12 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: 14 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.
Section Overview
Jesus ascends a mountain and prays the entire night before selecting twelve apostles, with the number twelve representing the nucleus of the new people of God, just as the twelve tribes constituted Israel. After prayer, Jesus chooses the twelve apostles, from Simon Peter to Judas the traitor. These men are Jesus’ followers, his messengers, his helpers in ministry.
Section Outline
Response
When we have a crucial decision to make, do we spend concerted time in prayer? Sometimes it is easier to work, to get busy and get things accomplished instead of praying. When we pray, we may feel like nothing practical is getting done. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The calling of the apostles reminds us that our faith depends upon the apostolic witness, the tradition they pass down, recording what Jesus said and did. They are ordinary people, like the rest of us, and yet the Lord uses them in a remarkable way. At the same time, the Gospel writers do not hide their foibles; it is evident that they are like us. It is also instructive that Matthew, who had collaborated with Roman authority, and Simon the Zealot, who had sought to overthrow Roman power, are both apostles. Jesus calls together people who are remarkably different from one another to serve him. We may be drastically different from one another, and yet there is peace through the cross (Eph. 2:14–18). We are “one new man,” as Paul says (Eph. 2:15). The hope for the reconciliation of different races, ethnic groups, and social classes is found in the gospel of Christ, the message of the cross.