Jesus chose the twelve (Luke 6b)

Jesus chose the twelve

Luke 6:12-16

Key Verse 13  When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:

Life is fraught with challenges. Sometimes such challenges necessitate a new turning point. Such turning point was necessary not only to escape from current problems but also to achieve the ultimate goal of one’s life. What is your ultimate goal of life? How can you achieve that?

Today’s word is about how to choose life at the time of life at a cross road. It all hinges on what we believe to be the ultimate goal of our lives. Jesus makes the best example of how. 

Jesus made clear what he came for as he gave his word at a synagogue of Nazareth. He carried it on in the town of Capernaum and he succeeded somewhat there. But here he faced a small challenge. The whole people of Capernaum loved Jesus so much that they wanted to keep him there.  But it was against Jesus' ultimate goal. What did Jesus decide to do? He prayed throughout the night and made a decision and said this;  

Luke 4:43.., "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent."

Here Jesus declared that his purpose of life was not in him but with the one that sent him; God the Father. Also he understood that proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God was his ultimate goal. It was a must for his life and is considered non-negotiable. What does this teach us? Jesus chose twelve disciples and made them apostles. It was to face the challenge that he faced and to meet his ultimate goal, to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God.

What is your ultimate goal of life? What is the one thing that you must not relinquish or compromise? Is this purpose of your life from you or from God? These three will guide us to the answers for our success in life.

What Jesus meant in proclaiming the kingdom of God is more detailed in v18, which he said at the first presentation of himself to the synagogue of his home town Nazareth.

Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luk 4:18 NIV)

Jesus laid out four things that he would carry out as action items in proclaiming the good news: to proclaim freedom for prisoners, to set the oppressed free and proclaim the recovery of sight for the blind and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.  Who are the prisoners, the oppressed, and the blind? What is the Lord's favor? Since then Jesus healed many sick people and drove out demons and preached the coming of the Kingdom of God. The response was remarkable. Many tens or even hundreds of people came to Jesus

What these words meant were displayed in what Jesus did in the next six events; calling of Simon and his fishing companions, healing of a leper, healing of the paralyzed, calling of Levi, and healing of a man with shriveled hand on a Sabbath day.

Here the leper was a prisoner of sickness and the paralyzed was a prisoner of sin and its outcome So was the man with shriveled hand.  Jesus unshackled all that bound them for life and freed them. Who were the blinds that Jesus opened their eyes? When Peter saw the large number of fish caught in the net, his eyes were opened and saw the thing that he never saw before. For the first time in his life he saw the richness of life in Jesus! What about Levi? He never knew the joy of knowing God and trust in Him before he met Jesus. But soon after following Jesus his heart was filled with the joy that he never known or tasted before. He had all riches and many friend and enjoyed things of the world. But that joy could never be compared with the joy of having God in his life. Truly his eyes were opened to see the things that he never saw!

What was the Lord's favor? All these people that we mentioned were sinners but Jesus welcomed them and took care of all their needs without any precondition. Wasn't it Lord's favor? Pharisees did not know this favor and complained that Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners! They were still in blindness! In this way, all forms of ungodliness were welcomed and restored to godly people regardless of how worse condition they were under.

The result was outstanding. This news got to even far southern end of the land--Judea and far northern end of the land Tyre and Sidon (5:17). Many people gathered to see Jesus. It was anticipated that the number of people who came to see Jesus would swelled up from hundreds to even thousands. Among them large number of them became Jesus' disciples. In 6:17 it was noted in this way:

Luke 6:17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, (Luk 6:17 NIV)

This was a great success. The entire nation Israel heard of Jesus and his remarkable works of God. The decision that Jesus made earlier was bearing real fruits. Serving such a large number of people was not an easy task?  Also how can he handle such a large number of disciples and followers? Thousands of people!

In addition, such success and fame earned also unwanted outcome. The religious leaders of the nation dispatched many of their men to find out what Jesus was doing. To them, it became clear that the entire nation was after Jesus and such fame and power would seriously erode their authority and power. So many of them came and challenged Jesus' teaching. Jesus demonstrated that he has authority to forgive sins of men. But they sat there with indignation because it was absurd for them that a mere man can forgive sins of other men. Jesus healed people even on Sabbath. They thought it to be a frank violation of the law of Moses. When Jesus feasted with tax collector and many sinners, Pharisees and teachers of the law blamed Jesus for accepting sinners. Actually all these were the fundamental message of salvation that Jesus came to deliver. But the authority of the nation refuted every single of these core messages, the message of salvation by the king. It posed a great challenge to Jesus' work. Since they were the most powerful authorities of the nation, religious as well as political, their opposition will affect adversely many of his followers. It will plant seeds of doubt and unbelief even among his followers. 

Both of these made a great challenge for Jesus. By all means, Jesus had to overcome these two challenges in order to fulfill his mission. In addition, there were many towns in Israel where Jesus never had chance to preach the good news and tens or even hundreds of thousands people might be waiting yet to hear the good news of salvation.

How can he overcome this?  One thing we know that Jesus had power of God. He had received all authority from the Father to do what was necessary. In his discretion, he had many options to neutralize or even to destroy the opposition from the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Jesus could have shocked these religious leaders with God's word and or God' power or God's judgment. But he did not do those things.  Let's find out what Jesus did.  

12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

According to v 5:16 Jesus often withdrew to a lonely places and prayed. Prayer was an integral part of his life. But at this time, it was a little different. Jesus prayed all night.  From 8 pm to next morning may be 6 am over 10 hours Jesus prayed and prayed to God, asking God's will and his direction. Jesus prayed and prayed all through the night. Finally he may find the solution in God. Prayer is the beginning of the solution for all the challenges that we face. So do you face any challenges in your life? Then pray. If you have not prayed before, then you can start to learn to pray.

As the sun was dawning on the east, Jesus got up and carried out the decision that he received from the Father God.

13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:

As the morning was dawning, there were thousands of people gathered to see him and in them were many followers of Jesus. Jesus called these disciples together and gathered them to one place, separating them away from the large mass of people. And then Jesus chose twelve among them.  And then Jesus designated them to be apostles.

This was the decision to meet the two challenges; challenges from having to serve such a large followers and challenges from stench opposition by religious authorities.  It was a remarkable decision.  It was godly wisdom. Why did Jesus or God choose such way to achieve his ultimate goal?

I like to delve into it in three ways why Jesus chose the twelve and why it was not only meeting the challenges but also was the best to fulfill Jesus' goal.

Who were they? Why did Jesus choose them?

14 Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

There are four places where we can find a list of the apostles. Almost all of them had similar sequence of the names. They are groups into three, in each group having four names.

The first four, Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John were the ones that followed Jesus along with Simon Peter (Luke 5:1-11) They were fisher men and played major role in Jesus inner circle.

The next group of four is Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas.
Philip looked like shy and weak hearted man. When a group of Greek speaking people came up to him and asked to see Jesus. Philip did not tell this Jesus directly. Instead he told this to Andrew and Andrew took him to Jesus. He might have been very shy person. But Jesus told his disciples to feed five thousand people, he was smart to calculate the amount of money needed in a matter of second.

Bartholomew was another name for Nathanael. When Philip said that he found Messiah, Nathanael answered ' 46 "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Also when Jesus saw him he said.  "Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit."(Jn 1:47) He might have been a very sincere man seeking God. Matthew is the Levi that we studied few weeks ago. He was a tax collector and rich man with much influence on his peers. When Jesus called him he left everything and followed Jesus. Thomas was famous for his doubt and fear.

Third group of people were James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot. We do not know much about James Son of Alphaeus and Judas son of James. Simon the Zealot. The zealot is a political party of Israel. They were very patriotic and fiercely oppose any association with Romans and fought for their independence. Simon was one of the party members.  Judas Iscariot was the betrayer of Jesus.

All of them were from Galilee and Galileans. This meant that none of them were from Jerusalem or associated with religious system or hierarchy. They were common people of Israel.  Many of them were fishermen. One tax collector, one zealot, the rest of them we do not know what they were before they came to Jesus. None of them were prominent leaders or influential people.

Different characters and different back grounds  and different mindset. It is very interesting contrast between Andrew and Philip.  When Jesus asked his disciples where they could get bread, Andrew brought a boy with 5 loves of bread an 2fish while Philip saw the impossibility to feed five thousands of  people because it would cost 6 months wages. There were three people whose words were not recorded in the Bible. It seems that they were ones quiet or silent watching things and never took initiative. They were James son of Alphaeus, Judas Son of James, and Simon the zealot.  Jesus even included Judas Iscariot, the betrayer.

None of them were great humanly speaking. Among the twelve three of them we have no idea what kind of person they were. There were two who had extreme views:  one who fully sided with Romans--Matthew and the one who was fiercely against Romans-Simon the zealot. There was one shy and smart with no courage. There was one who was bold but could not keep his word.

@Why did Jesus choose such people?

Few things we can discern:

1.       None of them were great in human eyes.  No one was so knowledgeable like Pharisees and teachers of the law. No one was so powerful in any measure of human standard.

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.

2.       He chose various kinds of people. fisher man, bold, shy, Greek speaking, a man of great passion like Simon Zealot, and smart and warm hearted, rich and able like Matthew,

3.       But there was one common character in these; they all came to Jesus by faith. It was well illustrated in calling of Simon Peter and his friends and Levi. They knew they were sinners and they knew that what they were far short of God's wisdom and knowledge. So they went by faith from the outset of their call. 

Jam 2:5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus 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. (Mat 11:25 NIV).

In order to be chosen, faith is the most important quality. Even faith might be the only quality that Jesus was looking for in these people. We don't have to be smart don't have to be able, don't have to be multifunctional... no matter how much we fall short over other people, as long as we have faith, Jesus can use us as his apostles.  To those who rely on their wisdom and knowledge or power, what would Jesus say? Paul said in this way:

1 Corinthians 3:18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become "fools" so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness"

What does it mean in God's perspective? KJV reflects more the intention of Jesus.

Luke 6:13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; (Luk 6:13 KJV)

Jesus chose them for himself. They were chosen solely according to Jesus' will and solely  in his discretion.   It is by Jesus' grace and his prerogative. At the same time, the burden of success is not with the disciples' ability or power but upon Jesus and His power.  This gives them freedom and confidence in what they do. The same is true to us as well. Jesus, in his sole discretion and will, chose us to bless and to use for his name sake. Only thing that we must do is to put our trust in Jesus. Then God will do the rest.

Why did Jesus choose twelve? It is somewhat peculiar that Jesus chose only or just 12. We do not know the depth of God's wisdom; we can find God's purpose revealed through history.

Israel was chosen to be the first son of God. God called them to be  the priesthood nation for the world. In this God raised 12 children of Israel to become a nation. But the nation Israel failed to do what God called them to do. By choosing 12 Jesus was re-hatching God’s purpose for Israel and for the world. The apostle means one who is sent to deliver a message. They were to function the role that the nation Israel was to do.
As we reviewed during our Bible study, the rest of the ch 6 is Jesus' teaching on the mindset of the kingdom people. It was new ethics and reinterpretation of the Law of Moses. All those who are to be God's people must have such spirit and mind that are described in Ch 6. From the next week we will discuss these principles. Also as we noted in Ch 9 Jesus sends out these twelve to the many villages of Israel. Though the news about Jesus spread even to the end of the country, Jesus wanted all people, every corner of the nation Israel, not missing even one, to face the coming of the King and the blessings of the kingdom. Through these two we can be certain that the primary goal in choosing the twelve was to reestablish the kingdom of God.  These twelve were the seed of that kingdom!  Jesus is the king and that king of the kingdom of God has begun!   In and through these twelve Jesus achieve his ultimate purpose, preaching the good news of the kingdom of God and implement the heavenly truth in his chosen.

So, raising the twelve was a concrete step toward building a kingdom of God.  There were many disciples of Jesus, far more than 12, may be even more hundreds. But these twelve will become a concentric circle among many. Jesus would pour out his effort to build them so that they could know the truth, the power of salvation and could be able to live out that truth on many nations of the world. (Mat 28) Jesus' success in and with these twelve will mean his ultimate success in implementing the will of God in the world. i.e. establishing God's kingdom

For these apostles, it is the beginning of disciple-teacher relationship with clear goal. The goal is to send in order to make disciples of the people of the world (Mat 28:18-20).  What we are doing is not our own creation but it was created by Jesus and was mandated by his command.  In this relationship, all element of teaching will take place. Ultimate goal or outcome of this relationship will be them becoming Apostles to many nations of the world.  By choosing the twelve, Jesus chose to focus his efforts on these twelve. It seems that by doing so Jesus meant to give them preferential treatment. Practically yes it might be. But the primary purpose to focus on the twelve was to convey the truth of God fully. They must know Jesus inside out. To achieve this goal, Jesus poured his life on these twelve. Jesus lived with them everyday 24 hours. They saw what Jesus was doing and they heard all his teachings, not missing anything. They saw all the miracles that Jesus performed. Teaching the truth of God did not happen just in class or few lessons. Jesus' entire life was a teaching to his disciples. Simply it is not possible to serve with such intensity and revelatory life with so many. So choosing 12 was God’s wisdom and it is deeply rooted in God’s understanding of human weakness and his intense desire to plant the truth fully. Jesus had to give his whole life for them.

If we flip this, we can say that conveying the entirety of the truth of life that God wanted to impart may not be possible to succeed if we do not focus on a few such as 12. Jesus served thousands of people. But at the core of his work was for the 12.

If such wisdom of God succeeded is a good question.  At the foot of the cross of Jesus thousands of people gathered and shouted crucify him, crucify him. All of these disciples ran away. It looked as if Jesus failed to do what he planned to do. But after resurrection Jesus visited them and put them together. In Act 1:13, is a list of Jesus' disciples. Here are the names of the eleven except Judas Iscariot. Judas was not a failure of Jesus at all. He chose to reject Jesus’ love and truth. His success was proved well in that except the one that rejected Jesus, no one dropped out of this program.  As long as you do not reject him as the Lord, no matter how weak or how sinful you are, God will fulfill his work in your life. I was so amazed to find out that almost all of the twelve disciples were martyred. Even John, the only one seeming survivor, barely escaped execution.  He escaped the execution not because he was chickened out but because God's mighty power was upon him.  They all followed Jesus to their death! How could that be possible??  You know how powerful it can be to be with him to see and to hear, and to know Him. The disciples was so strong and good in seeing victory in the kingdom of God, that even threat of death had no power over their lives.  Eventually these twelve put the entire Roman Empire upside down by the message of the Kingdom of God.  Even death did not win against their faith. They all became proud citizens of the kingdom of God. Jesus would be very proud of each of these eleven who walked the walk that Jesus walked.

Conclusion

How could they become so powerful? As we noted, humanly speaking they were not any better than each of us. Yet they became so powerful only because Jesus chose them and because they did not rely on themselves, their abilities, their strength, their wisdom but they put trust in Jesus.  Having faith in Jesus is the way to learn and to grow and to participate in the kingdom of God, and all his blessings.  

Why did Jesus pray so hard before choosing these twelve?
Jesus himself did not resort himself to any other means and ways in facing such challenges. He prayed to God and sought God's will. In this way Jesus showed his full dependence on God the Father. In essence, choosing-the-twelve was the exact expression of Jesus' faith in God His father.

God has chosen each of you. It is not of your will and your decision but it was the grace of God.  It is God's will to grow and to be the Apostles; it sounds like a big term that we cannot handle. No, Actually MJ is already doing and living a life of an apostle--he has few Bible students. He is teaching them every week. The grace and power that MJ received through Jesus is so good and so powerful enough for him to teach and to serve those people.  

I am glad that four of you prepared messages and delivered them during our winter retreat.  We have been praying that they may grow to be good bible teachers. Since then God has been with you and grow you to be apostles of this time.  Since Jesus has chosen you, he will surely grow you to be powerful ‘apostles’ of Jesus. We can begin this new beginning with prayer.

May God bless you richly in His grace and mighty power!