Luke 6:12 – 16 Choosing the Apostles

Luke 6:12 – 16 Choosing the Apostles

In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Jesus, after going out to pray chose his 12 closest followers. Many of these individuals remain just names to us - except for those who are called as a part of the story – Peter, formerly Simon, John, Judas. I wonder what their families and friends thought of them and their callings. I believe young men were an integral part of their families’ support – what did those families think of them traipsing after this preacher? Were they supportive? Were they critical? Did they plead and exhort their young friends and sons to “snap out of it”? This was a real counter cultural action on their parts. They had new work to do – far removed from their traditional work - keeping company with Jesus, learning from Jesus’ words and actions, bearing their own witness to greater or lesser degrees, and most of all preparing for the time when Jesus would be gone and they would have to step up to nurture the beginnings of the faith Jesus left behind.