Small Beginnings
Large things often have small beginnings. Tech giants like Microsoft and Apple began as small start-up companies. The city of Dallas was founded in 1841 by John Neely Bryan as a small settlement of a few dozen people but has grown into one of the world’s leading centers of finance and commerce with a population of over 1.3 million people. All of Middle Earth was saved through the efforts of a few small hobbits. Your life began as an embryo in your mother’s womb. Large things often start small.
Such is the ordinary course of things in this world. But even the extra-ordinary work of God in the world starts small. It started with one man and one woman in a garden, then one man and his family on a boat, then one small nation, then one man who worked miracles and taught about the kingdom of God, a kingdom he said “was like the grain of mustard seed that man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it is grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches” (Mt. 13:31-32).
According to Jesus, the Kingdom of God, the greatest kingdom of all, starts small and grows over time. Jesus compares it to something imperceptible and unnoticeable at first, something no one pays much attention to. But as it grows, it becomes obvious to all and larger than anything else. According to Jesus, the normal course of things even in God’s economy is that large and great things have small beginnings.
Twelve Men Who Will Change the World
We shouldn’t be surprised then to find that when Jesus begins unveiling his plan to change the world, he starts small. God’s goal through Jesus is to literally change the world, to save people from all the nations of the world and to bring them home to heaven. But to accomplish this, God starts small. He sends Jesus, one man, to begin the work of saving the world. But even he would need other men to carry on his work after he went back to the Father. So Jesus chooses twelve men to be his apostles. And through these twelve men, God literally changed the world.
In Luke 6:12-16, Jesus chooses his twelve apostles. The main point of this text is that God’s plan to change the world starts small. In this text, we see a night of prayer (v. 12), a group of twelve (v. 13), and a list of leaders (vv. 14-16).
A Night of Prayer
In verse 12, Jesus begins the process of selecting his apostles by praying all night. These few verses are a bridge between the preceding section on opposition to Jesus (5:12-6:11) and the following section where Jesus begins to teach his followers (6:17-49). They tell us that, despite opposition, there are people following Jesus. This section tells us that Jesus is beginning the process of organizing these followers before training them for the mission he has for them.
The first thing he does is to set apart leaders for the mission, leaders from whom almost all the major leaders of the early church will come. This text is a hopeful text because it shows us that, despite opposition, Jesus had a plan to build a team and prepare them for their mission by giving them leaders and instructing them. This text shows us that the Pharisees aren’t in control of Jesus or his work, that opposition to Jesus doesn’t limit God’s work.
A Mountaintop Experience
And what’s happening with Jesus is indeed God’s work. Even Jesus recognizes this. This is why he spends all night “in prayer to God” (v. 12). Lots of amazing things happen in the Bible on mountains (eg. Ex. 20). Jesus got away from people so he could go to the mountain and be alone with God.
This time of communion with his Father was extremely strategic. This decision would have eternal consequences. These twelve men would sit on twelve thrones judging God’s people in the kingdom of God (Lk. 22:29-30), would be the foundation of the church (Eph. 2:20), and would have their names etched in the foundations of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:14).
The early church learned a serious lesson from this and followed Jesus’ pattern of praying fervently when making big decisions (Acts 6:6, 13:2-3, 14:23). Our church has been through a lot this summer, but the Lord has been moving and providing and sustaining and strengthening all along the way because God’s people have been praying. We can’t want God’s blessing and help and yet fail to pray. As E. M. Bounds said, “Paul did not take it for granted after he had done his best that God as a matter of course would bless his efforts to do good, but he sought God. God does not do things in a matter-of-course sort of way. God must be invoked, sought upon, and put into things by prayer.”[1] Even Jesus, the Son of God, showed his dependence on the Father by praying all night before choosing his apostles.
Jesus is enacting God’s plan on the earth, and he does so through prayer. Prayer is one of God’s primary means of accomplishing God’s mission, and we neglect it as a church to our detriment.
Jesus’ enemies are increasing, the opposition becoming so hostile that they start talking about killing him (6:11). What does Jesus do? He prays. And then he chooses a small band of men who’d carry on his work after he’s gone. He’s one step ahead of his enemies. While they plot how to take him out, he plans how his movement will outlive them.
A Group of Twelve
Then in verse 13, we see Jesus call a group of twelve apostles. Jesus calls his “disciples” and chooses from them twelve “apostles.” This means that there are lots of disciples, but only twelve apostles.
God wanted there to be structure among Jesus’s followers, so he chose twelve men to be leaders within the group of his disciples. It’s instructive for us that he only chose men. There were many women who followed Jesus (8:1-3), but God directed Jesus to choose men to shoulder the responsibility of leadership among his followers, a pattern Paul affirms for the early church (1 Tim. 2:12). God’s pattern is that men joyfully and humbly lead his people in their homes and in the church, recognizing that leadership is about dying to self, not about a title.
This doesn’t mean that modern-day pastors and elders are modern-day apostles. An “apostle” is an authorized representative, commissioned agent, or envoy, someone sent to represent someone other than themselves. At this point in Luke, we’re not told what they’re going to do, but in 9:1-2 Jesus lays out their assignment. Later Luke tells us that these men would serve as witnesses of Jesus’ ministry from beginning to end (Acts 1:21-22).
Luke (in Lk. 6:13) is telling us that the leaders of the early church were chosen by Jesus. Apostolic authority comes early in Jesus’ ministry and is grounded in his choice. God, not man, chooses who’ll be his Son’s primary promoters.
You may wonder if there are apostles today? Some Christians say yes, but I don’t think so. The apostles were chosen for a special task at a special time in history. That task and time is over, so there aren’t any more apostles.
The apostles were Jesus’ commissioned representatives and the authorized mouthpieces for his message. They therefore carried a unique authority, an authority that carries over to the New Testament documents because they were written by the apostles or by one of their associates.
Since the church is built on the foundation of the apostles, we also are commissioned to represent Jesus in the world and authorized to speak his words. Every faithful New Testament church understands that it exists to carry on the work Jesus began with the twelve. A work of faithful witness to Jesus no matter what it costs.
A New Israel
But why did God direct Jesus to choose twelve apostles? Why not five or ten or twenty or one hundred? Is there anything significant in the number of apostles that Jesus chooses?
Yes, indeed there is. Luke doesn’t say anything about it here in chapter 6, but later he tells us that Jesus saw a connection between the twelve apostles and the twelve tribes of Israel (22:29-30). The Twelve symbolically represent Jesus’ formation of a new Israel. But what does that mean?
New Testament scholar Darrell Bock points out that we need to be clear by what we mean by “new.” He says that if we mean that “the church replaces Israel in God’s plan and takes its place permanently, then it is not a correct description.” But, he says, “if it means that the church functions in a way parallel to Israel and now is temporary steward of the promise, then the designation (“new”) is more acceptable.”[2]
Without getting into the weeds too much, suffice it to say that Jesus chose twelve men to show that what he’s doing with them is parallel to what God did with Israel. Not parallel in the sense of there being two different peoples of God, but not a full replacement either. Rather, the twelve, and by extension the church, is a continuation of the work begun with Israel. I’m not convinced that God is totally replacing Israel forever because Paul says that Israel has a future role in God’s plan (Rom. 11:25-26). Even though most Israelites reject their Messiah, it seems that God will one day bring them to repentance and faith in Jesus.
With that theological nuance in mind, I think it’s okay to say that Jesus is creating a new Israel with the twelve apostles. “New” in the sense of a more expansive people of God. The twelve will take God’s Messiah to the nations and therefore be instrumental in creating a new people of God made up of all the peoples.
Out with the Old, In with the New
But I want you to notice something else Luke is doing in this text with the twelve. In the context of the last section that was all about conflict with the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus choosing the twelve signals that God is judging Israel’s current leadership and establishing new leadership. Because the Pharisees failed to see and submit to what God is doing in Jesus, God makes it clear that their days in leadership over God’s people are numbered.
Luke is a masterful writer. He deliberately places the appointment of the twelve here so that we see it as a response to the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish leaders. Jesus is essentially turning his back on the Pharisees and turning toward his followers and choosing twelve from among them who’ll become Israel’s new leaders and extend Jesus’ mission to the nations. The twelve symbolize, form the basis of, and become the leaders of a new Israel.[3]
A List of Leaders
In verses 14-16, Luke lists out the new leaders of the new Israel. There are lots of interesting things about this list, and lots we can learn from it. I’ll give you a few interesting notes and then a few lessons for us.
This is one of four lists of the apostles in the New Testament (Mt. 10:2-4, Mk. 3:16-19, Acts 1:13).[4] There is only slight variation in them, one of them being that “Judas son of James” in verse 16 is called “Thaddaeus” in Matthew and Mark’s list. Each list is made up of three groups of four names, with the first name in each group the same in each group (Peter, Philip, and James son of Alphaeus). Perhaps these three had special functions among the twelve.
Each list begins with Peter and ends with Judas Iscariot. Luke notes that Jesus renamed Simon “Peter,” but doesn’t tell us when or why (cf. Mt. 16:18). The name Peter means “rock” and so connects with Jesus’ teaching in verse 48, perhaps indicating that Peter is someone who hears and heeds Jesus’ words.
“Simon who was called the Zealot” (v. 15) may’ve been part of a nationalist movement called the “Zealots,” or he may’ve just been a really zealous guy! Hard to know for sure, but I suspect that either way he had nationalist proclivities. Which if true is fascinating because that means that Jesus chose a tax collector, or someone who worked for the state, and someone opposed to the state. Jesus purposefully chose men who likely had serious disagreements with each other.
Judas Iscariot was likely the only apostle not from Galilee. Iscariot means “man of Kerioth,” a town in Judea. Perhaps this is why he knew some of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. Notice that Luke says he “became a traitor,” meaning he was faithful to Jesus at the beginning.
Why did God choose someone who’d reject God’s work in Jesus to be in this group? So far in Luke we’ve seen the religious leaders reject Jesus, disciples follow Jesus, and the crowds celebrate Jesus. But reality is often messier than we like. Some Pharisees will end up following Jesus (Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea) and one of the apostles will end up opposing him. Luke is letting us know that more opposition against Jesus will arise, even from among his own followers.
Three Lessons from the List
There are at least three lessons for us from this list of apostles. First, Jesus creates unity amidst diversity. God directed Jesus to form a leadership team made up of very different people. We don’t know a lot about many of them, but we do know that at least four of them (Peter, Andrew, James, and John) were fishermen. One was a tax collector, Matthew. One was likely a political zealot who fiercely opposed the Romans, Simon the Zealot. One, Thomas, was a skeptical man who later wanted clear proof that Jesus had risen from the dead. One, Judas Iscariot, came from the more cultured and affluent area of Judea rather than Galilee.
Can you imagine the arguments they got into! Yet in them Jesus was forming something beautiful. He was taking the raw materials of their diversity and knitting them together to form a unity around him that would reveal his wisdom and power and love. Unity amidst diversity is a fruit of Jesus’ work among us and reveals his power through us. So let’s pray and work for it.
Second, following Jesus means obscurity not notoriety. Most of these twelve men barely show up in the Gospels. We hear from Peter a lot, and sometimes John and James, but most of the other disciples don’t even make it into the story after this!
What does this teach us? It teaches us that Jesus is the main actor on God’s stage of redemption and everyone else, even the apostles, has bit roles. If those who become the foundation of the church barely make it into the story, then who are we to assume that our name should be known or great? So let us embrace our roles, follow the King, and live to make his name great.
Third, God’s plan was to reach the many through the few. God’s plan to change the world started small. God the Father sent Jesus the Son to rescue a people for himself from all the peoples of the world, and this worldwide rescue operation started with twelve guys.
This is instructive for us. God’s plan and method is to reach the many through the few. Jesus loved and ministered to the crowds, but he poured his life into the twelve. Even within the twelve there were three who received special attention, Peter, James, and John. Jesus’s goal of gathering billions of followers began with twelve guys. This is stunning!
Colin Marshall and Tony Payne’s book The Trellis and the Vine and Robert Coleman’s The Master Plan of Evangelism argue that Jesus’ method for reaching the world must be ours as well. Here are some excerpts from Coleman:
“Why did Jesus deliberately concentrate his life on comparatively so few people?….(because he) was not trying to impress the crowd, but to usher in a kingdom. This meant that he needed people who could lead the multitudes…Thus, before the world could ever be permanently helped, people would have to be raised up who could lead the multitudes in the things of God. Jesus was a realist. He fully realized…(that he) could not possibly give (the multitudes) the personal care they needed. His only hope was to get leaders inspired by his life who would do it for him. Hence, he concentrated on those who were to be the beginning of this leadership. Though he did what he could to help the multitudes, he had to devote himself primarily to a few men, rather than the masses, so that the masses could at last be saved. This was the genius of his strategy…Here is where we must begin just like Jesus. It will be slow, tedious, painful, and probably unnoticed by people at first, but the end result will be glorious, even if we don’t live to see it. Seen this way, though, it becomes a big decision in the ministry. We must decide where we want our ministry to count – in the momentary applause of popular recognition or in the reproduction of our lives in a few chosen people who will carry on our work after we have gone. Really it is a question of which generation we are living for.”[5]
God’s plan is to reach the many through the few. Jesus’ command is for us to “make disciples,” not “create programs” or “grow the church.” The focus of God’s plan is people. Investing solidly in a few people who’ll then do the same is how the gospel grows in the world.
Who are you discipling? Events are wonderful but are a means to an end. The goal of ministry is seeing people grow in grace, seeing people grow in Jesus. You’re a Christian most likely because some person took an interest in your spiritual life. The gospel grows and spreads organically, through the Word, by the Spirit, when we give ourselves to people.
When we understand how amazing it is that God chose us, picked us, died for us, gave us his Spirit and Word and kingdom, we’ll gladly pour ourselves into people, even if no one notices. And through our work, the kingdom of God slowly grows into something beautiful and sturdy, something that will never be taken away from us.
[1]E. M. Bounds, The Classic Collection on Prayer (Orlando: Bridge-Logos, 2001), 739.
[2]Darrell L. Bock, Luke, Volume 1: 1:1-9:50, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic), 541.
[3]Luke Timothy Johnson, The Gospel of Luke, Sacra Pagina, vol. 3 (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1991), 104.
[4]See Bock, 543, for a chart with all four lists.
[5]Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism, 2nd ed., abridged (Grand Rapids: Spire, 1994), 34-9.