The Apostles

Evidence of the Twelve Apostles

In a Law Court, after all the evidence has been given, it is left to the jury of 12 people to arrive at the truth and to give their verdict.  So we can think of the 12 Apostles as the jury who, with all the evidence of Our Lord’s Resurrection before them, gave their verdict.  Let us look at what St Peter said to the people: “…you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.  To this we are witnesses” (NRSV, Acts 3:15).  Or St Paul, “…if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain.   But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead …” (NRSV, 1 Corinthians 15:14,20).

The changed lives of the Apostles

And so, instead of returning to Galilee to earn their own living and enjoy a comfortable old age, the Apostles spent their lives travelling all over the Roman Empire, carrying the news of Our Lord’s Resurrection and planting the Church in every place as they went.  All they received in return, so far as this world was concerned, were hardships and poverty and sufferings and beatings and imprisonments and, in the end, martyrdom.  So St Peter was crucified, St Paul was beheaded.  And why?  Because as St Peter said, “We must obey God rather than any human authority”.  “   we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard” (NRSV, Acts 5:29; 4:20).