On this occasion Jesus sent his apostles to do the work committed to them, not among the Gentiles, but only among the Jews; or as he calls them—­“the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” v. 5,6.  But, after his resurrection, and just before he went up to heaven, he enlarged their commission.  His parting command to them then was—­“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”  St. Mark xvi:  15.

When Jesus, their Master, went to heaven they were to take up and carry on the great work that he had begun.  Those twelve men were to begin the work of changing the religion of the world.  They were to overturn the idols that had been worshiped for ages.  They were to shut up the temples in which those idols had been worshiped.  They were to “turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.”  Acts xxvi:  18.  They were to go up and down the world, everywhere, telling the wondrous story of Jesus and his love.  And in doing this work they were to be the means of saving the souls of all who believed their message, and in the end of winning the world back to Jesus, till, according to God’s promise, he has “the heathen for his inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for his possession.”  Ps. ii:  8.

This was the grandest and most important work that men were ever called upon to do.  The apostles spent their lives in doing this work; and then they left it for others to carry on.  The work is not finished yet.  And, if we learn to love and serve Jesus, we may help to carry it on.  We may be apostles, too, though in a lower sense than that in which the first twelve were apostles.  An apostle means—­one sent.  But Jesus sends into the vineyard to work for him all who become his loving children.  And, in this sense it is true that all who love and serve Jesus are his apostles.  He says to each of us—­“Go, work to-day, in my vineyard.”  St. Matt, xxi:  28.  And in another place he says—­“Let him that heareth, say, Come.”  Rev. xxii:  17.

And when we are trying to tell people of Jesus and his love, and to bring them to him, then we are helping to carry on the same great work that Jesus gave his apostles to do.  Let us look at some examples of persons who have been apostles for God and helped to do the work of apostles.

“Aunt Lucy.”  I heard the other day of a good old woman in the State of Michigan, known as Aunt Lucy.  She is eighty-four years old, and lives all alone, supporting herself principally by carpet-weaving.  All that she can save from her earnings, after paying for her necessary expenses, she spends in buying Bibles, which she distributes among the children and the poor of the neighborhood.  Thirteen large family Bibles, and fifty small ones, have thus been given away—­good, well-bound Bibles.

A neighbor, who has watched this good work very closely, says that two-thirds of the persons to whom Aunt Lucy has given Bibles have afterwards become Christians.  In doing this work Aunt Lucy was an apostle.