The Calling Of The Twelve Apostles. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #48 (Luke 6:12-16)

At this time in Jesus’ ministry we know that many are following Him. The crowds are big and really can’t be contained in a house or a synagogue. Everywhere Jesus goes there seems to be more and more following Him to even other cities. Some of the people are genuine, some are there for the miraculous and then there is always the Pharisees and scribes that are there to find some fault in Jesus’ teaching and the work He is doing. We know the crowds are big at this point and by the time we get to Luke 9 we will see that He feeds the five thousand. This number in reality is most likely around 20,000 people because the 5000 was just men. So we see the magnitude of the popularity of Jesus in this area but remember not all of these people are there for the right reasons. In fact after Jesus dies and even resurrects there is a small number of about 120 of true dedicated believers in the upper room. We of course can’t be dogmatic that there weren’t others that were true followers of the Lord but there seemed to be a small number in comparison to what is following Him at this time in our study in Luke.

This leads us to our topic for this study which is the calling of the twelve apostles. We must understand that Jesus had many true disciples and many people that were learning along the way that would be called disciples but He would call to Himself the 12 that would be with Him until He goes to the cross. We must understand that each one of these men were called for a specific purpose, even the betrayer Judas. Let’s look now at our text and our first point.

1.The call to become an apostle.
Look with me at Luke 6:12-13 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. ¹³ And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles. We have pointed out in previous studies that Jesus often would break away from the crowd and even His close disciples to go and pray. This is common for Jesus because in His humanity, He would need this time to pray and commune with the Father. It would be in this time that Jesus would find strength to stay focused on the plan of redemption. Because we know that even though Jesus did not sin and even though Jesus could not sin, He still possessed flesh that would get tired and weary. This time would serve as a refreshment to His body physically and keep Him in the right direction.

It seems at this time that Jesus was praying for direction as He looks to call along His side 12 apostles. Of course everything that is done in Jesus’ life must fulfill Scripture concerning the Messiah and it must never detour from the plan of God for the redemption of His people. So as we see it here in the Scripture, Jesus stays all night in prayer to God but then when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles.

So we see that Jesus calls to Himself his disciples, this means all that are considered His disciples at this time. A disciple is the Greek word mathétés (math-ay-tes’) which means a learner or a pupil. So as I already mentioned there were many learners there. Out of the big crowd there could have been many that were truly wanting to learn from Jesus. We don’t know the number but we know that there is more than just the twelve here because Luke says Jesus chose from them twelve, whom he called apostles.

Notice the word chose from verse 13 here. Don’t worry we aren’t planning on going into an explanation of the doctrine of election here. But what I want to notice is that there was no test, there was no wording here to indicate that these 12 were more superior than the others that were there but only that Jesus chose them. The Greek word for chose is the word eklegó (ek-leg’-om-ahee) which means to select or elect. This is done not from a standpoint of partiality but from a selection that lines up with the plan of God. Jesus knows who it is that He has chosen and for what purpose He has chosen each of them. Look at what Jesus says in John 6:70-71 “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” ⁷¹ He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.

When Jesus washes the disciples feet in John 13 we see Him explaining why He did what He did, He then says this in John 13:18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’

No doubt that Jesus calls each of these men along side Him to become true disciples and apostles yet as we know Judas turns away from this calling. The focus is so much on Judas that often we forget the failures of the others throughout Jesus’ ministry and we will see some of that along with the good they do as we look at each of them in our next point.

2.The twelve Apostles are named.
Look with me at Luke 6:14-16 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, ¹⁵ and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, ¹⁶ and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. First I want to define what an apostle is and what the difference is in these twelve men’s calling here. The word apostle is the Greek word apostolos (ap-os’-tol-os) which means a messenger or one called to represent another in some way. So in reality all believers are called to an apostleship through the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20 that says Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

So in a sense the call to being a follower is also a call to be a messenger for the Lord but that is not the call we see in the calling of these twelve men here. This call is a call that is for these 12 and no other except Matthias that was called to fill the slot that Judas abandoned as he killed himself. In fact you can see the criteria that Peter and the other 10 Apostles laid out to fulfill that position in Acts 1:21-22 that says So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²² beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.

This might give us some insight into the others that were chosen here as well. Even though they were not all full time followers of Jesus until around a year and a half into Jesus’ ministry, it seems that these men were possibly finding ways to be a part of learning from Jesus from the beginning. Once again many could fall into this category but at this time, Jesus chooses just the twelve.

I want to look at these 12 really in groups because there are several that we may not have a lot to talk about seeing that they are not mentioned much in the Scripture. Let’s take a look first at what seems to be Jesus’ inner circle within the group. This group is made up of Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John.

Most of the time when you see one of these men mentioned then the others are mentioned as well. Andrew is not mentioned as much and seems to be the one that maybe is in this inner circle but not as active in it. We know that all of these men started following Jesus together when John the Baptist proclaimed that Jesus is the Lamb of God in John 1. We know that they all left their old life to follow Jesus at the same time as we looked at in the beginning of Luke 5. It will be obvious throughout Jesus’ ministry that these 3 or 4 men were always the ones leading the pack with Peter being the leader of the entire group. Peter, James and John would be with Jesus later when He is transfigured before them on the mountain and would go with Jesus to pray in Gethsemane before Jesus’ arrest. These men serve not as more important but the foundation of the group of twelve.

The next group we see is Philip, and Bartholomew, ¹⁵ and Matthew, and Thomas. We see these men that are only mentioned very few times throughout the Gospels. We can look at John 1 and see Philip’s call to discipleship. He then goes and proclaims to Nathanael in John 1:45 “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Philip was truly one looking for the Messiah and he wants Nathanael to know all about Him. Most people lean on the point that Bartholomew and Nathanael are the same person. I do lean on this as well not because we see it clear in Scripture that this is the same person but every time we see Philip mentioned in the list of the twelve, Bartholomew is named with him. To some this indicates that they could be related, they could be brothers, they too could have been in the fishing business together but either way I do believe Nathanael and Bartholomew are the same. Look with me at John 21:1-3 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. ² Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. ³ Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Here we do not see Philip mentioned but we do see Nathanael mentioned here. This is after the resurrection and before His ascension. Even though he is not named, we can assume that maybe Philip was one of the other two not named.

This leads us to what we know about Matthew and Thomas. We know that Matthew, also called Levi was called to follow Jesus back in Luke 5. Matthew was formerly a tax collector who would have been despised and hated by Jews. Matthew had left everything to follow Jesus and had been following Him since that day.

Thomas on the other hand does not have a call recording in Scripture but what we do know is that Thomas seemed to have an attitude of needing to see things before believing. Thomas spoke up when Lazarus had died and Jesus was telling His disciples that they were going to go there. Look at what Thomas says in John 11:16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Also he is famously known for these words in John 20:25 “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

Once he had the opportunity to see for himself the risen Lord Thomas proclaimed in John 20:28 “My Lord and my God!”

Even though this group is not mentioned much throughout Scripture we see that they followed when told, believed when shown and would be those that would go out into the world to preach.

The next group is a group we do not know much about which we see as James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, ¹⁶ and Judas the son of James. There is not really any mention of these men in the Gospel accounts other in the listing of the twelve apostles but we know that they would have the same ability to go out as the rest. In Matthew 10:5-8 we see These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, ⁶ but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷ And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.

This would be the ministry of the twelve and all of them would be a part of this work in the way in which God designed. This leads us to our final person which I place in a group of his own which is Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

We know that according to Peter in Acts 1:16-17 that Judas was named among them to fulfill Scripture. Jesus says it like this in John 17:12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

From a human standpoint we can’t understand how someone that was a part of the twelve closest companions to the Lord Jesus could betray the Son of God but we must understand that this was all done to fulfill Scripture. Judas would betray Jesus and then kill himself. With that the twelve would need to be able to go on with that exact number until the establishing of the church and with that they bring Matthias into the group. But for now we have these twelve men that have been given a special call like none other to accompany our Lord throughout His ministry on Earth.