Jesus and the Apostles

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 twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:
Simon (whom he named 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.
Luke 6v12-16 [TNIV]

Whenever there is a list of names like this, it is too easy to skim over it. Names, boring, move on! But behind every name is a story. Names become very, very, very interesting when you get to know the story that goes along with it. This list of names includes some very interesting stories - and Luke intends for us to be inspired by them.

At this point in the gospel, we've already been introduced to the first four apostles: Simon, Andrew, James and John. Two sets of brothers who were in business together as part of the fishing industry. We've also been introduced to Matthew (who's Jewish name is Levi). Very interesting stories so far - and one of the implications we ought to have caught by now is this: we're a lot like the apostles that Jesus chose.

Jesus didn't choose the apostles because there was something that set them apart from the other disciples who followed Jesus. In fact, we don't know the reasons for why Jesus chose them; but we do know from the stories that they were ordinary people like you and me. As you read through the text, did you notice that there must have been many disciples that Jesus considered to be his apostles? We don't know how many disciples he had, but we know that from them he picked twelve to be apostles.

Disciple is a Greek word that basically translates to "student"; Apostle is a Greek word that basically translates as "sent ones". Jesus intends for all of his disciples to become apostles. We see this in Luke 9 when Jesus sends the Twelve out to do Jesus-work: heal and proclaim, cast out demons and teach. The Twelve are sent out - that's what they were called to do: be sent. Next, in Luke 10, Jesus sends out the Seventy-Two, disciples paired up two by two to do what the Twelve had done, who did what Jesus was doing.

These Seventy-Two aren't listed according to their name and rank like the Twelve were, but they were given the same work. I think the emphasis is not on the title, but on the task. So know we know that Jesus had at least seventy-two disciples who followed him, it's likely that he had more than that. But the pattern has emerged: once you become a disciple Jesus intends for you to become an apostle.

If you are a disciple of Jesus, know this up front: he intends to use you as an apostle. You become a student of Jesus so that you can become a sent one of Jesus.

Jesus and the Sabbath

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, 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 what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the 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 to destroy it?"
Luke 6v1-11

Sabbath observance is a really big deal in the Torah. The seventh day is very special, thus special laws were set up to help guarantee that it would continue to be observed. These additional laws to the Torah came to be seen as equivalent as the Torah, to not keep the special laws was to violate the Torah. Thus, very subtley, the whole point of keeping the Sabbath became lost in keeping the special laws in order to not violate the Torah.

Jesus came to pronounce God's mercy upon the people of Israel, to initiate a new kingdom where right prevailed, where shalom prevailed, where good hearts prevailed. And a center piece of Jesus' proclamation had to do with observance of the Sabbath. That special seventh day was not set up in order to restrict people and give them a day to be bored. The day has many special associations to it - one of them being about giving people freedom. God has commanded that you not be a slave! God has required you to not be a robot. You get to rest without guilt! You get to play and pray without being rushed! You get to soak in the beauty of creation without having to give a report about it to your teacher or boss.

In this story, Jesus violated the laws of the Pharisees by picking some grain (unauthorized work) with unwashed hands (unauthorized actions). Jesus likely did this because a) he was hungry, and b) because he liked to raise the ire of the Torah-teachers. Jesus really angered the Pharisees by healing on the Sabbath - and it was this action that revealed their view of the Torah and the Sabbath. The seventh day is a good day, it's a good day for rest, it's a good day to love; it is a day for goodness. Anything that is good is then in keeping with the spirit of the Sabbath. Jesus wanted to reclaim the Sabbath as a good day, a day to do good, a day to enjoy God and his Creation and his people.

What about you: do you observe the Sabbath? Why or why not?

Jesus and Forgiving Sins

Luke 5 is where in the story Jesus begins to forgiven the sins of those who demonstrate faith.  Up to this point in the story, Jesus has demonstrated amazing authority when it comes to healing people.  In the OT, the prophets would call upon the name of the LORD with great demonstration and passion.  Here in the Gospels, Jesus merely utters a command, and the healing deed is done.  It is this difference that causes the people to see and be amazed by Jesus' authority.  Surely he is someone special.

As valuable as physical healing is - Jesus came not only to restore physical cracks and breaks, but to restore spiritual cracks and breaks.  Jesus has come as God in the flesh to cancel the spiritual debts of Israel, to forgive their sins, to save them from their trespasses.  The physical manifestation of their long-term rebellion against the Way of God has resulted in political oppression, economic injustice, agricultural deprivation, etc.  

Vitamin deficiencies, long-term malnutrition, unbalanced diets, and other nutrition issues partially result in blindness, deafness, paralyzation, crippleness, bleeding, mental instability, and a host of other problems.  Jesus heals them of their physical suffering, but he also wants to restore their heart with God, so that they can follow his Way, so they will open up to his blessings.  So for those that are willing, for those who believe (have confidence) in Jesus, for those that trust him and his ability, for those that have faith (allegiance) in him, Jesus can forgive their sins and give them a new start with God.

This is certainly good news for those that want a different life for themselves, their family, their friends, their neighbors.  What can one person do in a world so full of darkness and suffering?There is a lot that one person can do - for starters: turn your life around, pick a different way of living, repent of your sins, receive the forgiveness of God and follow his way.

Jesus calls out: Follow me.  To those who have ears to hear - Follow!  

Jesus won't heal every ailment, he didn't fix everything in a person's life, and what he did fix didn't necessarily guarantee that something else wouldn't go wrong later.  But by his compassion and generosity, Jesus demonstrated his trustworthiness - he is worth believing in, he is worth following.  His way of compassion and generosity, his way of truth and peace are worth joining everyday.

Jesus and Prayer

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
[Luke 5v16]

It seems that Jesus healed without effort. A word here. A gesture of the hand there. A look. Demons flee. Fevers depart. Skin cleaned. Paralyzed dance. And people were flocking. With all the people who needed healed, and with the ease by which Jesus healed, and with him only being on earth a short time, how could he justify taking a break to pray or sleep or eat or play?

But Jesus did get away to solitary places, he did get away to pray. It seems that he needed to be re-energized. And so do we.

Jesus came to do the work of his Father; for those of us who follow Jesus - we have a similar mission. Just as Jesus needed alone time with this Dad in order to get reaffirmation, correction, and inspiration to keep on the journey, so do we. We think that much of our life is too mundane for the LORD to care about. But we fill up our life with so much mundane stuff that we too easily give up on making time to get alone with our Father. So we get accustomed to our life of mundane-stuff. We let God break in once in awhile and do something marvelous, but then it's back to busyness as usual.

If we belong to Jesus, our life is not our own. If we don't make the time to be alone with the LORD, we easily slip into self-direction. When we do that, we cut ourselves off from the mystery, the marvelous ways that God can heal and save through our everyday life. A conversation here. A gesture of the hand there. A kind look. A smile. Attentive ears. And God can take those mundane acts and use them for good, when we are attentive to Him.

If Jesus needed to get alone and pray to his Father, how much more do we?

If Jesus thinks that we - the body of Christ - can do greater things than he did - how much more ought we to be alone with the Father?

If our life is to be a poured out offering unto others, ought we not to be letting the LORD pour into us while in solitude?

Listen to the LORD. Withdraw to a solitary place to pray. And hear.

Jesus and Fishing

"Don't be afraid; from now on you will fish for people."

Jesus speaks to us, into our situation; he also envisions a new life for us, one that is birthed out of our current situation.

There's nothing sacred or special about being a fisherman. Jesus didn't pick Peter because he was a fisherman, Jesus didn't need to pick a fisherman so that he could use it for a memorable metaphor. There's nothing sacred about being a "fisher of men", as the old phrase goes.

Jesus might have said something to Levi like: don't be afraid; from now on you'll be a collector of people. To the teachers of the law: don't be afraid; from now on you'll be a teacher of people. To the synagogue leaders: don't be afraid; from now on you'll be a leader of people.

How about you in your occupation? Don't be afraid; from now on you'll be a _____________ of people. What is it you do for a living? God can use that as both a launching point and as a description of the kind of work he wants to do through you. Does Peter literally catch people in a net as his means for fulfilling God's mission for him? No. But God uses Peter the fisherman, with all the tradition, skills, personality, and attitudes of a fisherman to further his work of restoration in the world.

What's your occupational training? What makes you different from most other people because of your line of work, the skills, attitudes, perspectives, insights you have about people and situations because of your work? God wants to use you and those experiences to further his work of restoration in the world.

Peter realized that with Jesus, he could be an awesome catcher of fish! He could become wealthy and secure and powerful. Or he could realize that though Jesus could help him succeed in his occupation, what Jesus really wants to do is use his occupation as a way to succeed in a bigger mission: furthering God's work of restoration of people.

If you belong to Jesus, continue to consider how God could use you in your occupation to further his work of restoration - where you work, with the people you work with/for, and how God could also bring further restoration to you as you let him restore others through you and your occupation.

God takes you as you are, where you are, and begins to use you immediately to further his work. Granted, like Peter, we may mess up a lot in the beginning - sometimes in really big ways. But that is part of the restoration work that God does in us, and that restoration work he does in us is also what he is using to bring restoration to others through us.

When Peter was presented with this opportunity, his response was most appropriate, and one we ought to consider:
"Go away from me LORD, for I am a sinful man!".

It's that honesty that allows God to get to work in us and through us.

Let God get to work in you and in your work, and through your work.