Jesus Chooses
the Twelve Apostles
[Luke chapter
6, verses 1- 19]
Today we'll
be moving on to chapter 6 of the Gospel of Luke in our ongoing,
chronological studies of all he wrote and left behind for us. As you
will continue to see, the apostle Luke left a giant legacy for all of
Christianity! This next chapter has to do with the healing of a man's
shriveled hand, the naming of the 12 apostles, and Jesus driving out
an evil spirit. So let's begin at verse one without delay.
“One
Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and his disciples
began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat
the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, 'Why are you doing that
which is unlawful on the Sabbath?' Jesus answered them, 'Have you
never heard what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
They entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he
ate what is lawful for only the priests to eat. And he also gave some
to his companions.' Then Jesus said to them, 'The Son of Man is the
Lord of the Sabbath.'” (Luke 6, verses 1-5)
The
similarities between the Pharisees of Jesus' time and the religious
fundamentalists of our era are striking, to say the least. Catholics
eat only fish on Friday, but never any meat. Muslims never eat pork,
and it takes most of an entire chapter of a book in the Old Testament
to list all the Hebrew laws about the preparation and consumption of
food! Do all these food laws make any of those who believe in them
any closer to God? No way! And yet here we have these Pharisees, who
by this time were following Jesus around while they looked for
opportunities to accuse him of being a false prophet and to discredit
him, as if one could ruin the reputation of the Son of God! These
men, these “religious leaders”, clearly were utterly clueless
about the true identity of Christ. Either that, or they just didn't
want to see because doing so would have exposed their own hypocrisy.
I think it was probably both.
So
as Luke's narrative moves on, we find the apostles being accused in
the Lord's presence of breaking the Law of Moses. The Pharisees told
the apostles they weren't allow to eat on the Sabbath, which is to
say their food should have been prepared in advance. The Pharisees'
demands about honoring the Sabbath were hyper-religious to the point
of being ridiculous, and Jesus tell them so when he responds, “If
it was good enough for David and his companions to eat consecrated
meat, it should be acceptable to eat kernels of wheat just as well.”
“The Son of Man is the Lord of the
Sabbath”,
the Lord said, but the Pharisees had no idea what Jesus was talking
about because they could not accept who Jesus was, even when he told
them directly. Oftentimes it seems like those who are in charge are
the ones least qualified for the position. Moving right along now,
let's start at verse six.
“On
another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a
man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and
teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so
they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But
Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the
shriveled hand, 'Get up and stand in front of everyone'. So he got up
and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, 'I ask you – which is
lawful on the Sabbath; to do good or to do evil, to save life or
destroy it?' He looked around at them all, and then said to the man,
'Stretch out your hand'. He did so, and his hand was completely
restored. But they were furious and began to discuss with one another
what they might do to Jesus.” (Luke 6, verses 6-11)
Right
here we have a case where it appears Jesus may have done something
purposely to get under the skin of the religious establishment. Jesus
made the Pharisees and teachers of the law really mad, and those who
saw this must have known that. Yet, they dared say nothing for fear
of the Hebrew ruling class, who ruled in a very heavy-handed manner.
But Jesus couldn't have cared less. He healed the man's shriveled
hand anyway. It was another way Jesus was trying to tell them that
the Old Law was fulfilled, and that a new law, the Law of
Righteousness in the Age of Grace, was now in effect. There it was,
right in front of the 'religious elite', and they still didn't
believe it. In fact, it had the opposite effect. The Pharisees began
to discuss ways to stop Jesus and his ministry. I can practically
hear them now: “We gotta stop this guy!” Bearing that in mind,
let's conclude this lesson beginning at verse 12.
“One of
those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the
night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to
him and chose 12 of them, whom he designated apostles: Simon (who he
called Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the
zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
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 coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had
come to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled
by evil spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him,
because power was coming from him and was healing them all.” (Luke
6, verses 12-19)
Notice
what Jesus did before choosing the 12 apostles – he prayed all
night long! He talked to his Father about it before making any
decisions, like a soldier reporting to a commanding officer. But once
Jesus knew his Father's will for him, he didn't hesitate to execute
it! So all 12 of the original apostles are named right here at this
point in Luke's gospel. There was also a sizable number of other
disciples, or aspiring apostles, that were with Jesus at this
particular location, although Luke does not specify how many. But
Luke does write about what he saw, which was “... a
great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from
the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him, and to be
healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured,
and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from
him and was healing them all.” Jesus, quite
frankly, had become the newest sensation of his time, like the
Beatles of the 1960's. Like those who were clamoring to see and hear
the Fab Four, people were coming in droves to hear Jesus teach, and
in multitudes they came from all the surrounding countryside to be
healed of their infirmities.
Let's
take into account that there was no news media compared to what we
have today, no Internet or email or anything like that, and yet Jesus
managed to draw these crowds with nothing more than word of mouth.
This remains an amazing feat up to this day as far as I'm concerned.
Those people were gathering in those kinds of numbers because they
knew there was something special about Jesus. He didn't teach like
the head of a synagogue or the pastor of a church, he taught like the
guy who wrote the Book because that's exactly who Jesus was! As
before with a previous lesson from Luke's gospel, notice that Jesus
never went around telling people who he was. He didn't have to
because they already knew without being told. That's just who Jesus
was. He had a certain undefinable presence about himself that made
everyone know he was the Son of God. And, as Jesus said, “Blessed
are those who have not seen, and yet have believed”. That's us,
people, all those who believe in Him and who obey his commandments.
We haven't seen Jesus yet, but we believe in him and that he is our
risen Savior. And, we believe that one day soon, in the not too
distant future, we will see Him in person, just as he is. On that
note, let's close for now, and we'll go over part 2 next time. Be
blessed, everyone!
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