Lenten Stories 1: Follow Me (Luke 6:9-17)

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Over the next few weeks, we're going to look at some events in Jesus’ life—His journey as a Rabbi, a teacher, a healer—and how those experiences may have prepared Him, and His disciples, for the cross.  

This week, we'll introduce ourselves to the apostles: the 12 men who Jesus called to be His closest students, and in whose company we’ll be walking with Jesus through Lent. 

The calling of the disciples is not like some of the other stories we've looked at. There isn't one simple, 3 or 4 verse passage with a beginning, middle and end. It develops throughout the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. His relationships with these men evolved within the culture of Rabbis and disciples. The calling of the disciples was not like when Noah built the ark, with God causing the animals to just show up while Noah did his thing. The apostles came to Jesus at different times, in different ways, from different places. Some may have come on their own initiative. Some Jesus seems to have gone actively looking for. Others were introduced to Jesus by a friend. But to every single one of these 12 men, Jesus gave the command, “Follow me,” and they did just that. They followed Him to the very end and they changed the world.  

Jesus was a Rabbi. The title is not unique to him. In Jesus’ lifetime, it was honorary, given to someone respected as a teacher of the Hebrew Bible. Jesus was called Rabbi by his own disciples, by people in the crowd, law teachers, by Pharisees (even when they were mad at him), by Sadducees (another group of religious leaders). He was called Rabbi by supporters, and opponents. By men and women. By rich people, powerful people and ordinary people. Jesus was recognized as a Rabbi.  

A Rabbi was a master who would take in, and focus on teaching, a chosen group of students. This was a long tradition in Jewish history, at least as far back as the prophet Elijah and his successor, Elisha.  

Elijah went and found Elijah... and Elisha set out to follow and serve Elijah. 1 Kings 19:19-21

The two stayed together in a master/student relationship until the end of Elijah's ministry. Later, in 2 Kings 2, we see what that looked like:  

Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal, and Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”

So they go together to Bethel. While they’re there, Elijah says to Elisha, “God has told me to go to Jericho. You stay here.” And Elisha says, “As surely as the Lord lives and you live, I will not leave you.”  

So they go together to Jericho. While they’re there, Elijah says to Elisha “God has told me to go to Jordan. You stay here.” And Elisha says, “As surely as the Lord lives and you live, I will not leave you.”  

Elisha knows that staying together is important because Elijah, as the teacher, is not only responsible for imparting information.  

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The prophet Ezra is held up as an example for those who teach, having “...set his heart to study the law of the Lord, to practice it, and to teach it” (Ezra 7:10). A teacher was to learn the Bible inside and out, then set an example of living it. And then to teach it. Proximity was necessary as the teacher set that example.  

Rabbis taught while moving around, going from town to town. Their disciples followed them and listened as they talked on the road. When they found a place to stay for the night, the disciples would stay in the house with the Rabbi.  

Disciples would, in their early teens, identify a Rabbi with whom they wanted to study. In effect, who they wanted to become. They would apply to the Rabbi to be taught, and the Rabbis would accept the brightest, the most talented, the cleverest. To be accepted as a Rabbi’s disciple was an honour—and a hardship.  

The honour was in being deemed worthy of that investment of time and teaching. The hardship was leaving your family behind for a life of hard work, setting aside the work that your family had expected for you. It was leaving your community and whatever future you may have had there, to go on the road to be shaped by someone else into their image.   

But God was going to work through you to lead and guide His people in the future. So these gifted young men would become talmidim of the Rabbi: serving him, looking after his needs, imitating His example, memorizing His teaching. Around age 30, students graduated to becoming Rabbis in their own right.  

Rabbis were teachers, disciples were learners. What were apostles? When our text says that “He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also designated as apostles,” what does that mean? He chose them from among the larger group of disciples. He chose them for something new. 

In classical Greek, the word 'apostle' was used mostly to identify either naval expeditions or groups of colonists settling in a new place. In the Greek translations of the Old Testament, Jewish writers used the word for ambassadors sent out to Jewish people around the world with messages or instructions, or to collect taxes. Apostles were sent to do a specific task. They went. They did their task. They returned. They weren't apostles anymore. That was it. The apostleship was for one task. You went, you did your job, it was over.  

But Jesus’ use of the word apostles is different. In John 20:21, He says, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent (apostled) Me, so also I am sending you.” Jesus described himself as being apostled from the Father—from heaven to His work on earth. But that work was not a task assigned, then completed. That task began in and continues into eternity. Jesus called the 12 to Himself, and began to apostle them out, at first two by two. He gave them authority to preach and over unclean spirits. Authority to deliver His message in His name. His authority and His power. For life. Their task was never finished. 

After decades of learning from their Rabbi, disciples would graduate to becoming a Rabbi themselves.  Jesus’ disciples did not become Rabbis. That's not how their journey played out. They remained Jesus’ disciples until they died of old age or martyrdom, continuing to be apostled into the world.  

Because Jesus himself is the Rabbi. He is our Rabbi today. He is our teacher. Yes, we learn through each other. We learn from each other’s examples. But Jesus is still the teacher. None of the 12 apostles ever stopped beig a disciple, until they died either of old age or of martyrdom.  

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No matter how the twelve came to be Jesus’ apostles, no matter how they arrived, whether Jesus went and found them Himself, whether they were introduced by a friend—what matters is that these twelve made themselves available to Jesus. They attached themselves to Him. They followed Him. They travelled with Him everywhere, listening as He talked on the road. They sat in the dust of His feet, embracing both honour and hardship in becoming a disciple of a Rabbi.  

• Simon, also known as Peter—nickname Rocky. Peter was a husband and a business partner with James and John.  
• Andrew, Peter’s brother—at first a disciple of John the Baptiser, through whom he met Jesus.  
• Philip—also a disciple of John the Baptiser, introduced to Jesus by Andrew.  
• Nathaniel—introduced by Philip, and described by Jesus as having “no deceit” in him. 
• Judas Iscariot—no stranger to deceit. He was the group’s treasurer, and an embezzler. 
• Thaddeus—about whom we know very little. We never hear him speak. 
• James—one of the “sons of thunder,” who more than once spoke when he shouldn’t have. The first to die for his faith in Jesus. 
• John, James’ brother—a prolific writer. The last apostle to die. 
• Matthew—previously a tax collector, a collaborator with the Roman occupying force. 
• Simon the Zealot—part of the (sometimes violent) resistance against the Roman occupying force. Went from being willing to kill for his people, to dying for his faith in Persia. 
• James the Less—so named because he was younger or shorter. After Pentecost, took the gospel to Persia and was martyred there. 
• Thomas—nickname The Twin. Profoundly loyal to Jesus. Took the gospel to India and was martyred there.  

These men were Jesus’ disciples, as are we. They are our example in how to follow Him faithfully. They became our earliest family. They empowered the next generation of leaders. They bore witness to Jesus’ death and resurrection, and they continued to be learners—disciples. They continued throughout their lives to point to Jesus.  

Yes, they messed up. Yes, they panicked and ran for safety. Two of them actually spoke out against him, and only one, as far as we can tell, stayed with the women who followed Jesus all the way to the cross.  

But one thing they did right was stay faithful.  

They didn't know what was going to happen next. They didn't really understand Jesus’ predictions of His returning to life. They couldn't understand it because it hadn't happened before.  

But when Jesus did return, He found them together, and they picked up where they left off. They continued on... being Jesus’ disciples.  

These 12 guys, who we're going to be in company with for the next few weeks—these 12 ordinary regular guys... they were faithful. They stayed together. They learned and learned and learned. And though they never became Rabbis, they continued always to point people to Jesus.  

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, shining with the glory of God. ...The wall of the city had twelve foundations bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Revelation 21:10-14) 

These 12 guys are the foundation for how we live our faith. They are our example, faithfully carrying Rabbi Jesus’ message into the world. As we are called to do. 

Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:19-20) 

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