And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.
Luke 6:13-16 (NKJV)
Scripture: Mark 3:14-19
In the last devotion, we looked at who Judas Iscariot was. He was just one of the disciples that studied under Jesus. This devotion looks at some disciples individually and the group as a whole.
Judas Iscariot was just one of the twelve men who traveled with and studied under Jesus. We don’t know a whole lot about them, either through scriptures or through historical accounts. But we do know some.
To read Who Was Judas Iscariot?, click the button below.
First, let’s clear up something that might be a bit confusing.
Are They Disciples or Apostles?
Two different terms have been used to describe the Twelve. One term is disciples, and the other term is apostles. What is the distinction?
At first, the Twelve are called Jesus’ disciples. That is appropriate, as the term means “learner” or “pupil.” The Twelve observed what Jesus did – or didn’t do. They saw how He lived, what miracles He performed, and how He interaction with God and others – even how He handled rejection from His own family.
At some point, though, the disciples needed to ramp it up to the next level. They needed to be more than observers. They needed to be doers. They needed to do their assignments on their own without Jesus being physically present.
That is when they became apostles. An apostle was someone who personally saw the resurrected Jesus.
“Apostle” originally started out meaning just the Twelve. Luke 6: 13 says, “And when day came, he [Jesus] called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles” (ESV). Did you catch that – Jesus changed their names from disciples to apostles.
The term came to include others. For example, Acts 14: 14 calls Barnabas and Paul both apostles. These became the leaders of the early church.
Back to the Twelve by Whatever Name
We do know that there was nothing really special about the apostles. Acts 4: 13 tells us that Peter and John were uneducated, ordinary men. It is easy to assume the rest were also, but we really don’t know for sure.
The apostles were an eclectic group. We know more about some of them than others. Four were fishermen. There was also a tax collector, a farmer, and a revolutionary. We don’t know the occupations of five of them.
We know Peter the best. Sometimes, we relate to him the best. He was impulsive, narrow minded, and loyal. He asked Jesus a lot of questions we would have asked. He was inconsistent and thoughtless, just as we can be. But he always stayed true to Jesus, just like we hope to be.
The polar opposite of Peter was his brother Andrew. Andrew was logical and decisive. He was never a strong preacher, but he was a strong administrator.
Thomas was a complex cat. He was pessimistic and faithful at the same time.
Matthew and John are the only two apostles that wrote New Testament books. However, Thomas is credited with writing an apocryphal book.
Citizens hated Matthew because of his occupation. The rest, other than Judas Iscariot, we don’t know much about.
The Faithful Twelve
The Twelve who followed Jesus were especially close to Him. They stuck by His side for three years.
Even though the disciples had face-to-face time with Jesus, we see they had doubts and struggles. They struggled understanding what Jesus was trying to tell them. They struggled with anger, arrogance, pride – normal human stuff.
During what is called Passion Week, the disciples didn’t have a good track record. One betrayed Him; one disowned Him; all abandoned Him.
Still, Jesus entrusted the early church to them as ambassadors and messengers. They grew into the job.
Two were crucified. Two more were crucified or beheaded. Another two were crucified or stabbed with a spear. One was stabbed, and one was stabbed or beheaded. One was stoned; one was shot with arrows. One died of natural causes and one took his own life.
We remember the apostles because they conquered their fears and boldly proclaimed the gospel. They accomplished the tasks given to them. They helped build the early church.
What About Us?
We aren’t as lucky as the disciples were. We don’t get to see Jesus face to face. We get to see Him through the eyes of faith.
There are a lot of times when we say to ourselves that we can handle anything as long as our friends and family support us. We don’t want to stand against something alone. We like the company to bolster our confidence. We also want the validation of our opinion. We know we are right, but we want to know others believe that we are right.
We see ourselves unworthy. We may feel that we are educated enough or in an occupation of which others really don’t approve. We can find a lot of minuses in us to keep us from accomplishing the tasks God has for us.
We have to remember that — just as the Twelve — if God calls us to do something, He is going to equip us to do it. We may scratch our heads because we don’t see it. But think of it this way.
God is not going to set us up for failure. He wants us to further His kingdom. We fail — it isn’t necessarily furthered.
That being said, we fail — we may be furthered. We grow in the rough patches, don’t we? Mistakes (and on purposes — aka sin) show us where we need to work to improve our relationship with Him. It may be just Him growing us in this situation so we can succeed for Him in the next one.
We see the disciples as ordinary men. We see the apostles as extraordinary men. I wonder what changed.
When Jesus was here on earth, I imagine the disciples let Him do and be. After Jesus ascended, they let God do and be through them.
The argument could be made that they understood better. You know, hindsight is 20/20?
I think that after the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, the disciples finally understood then Man Whim they had been following really was God. All the scales that clouded their understanding was stripped away. They stepped up to their calling.
Lord. We see how Jesus called and how You used these twelve men to establish Your church on earth. If they were uneducated or highly educated, You used them. Just as You will use us as we are — broken, flawed, and narrow minded. Thank You for letting us see their fears and failures. We see that You use us in spite of that. Let us step up into our calling. Amen.
What do you think? When you think about the Twelve, do you see them as the ordinary disciples or the apostles/early church leaders? Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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