Luke 6:12-16 "The Twelve"

Any of you follow college basketball? What they call March Madness? I consider myself quite the follower of the NCAA. I mean, I’m not a fanatic though. I don’t actually watch the games. I don’t even know who the teams are. I don’t think you have to pay any attention to consider yourself a follower—I’ve heard of it and I know it exists. I know it’s happening now but I’m not sure when the championship game will be played and I probably won’t notice who wins.

Big follower, though. Makes perfect sense, right?

Huge follower of country music, too. Especially when it sounds like [twangy sounds]. 

What does it mean to be a follower? 

One time when Kim and I were in college, we went to visit my mom and dad who were doing a craft show—I think it was in Quincy, Illinois—after dinner we went to the river walk. It’s funny to think about but we were the same age as my kids and my parents were about ten years younger than we are now. Dude.

Anyway, we started playing follow the leader. Climbing on park benches, skipping, dancing. It was fun and completely ridiculous. Taking turns being the leader. Jumping around like idiots.

You want to know what wouldn’t have been any fun at all? If I would have said I would follow along but from over here on this bench. Like I thought I was too cool to actually do the things. Too cool to climb, too cool to skip or dance. Or too self conscious, or too self absorbed—which are kinda the same thing. If I would have just sat on a park bench and been like, “I’m going to follow from over here.” I wouldn’t have one of my favorite memories of my parents ever. It wouldn’t have happened. 

That’s the thing about following. You’re not really a follower if you don’t follow—if you do it, don’t pay attention to who you’re following. To be a follower, you have to go where they go and do what they do. 

Let’s pray: Father in heaven, as we open Your Word today, help us to not only hear it and believe it but also do it. To not only hear about Jesus but actually follow Him. AMEN.

Luke chapter 6, verse 12:

In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 
Luke 6:12

“These days” were the days of Jesus doing His ministry, gathering followers. By this time, He had a lot of them. Verse 17 of this same chapter says when He comes down from this mountaintop prayer retreat, there’s a great crowd—a multitude—waiting for Him. He’s about to give the Sermon on the Mount. All His travels and teaching and healing have paid off. This is a high point in His earthly ministry. Things are looking good. We all know where this is eventually going but to anyone paying attention at that particular moment—this Jesus Thing was getting big.

He went to the mountain to pray. Lots of important God things happen on mountains. It’s where God has usually revealed Himself and what He wants—Mt. Sinai is where the Ten Commandments and Elijah’s “still small voice” happened. Mt. Moriah or Mt. Zion is where Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac, and also where the Temple was built—lots of things happened there. Mt. Carmel is where Elijah faced off with the prophets of Baal. The mountains are called the dwelling place of God, the place of salvation, the place where the Messiah will reign. It’s also where the Transformation of Jesus will happen—when Moses and Elijah show up and hang out with Jesus. He’ll be crucified on Mt. Calvary, and ascend from the Mt. of Olives. Makes sense that Jesus would go to a mountain for a night of prayer to hear from God and prepare for His selection of the Twelve. 

But here’s a question a sophomore philosophy student might ask you someday: If Jesus is God, why did He need to pray so much? Or at all?

You ever had anyone ask that—trying to challenge the idea that Jesus is God? It’s an easy question to answer. I don’t want you to ever get stumped by it, so keep this handy: First of all, Jesus is God but He’s also a man. 100% God, 100% man. It makes perfect sense that as a man He would need to pray. He’s our example of what it means to be human—what we’re supposed to do. He prayed all the time so we need to pray, too. Unless you think for some reason you’re stronger in your faith than Jesus was. Second, God is Three Persons. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—one God, Three Persons. The great mystery of the Trinity. We believe the Three Persons of the Trinity have existed in perfect community and fellowship with each other since eternity past, present, and future. No beginning, no end. The Son has always communicated with the Father and the Spirit. I don’t know if it was called “praying” before He took on flesh, but conversation within the Godhead was nothing new. 

Okay, now that our minds are blown, verse 13:

And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: Luke 6:13

He prayed through the darkness of the night, on a mountain, under the great starry sky—imagine no light pollution, imagine you were the one who created the canopy of the heavens and knew every planet and solar system by name. Then as the sun rises, under a beautiful morning sky, looking over the wide panorama of the valley—He meets up with all His followers. His disciples. Thousands of them. He knew each of them by name, too.

This is the day Jesus appoints His Twelve. The ones He would name apostles. What is an apostle? An apostle is an official representative who speaks and acts for the one who sends him—represents him in whatever he was commissioned to do. An apostle is someone who’s sent on behalf of someone else—with the sender's full authority.

In Acts 1:21-22 we’re given the Biblical definition of who was eligible to be an apostle of Jesus. They had to have been present with Him from the beginning of his ministry and an eyewitness of the resurrection. Their job was to proclaim the Gospel, to deliver the teaching of Jesus to the church. To plant the church all over the world. To lead the Great Commission.

We usually think of the disciples as being the Twelve, but Luke considers the whole multitude of followers to be disciples. The Twelve that Jesus is about to choose are elected from that great crowd of followers to be the apostles. They’ll be the leaders. They’ll keep the work of Jesus going after He goes back to heaven. They’ll be the ones who write the New Testament and build the church. So here they are, verse 14: 

Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Luke 6:14-16

The Twelve. The New Testament twelve pillars of the reconstituted Israel that Christ will build the new people of God on—the church. They’re the foundation of the new Israel. Spiritual Israel, which is the church, the people of God in Christ. They’re the foundation and Jesus is the Cornerstone.

In all the lists in the Gospels, Simon Peter is named first, not because he was the first disciple, but he was the first among equals, the de facto leader. He was outspoken, opinionated. He said amazing, powerful statements of faith, but His mouth was always getting him into trouble, too. Several times he put two words together that ought to be left apart: “No, Lord.” We should never say “no, Lord.” Like my mom used to say, “Don’t you tell me no!” It should always be “yes, Lord.” He was part of the inner circle along with James and John—they’re the only ones who were at the transfiguration. Jesus changed his name from Simon, probably short for Simeon, to Petros, or Peter (Cephas in Aramaic)—which means “little stone,” probably a reference to him being like a stubborn little stone compared to who he will become in Christ—the Petra, the Solid Rock. We know more about Peter than any other disciple: he was a fisherman, married, from Bethsaida of Galilee, his father’s name was Jonah or John, his brother was Andrew. After the resurrection, he wrote two New Testament books, and the Gospel of Mark is based on Peter’s stories and teaching, written down by his young protege John Mark. He was killed by Nero in AD 64 for preaching the Gospel. Church history says he was crucified upside down at his own request because he didn’t feel worthy to die the same way as Jesus.

Number two, Andrew. He was the first disciple. He was one of John the Baptist’s disciples before he started following Jesus. Other than being Peter’s brother and introducing Peter to Jesus—who he called the Lamb of God—nothing else is said about him in the Bible. We should probably learn something from Andrew. Maybe he went on to do amazing things in his ministry, maybe he didn’t—but he was the first follower. That takes courage. And he brought his brother Peter to Jesus—who turned out to be very useful. 

Don’t be discouraged if your role in life seems small. Maybe your quiet service to the Lord will encourage someone in their faith. You never know how much that could mean.

Number three, James. There were actually two of these guys named James. The first is called “James the Great” or “the son of Zebedee.” His younger brother is John. Jesus called them the “Sons of Thunder,” probably because they wanted to call down lightning from heaven when people wouldn’t listen to what they had to say. Like I said, they were part of the inner circle with Peter. They were also fishermen from Galilee. By the way, everywhere in the Bible where we see the name “James” it’s actually Jacob (kinda like how Jesus is actually the same name as Joshua). Just a way to keep the New Testament names from being confused with the Old Testament people, I guess. James was the first of the Twelve to be martyred. In Acts chapter 12 it says Herod violently killed him with a sword—probably around 44 AD. 

Number four, his brother, John, part of the inner circle, wrote 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. He’s also the author of the Gospel of John, although I think he’s writing from the perspective of Lazarus—the disciple Jesus raised from the dead—telling his story rather than his own. I have a lot of reasons for that but I’m not going into them today. Ask me over lunch sometime. John was a former disciple of John the Baptist, the other “son of Thunder” and son of Zebedee, the brother of James—their mom and dad must have done something right, you know? After the resurrection, some historians say John miraculously survived being thrown into boiling oil by Nero but all we know from Scripture is he was exiled to the isle of Patmos where he saw the vision that he wrote down as the Book of Revelation. Author of four books in the Bible, not bad for a fisherman from Galilee.

Number five, Phillip. This is not the same Phillip called “The Evangelist” in Acts. He was also from Bethsaida where he was in the fishing business with Peter, James, and John. Phillip is the one who was so excited about meeting Jesus that he ran out and told his friend Nathanael. After the resurrection, it’s thought that he ministered in Greek communities along with his buddy Nathanael. He was martyred around 80 AD.

Number six is Nathanael who’s also called Bartholomew. He’s the one who got the best compliment from Jesus when they met, “an Israelite in whom there is no guile! Nothing false.” That’d be pretty sweet to hear, don’t you think? He’s also the one who when he heard Jesus was from Nazareth said, “What good can come from there?” Phillip said, “Come and see for yourself.” I think maybe Jesus meant Nathanael was a blunt truth-teller. My kind of guy. He was persuaded to believe in Jesus, the guy from podunk Nazareth, because Jesus told him how He miraculously saw him under a fig tree before Phillip talked to him.Jesus is like, “you’re going to see better things than that, buddy.”  According to church history, he died with Phillip for preaching the Gospel. 

Number seven, Matthew, also called Levi. He’s the dirty, rotten tax collector we talked about a couple weeks ago. Jesus said, “Follow me,” and he did. He was definitely the odd-man-out of the group. Wrote the first Gospel, probably while staying in Antioch with St Paul—who would have used Matthew’s Gospel to teach about Jesus on all those missionary journeys and to get support from the Jews in the synagogues they visited. Matthew was also quite the missionary himself, preaching all over the Mediterranean before being martyred in Ethiopia.

Number eight, Thomas, also called Didymus—both names mean “twin” so it’s assumed he had a twin, although they’re never mentioned. He’s the gloomiest of the bunch. In John 11 when Jesus is talking about going to Jerusalem, Thomas says, “Well, let’s all just go die with Him!” He also didn’t show up for the first Easter party, which has given him the bad rep of “Doubting Thomas.” To be fair, none of them believed Jesus came back from the dead until they saw Him for themselves, but Thomas had to wait a week. Everyone was filled with joy celebrating Jesus coming back from the dead, and for a solid week Thomas was sitting in the corner sulking—saying, “I can’t believe you’re all so dumb. Jesus is dead. Life is over. I’m not going to believe until I see for myself—the scars, the wounds.” The next Sunday, Jesus shows up and is like, “surprise!” Thomas is the first to say the foundational creed of the Christian church. He looked at the resurrected Jesus and said, “My Lord and my God!” He got really busy after the resurrection. He’s famous for heading off to India to start churches—the MarThoma Church is still around. He died a martyr in 72 AD and is buried in Mylapore, India.

Number nine, James the Son of Alphaeus. Matthew’s father was also Alphaeus, so this was probably Matthew’s brother. Pretty much all we know about him. Glad Matthew had at least one person he could sit at the cafeteria table with. 

Number ten, Simon the Zealot. Also known as Simon the Cananean—which means the same thing. Simon was a political revolutionary. An Israelite nationalist—at least before he started following Jesus. He should give those of you who are a little too enthusiastic about your politics some hope. Zealots used violence to push back against Rome. Remember Barabbas, the guy Pilate set free instead of Jesus? He was also a Zealot. Simon might have had a hard time with Matthew being one of the Twelve, but he must have laid down his hatred and figured out how to deal with it—how to get along. Probably a good lesson for the “zealots” among us. After the resurrection, Simon was partners with Thaddeus and was martyred with him in Beirut.

Number 11, Thaddeus, AKA the other Judas. You’d probably want to change your name, too. Not a lot of people name their kid Judas anymore. He may have been the son or the nephew of James the son of Alphaeus. There’s some evidence they were related somehow. He’s revered by the Armenian Church as the guy who brought the Gospel to Lebanon. He was killed in 65 AD in Beirut along with Simon. 

And last but certainly also least, number twelve, always the last name on the list, always immediately labeled as the one who betrayed Jesus—Judas Iscariot. Iscariot just means he was from southern Judea. Judas was the treasurer of the group, he’s also the one who complained when a lady poured expensive perfume on Jesus as an act of worship. He said they should have sold it and given the money to the poor. He’s like the patron saint of greedy preachers and virtue signalers. We’re told that he helped himself to the petty cash, had sticky fingers—he probably just wanted to fill up the piggy bank so he’d have more to put in his own pockets. The Bible says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Interesting that Judas is the one who sells out Jesus out for thirty pieces of silver. On the night when Jesus was handed over, he called Him “friend” and betrayed Him with a kiss. Pretty dark. Judas tried to return the blood money to the priests and then hung himself before the crucifixion.

Those are the Twelve men Jesus chose from the thousands of disciples who were following Him at the time. You might wonder, “why did He choose those particular guys?” It’s not a helpful question because no matter who He would have chosen, we’d have wondered the same thing.

It was a crazy group, though. All over the board. Different ages. Different political and theological backgrounds. One was a revolutionary, maybe even a murderer, one was a traitor in league with the Romans, some fishermen, a couple students. One was a demon-filled thief who betrayed the rest of them for cash.

All of them ran away when Jesus was finally arrested. All of them denied Him—not just Peter. 

That day Jesus came down from the mountain and picked the Twelve—it was probably about a year before the crucifixion. Things were really going to heat up after this.

I wonder if there were people watching from a distance. They knew about Jesus. They heard He was going to be here or there, they were invited to come listen to Him speak. I wonder if there were any of them that were like, “Oh yeah, Jesus? Sure. I know all about Him. I think He’s the One. I’m a follower.” But they just stayed home. Didn’t want to risk being seen with the fanatics. Didn’t really know what Jesus taught. Couldn’t explain what the parables mean. Thought it was a shame what the Romans did to Him. Poor guy.

They weren’t really followers. No more than I follow basketball or country music. Following Jesus is an “all in” situation. Everyone who follows Jesus, follows Him to a cross.

That’s not the happy part. That part sucks. But the next part doesn’t.

When you follow Jesus to the cross, you also follow Him to the resurrection. Everyone’s going to die, but for followers of Jesus, Easter is always coming.

Jesus chose the Twelve. They were to follow Him. They were to lead all the other disciples in following Him. They said they would.

But they all deserted Jesus in His darkest hour.

You want to know the only difference between Peter and Judas? The first one on the list and the last one? The only difference between Judas and the rest of the Twelve?

Judas not only stopped following, he gave in to his despair and quit. Chose death over life. Guilt over forgiveness. 

The rest of them came back, they were restored. They started following again. They eventually followed all the way to their cross but that wasn’t the end—they’ll follow Jesus to their resurrection, too. 

You have exactly the same hope. Keep following—for real. Like actually stand up and walk in the direction Jesus is calling you. Lay down the issues you have with each other. Join with your brothers and sisters—and follow Jesus. Wherever He leads you. Follow Him and do whatever He leads you to do. 

He chose you. He called you. Your past isn’t a problem anymore. The mistakes you make now and in the future don’t have to be problems either. The whole point of the Gospel those men gave their lives for is this: They wanted you to know this: Jesus came to offer you grace—to choose you. Follow Him. Come and see. Find out where it’s all going. You’re not going to be disappointed. AMEN.