Again we see
the issue of choice. Who would you choose to represent you?
This being
such a serious issue, Luke notes Jesus continued in prayer all night about
which disciples He would call to be apostles. (Interesting He chose twelve,
knowing Jewish history as we do.)
Surrounded
by many disciples, the calling to be apostles of Christ is a great distinction.
A fine one. These, of all the men following Christ and hanging on His every
word, would be those who were to continue His ministry after He was gone.
These were
to be the men who would found His church, and set the course for all of
Christian history. Apart from Christ Himself, these were to be the men who
would set the direction we still follow today. If not for these very apostles,
it is likely we would not be here right now.
How
interesting it is we know so little about these men. Biographical data was not
recorded during the time of Christ for any men, let alone these. Whatever
biographical data may have existed was recorded by historians, and then only
centering around events that transpired, rather than things like birth,
childhood, adulthood, influences, death, etc. During these days no one had any
interest in anything other than what had been done by that person.
The main
reason we know anything at all about these men is because at this time they
were called by Christ to be His apostles. The word ‘apostle’ means ‘sent.’
These were to be the men Jesus would send.
How
overwhelming and yet exciting it must have been for these men to be called in
this particular way. But also how sort of frightening it must have been as
well. While this would mean you were to become one of those closest to Christ,
it would also mean you were to be one of the ones bearing the greatest
responsibility for Christ. You would be identified with Him through all the
turmoil He would experience on earth, and then you would be identified with Him
in all the turmoil to come after His departure. There would be no escape. A
disciple may melt away into anonymity. An apostle never could.
Only Judas
sought to escape. He was crushed by the weight of the responsibility he bore.
-Pastor Bill
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