Choosing the Twelve
TRANSLATION
(12) In those days, Jesus went up a mountainside to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. (13) And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from among them twelve whom also he designated “apostles” (or “sent ones.”) (14) (These included) Simon, whom he named Peter, Andrew, his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, (15) Matthew and Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon, called the Zealot, (16) Judas, the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor.
(17) And he came down (from the mountain) with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon. These came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. (18) And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were also healed. (19) And everyone tried to touch him, for power was coming out of him and was healing them all.
OBSERVATIONS
In this pivotal segment of Luke’s Gospel, repeated words included “pray/prayer” (vs. 12), “disciples” (vss. 13 & 17), “crowd” (vss. 17 & 19), and “healed” (vss. 18 & 19). Here we find a listing of the twelve who were appointed to be “apostles,” the closest to Jesus among all who followed him as disciples. All but Judas would eventually be entrusted with the responsibility of spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
OUTLINE
I. Jesus appointed twelve to be apostles-in-training after spending a night of prayer. (12-16)
II. Jesus ministered powerfully, healing all who came to him no matter what their affliction. (17-19)
IDEA STATEMENT
Jesus chose and appointed twelve “apostles” to share in his earthly ministry, receive his training, and eventually take his place in carrying the Gospel to uttermost parts of the earth.
APPLICATION
This chapter marked a strategic moment in Jesus’ life and ministry. Up to this point, he had been ministering basically on his own, teaching, healing, providing guidance for a growing group of followers. Now he chose twelve men out of the larger group of disciples who would be trained to become his “apostles” or “sent ones.” These he would prepare to take his place when he would no longer be on earth to lead them. This slow process would take many months and involve their learning many important lessons.
What was it about the twelve that motivated Jesus to select them? The author of 1 Samuel gives us a clue when he wrote about the choice of David to replace Saul as king of Israel. In directing Samuel to pass over Eliab, the oldest of David’s brothers, Yahweh had said, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:9). Samuel finally anointed the youngest and least likely of Jesse’s sons to become king. Surely, in choosing his disciples, Jesus did not rely on appearances, experience, education, or other worldly qualifications. With his divine ability to discern the thoughts and intents of their hearts, he gathered to himself those with the greatest potential to carry out his command to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.
Consider how Paul described the qualifications of the Corinthian believers: “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor. 1:26-29). We who have been called to serve Jesus Christ must never think that he chose us because of some special quality or ability which we possess. Rather, we serve because God has sovereignly appointed us to be the recipients of his mercy and grace. It is all because of him and never because of us.