Jesus chose the twelve (Luke 6b qa)

Jesus chose the twelve

Luke 6:12-16

Key Verse 13

1.       What commonalities do you find in the calling of the disciples (5:27-32) and Levi (5:1-11) in their understanding of 1) themselves and 2) understanding of Jesus and Jesus’ call to them and 3) their responses to Jesus?

	Simon	Levi
1) Their perception of Jesus	Master to Lord	Unsaid-his response reveals that Levi acknowledged that Jesus was the Lord
2)Their understanding of themselves	A sinful man, that cannot be with Jesus	A sinner unable to get up to see Jesus-implicit acceptance of his sinfulness and Jesus’ Lordship
3)Jesus’ call	Don’t be afraid, you will fish for people	Follow me
4)Their response to Jesus’ call	They left everything and followed Jesus	Got up, left everything and followed Jesus Offer a feast on behalf of Jesus

a.       These two responses served as the primary model for the next disciples to follow.

2.       Who gathered around Jesus (5:1, 15, 17, 21, 30; 6:13)? What challenge did Jesus face (5:21, 30, 33; 6:2, 10)? What might be the effect of these challenges to his followers? 

a.       There were three kinds of people : disciples(6:130); those who came to seek healings and other crowds(5:1,15); teachers of the Law and Pharisees (5:17,21,30)

b.      Two or three challenges Jesus faced: 1) large increase in the number of Jesus’  his followers (compare 5:15 and 6:17) 2) large number of Jesus’ followers 3) opposition of the teachers of the Law and Pharisees  with traditional belief  to Jesus' teaching l the core message of salvation—in the matter of Jesus’ authority to forgive sins and in the matter of Jesus’ Lordship over the Sabbath

c.       Concerns: 1) how to take care of such large followers with full attention 2) how to protect his disciples from the influence of Pharisees and teachers of the Law while delivering to them Jesus’ message of salvation in its sharpness and in its fullness.

3.       What was anticipated in Jesus’ ministry? (6:17-19; cf. 5:15) What was Jesus looking ahead in his ministry? (6:20-23-35b-49; 9:1-6)

a.       There was a tremendous increase in the size of his disciples as well as his followers. In comparing 5:15 with 6:17, there was a clear distinction in describing the size of the crowds; V5:15 ..teachers of the Law and Pharisees  who came from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem … alludes that the news about Jesus had spread to the entire nation, including Jerusalem and Judea.  So natural outcome of such spread of the new resulted in 6:17 ‘large number of his disciples… a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon.

b.      In the rest of the chapter 6 Jesus taught
to his disciples—this teaching was to his disciples; particular attention was given to them only; This means that Jesus separated them from the non-disciples, particularly from the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, though this separation might not be a physically getting them away from the Pharisees
Jesus planned to teach them the rules or ethics of the kingdom of God; Jesus was introducing them the new sets of principle of the kingdom of God and his people; which is radically different from what the Pharisees projected or what they had known before.
Jesus was looking ahead to send his ‘apostles’ to preach the kingdom of God to every village of Israel (9:2,6) Though a large number of people came to him, Jesus planned to deliver this message to every towns of Israel. It will be through his ‘chosen twelve Apostles”

4.       What did Jesus do on a particular day? When and Why? (12) What did Jesus do the next day? (13) Why do you think Jesus ‘chose’ the twelve among them? What title did Jesus give them? Why?

a.       Jesus prayed all through the night until the next morning:  to seek God's will and his wisdom ; pray all through the night:
its intensity of the prayer and importance of the prayer—this one was different from what is described in 5:16; This one was not like one of those prayers that he often did.
to face the challenges that we discussed above ;how to deliver the message of the kingdom of God to all with specificity and accuracy… in face of opposition and unbelief and misapprehension
Seeking God’s will and direction (ref 4:42-43)

b.      Jesus chose the twelve
called all of his disciples to him; disciples--learner, pupil, apprentice ; they became fairly good size (6:17)
out of a large number of disciples, Jesus chose the twelve ; it was for himself and in his own accord
Jesus designated them apostles; being sent, delegate, envoy , messenger ; Jesus made a clear distinction the apostles from the disciples. ; This distinction is by their job to carry Jesus’ message to others; with full knowledge and power and authority from Jesus. ;
In order to carry Jesus’ message, they were to know Jesus than any other group of his followers; they were to know Jesus fully and to believe him fully.
Jesus’ intention to impart full truth and power of God to these people.

5.       Who were the twelve and what were they like?

Peter (5:8); Andrew (Matt 4:17-18; Mark 1:29; John 1:35-42); James and John (5:10; Mk 3:17-18);
Philip (John 1:43-48); Bartholomew, Matthew (5:27-32); Thomas (Jn 14:5; 20:24-25);
Simon, Judas son of James,  Judas (Mk 14:45;Jn 12:4-5)

Consider their job, social association/standing, education, and personalities of each. (ref. 1 Cor 1:26-29)

What does this tell you about what Jesus was looking for? (5:1-11, 36-39; 1 Corinthians 3:18-19; Pro 26:12; Jam 2:5 ) Why? (Luke 10:21)  How was such character shown in Simon and Levi? (5:1-11; 5:27-32)

@1st group: 14 Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John:

1. Simon and Andrew were brothers and from Bethsaida(Jn 1:44) were fisher men.
2. James and John were brothers, called sons of Zebedee, or sons of thunder (Mk 3:17) They were Jesus' cousins since their mother Salome is Mary's sister(Jn 19:25 with Matt 27:56, Mk 15:40)
   They were fishing partners of Peter (Lk 5:10)

@2nd group Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas,

a.       Philip (Jn 1:43-48; 6:5-7; 12:22; 14:8-9) is from Bethsaida and introduced Nathanael to Jesus

b.      Bartholomew: another name Nathanael(Jn 1:45)  a. the Synoptic do not mention Nathanael  while John does not mention Bartholomew. b. Every list except Act 1:13 PLACES b. Every list except in Act 1:13 places Bartholomew and Philip together. c. other men named in John 21:2 are apostles and Nathanael is among them.

c.       Matthew: anther name of Levi (Mat 9:9-13=Luke 5:29-32), tax collector

d.      Thomas: means "twin".  also known as Didymus (Jn 11:16; 20:24; 21:2; also 14:5)

@3rd group: James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

a.       James:(Mark 2:14)-son of Alphaeus

b.      Simon, the Zealot: a fourth political party, absolute rejection of Roman rule and raised strong opposition to Romans.

c.       Judas son of James: not the half-brother of Jesus; Thaddaeus may be the same person? (10th position in Mark 3:18; Matt 10:3)

d.      Judas Iscariot : the betrayer, Iscariot is a reference to a region in Judea

e.      1 Corinthians 1:26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

f.        Simon and his companions as well as Levi set the example of what kind of person Jesus wanted; instead of having good personal ability or attributes, one’s faith in Jesus and that was expressed undivided decision to follow Jesus was valued; i.e faith in obedience to  Jesus’ call was counted most valuable. All other social standing or abilities were not the primary reason for calling.

g.       There were wide variety of people; zealot, tax collectors and fishermen… devout seeker of God… money lover.. skeptic or realist.. One’s willingness to deny his own and to learn Jesus was the most important asset to be chosen as Jesus’ apostles. (ref. Jn 9:41)
Luke 10:21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
1Co 1:20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?