Acts 1-2:4

A great deal happens in a very short period here.  The Ascension of the Lord, choosing Judas’ replacement, and the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Lots we could talk about.  The Ascension always seems to happen very quickly.  They are walking and talking and then, up into a cloud Jesus goes and He is gone.  When it is said that He will come back the same way, I wonder also if they mean quickly like that, in the middle of someone’s conversation. 

You can see here when the apostles are together, Peter appears to be in the leadership role.  This will take place a lot in Acts as we continue through.  All of these moments when the apostles look to Peter as the leader of their group are what Catholics point to when we talk about the leadership role of the Pope.

They replace Judas.  It is not something where when one of the apostles died, the spot stopped existing.  They replaced Judas with Matthias and brought him into that role.  This is one of the places where Catholics look to for the idea of the succession of our Church leadership.  When a bishop dies, the position does not end.  Someone is called up to replace him.  Thus this connection back to the Apostles.  Catholics can trace our lineage of Popes back to Peter and his replacement Linus and so on. 

Jesus and His brothers.  The Catholic Church believes that Mary was ever virgin and Jesus did not have brothers or sisters.  I have heard the argument that there are multiple places where the Bible talks about Jesus’ brothers and sisters.  This can be explained by the fact that it is a translation issue and there was no word for cousin in the Hebrew language.  I am no expert on Hebrew or any language, but I have heard that reasoning.  Even if you don’t buy that argument, look at this section closely and see if Jesus’ brothers being Mary’s children makes any sense.  It talks about all the people that were with the apostles.  There were some women, probably the same ones that were with Jesus on the cross and preparing His burial.  Let’s be generous and say 15 women.  Plus the 12 Apostles you have 27.  Then there is Mary and Jesus’ brothers.  28 and Jesus’ brothers.  What does the next line say.  120 people.  I heard an apologist say that if that if these 92 were Jesus’ brothers, Mary was not in Perpetual virginity but in Perpetual Labor.  The notion that whenever the Bible says Jesus’ brothers it means that these were Mary’s children just doesn’t make sense if you look at this.  It may be the language thing, it may be something else, but Mary could not have 92 sons, not counting Jesus and His sisters.