The lecture centers on the relationship between the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples, especially in connection with the Holy Forty Days period following the Resurrection. The essence of this relationship is encapsulated in the verse: “For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself” (Romans 14:8 – Note: The text provided by the user references John 13:1, which is the actual focus – “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1)).

1. The Specificity of Love and the Choice of the Apostles

• Love for His Own: The speaker clarified that Christ loved the whole world (John 3:16), but He set aside the apostles for a special love and status, just as He privileged three of them (Peter, James, and John), and then John the Beloved.
• The Disciples’ Types: Christ chose them from diverse and varying temperaments and professions: among them were the impulsive (Peter), the skeptic (Thomas), the calm lover (John), and the tax collector (Matthew).
• Wisdom in Selection: Christ chose “the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise” and “the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty,” so that the excellence of the power would be God’s and not theirs, and that they would boast in the Lord alone.

2. The Method of Teaching and Apostolic Transmission

• Teaching from Christ: The disciples spent more than three years with Christ, receiving general teaching, private sessions, and observing His example in dealing with opponents and the disheartened.
• The Apostolic Commandment: He commanded them to teach only “all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20), meaning the tradition they had received directly from Him, not from their own private thought.
• Unwritten Tradition: Matters that the Apostles received from Christ verbally (such as His post-Resurrection explanation of the Old Testament scriptures, and the Holy Sacraments) became integrated into the traditions and life of the Church and were not lost.

3. Christ’s Frankness and the Disciples’ Strength

• Christ’s Defense: Christ defended His disciples against every criticism leveled by the Scribes and Pharisees (regarding fasting and keeping the Sabbath).
• Frankness about Hardship: Christ was frank with them, predicting hardship, hatred, and betrayal to rulers, and that people would think “whoever kills you will think that he offers God a service.”
• The Promise of Aid: He balanced this warning with the promise of divine help and the power of the Holy Spirit, and His constant presence with them: “I am with you always.” Therefore, they were not afraid but went out rejoicing because they were considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.

4. The Apostles’ Love and Authority

• Love to the End: The Apostles loved Christ with a love reciprocal to His own, abandoning everything and following Him into the unknown, enduring martyrdom, and affirming: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
• Granting Authority: Christ granted them:
  • The authority of the Priesthood (by breathing on them and saying: “Receive the Holy Spirit“).
  • The authority to teach and baptize (“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them“).
  • The gifts of healing and working miracles, promising them: “The works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do.”
• Spreading the Message: Thanks to these Apostles, Christianity spread with astonishing speed (within half a century) from Jerusalem to the ends of the then-known world.