The Ordination of the Twelve

140:9.1The next Sab­bath day Je­sus de­voted to his apos­tles, jour­ney­ing back to the high­land where he had or­dained them; and there, af­ter a long and beau­ti­fully touch­ing per­sonal mes­sage of en­cour­age­ment, he en­gaged in the solemn act of the con­se­cra­tion of the twelve. This Sab­bath af­ter­noon Je­sus as­sem­bled the apos­tles around him on the hill­side and gave them into the hands of his heav­enly Fa­ther in prepa­ra­tion for the day when he would be com­pelled to leave them alone in the world. There was no new teach­ing on this oc­ca­sion, just vis­it­ing and com­mu­nion.

140:9.2Je­sus re­viewed many fea­tures of the or­di­na­tion ser­mon, de­liv­ered on this same spot, and then, call­ing them be­fore him one by one, he com­mis­sioned them to go forth in the world as his rep­re­sen­ta­tives. The Mas­ter’s con­se­cra­tion charge was: “Go into all the world and preach the glad tid­ings of the king­dom. Lib­er­ate spir­i­tual cap­tives, com­fort the op­pressed, and min­is­ter to the af­flicted. Freely you have re­ceived, freely give.”

140:9.3Je­sus ad­vised them to take nei­ther money nor ex­tra cloth­ing, say­ing, “The la­borer is wor­thy of his hire.” And fi­nally he said: “Be­hold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be you there­fore as wise as ser­pents and as harm­less as doves. But take heed, for your en­e­mies will bring you up be­fore their coun­cils, while in their syn­a­gogues they will cas­ti­gate you. Be­fore gov­er­nors and rulers you will be brought be­cause you be­lieve this gospel, and your very tes­ti­mony shall be a wit­ness for me to them. And when they lead you to judg­ment, be not anx­ious about what you shall say, for the spirit of my Fa­ther in­dwells you and will at such a time speak through you. Some of you will be put to death, and be­fore you es­tab­lish the king­dom on earth, you will be hated by many peo­ples be­cause of this gospel; but fear not; I will be with you, and my spirit shall go be­fore you into all the world. And my Fa­ther’s pres­ence will abide with you while you go first to the Jews, then to the gen­tiles.”

140:9.4And when they came down from the moun­tain, they jour­neyed back to their home in Zeb­e­dee’s house.