Jesus' Choice of Disciples
‘Jesus made a mistake in choosing his disciples, they all failed
miserably.’
Initially, this statement presents many views and arguments, as it is
a very controversial one. I am trying to weigh up and examine these
opinions in order to then form my own based on my initial views and
feelings.
It is definite from Mark’s Gospel that the disciples did fail on many
occasions. Stories in the bible show us the nature of their failure
and we can decide form this whether Jesus intended them to fail. In
The story of Peter’s promise and denial, (Mark 14:26-31) several
things are shown to us. On one hand, the argument of Jesus being all
knowing is presented when he predicts his own resurrection and the
disciple’s failure. Peter especially denies that he would ever do
something like this, saying he would die with Jesus, only later to
deny him three times in the face of death. This in itself provides a
good lesson to us about the challenge of discipleship. It is not
anything to be taken lightly, as even St Peter could not stay strong
in the face of death. Peter’s attitude also shows Christians how
seriously we should take our role, and that we should be prepared to
suffer death because of it. In Mark 14:66-72 we are shown another very
key part of discipleship: the nature of failure. Peter failed and
disowned Jesus, but following this went and wept, repenting what he
had done. The repentance and trust in God’s forgiveness should be a
characteristic of every disciple’s life.
In the garden of Gethsemane, Mark 14:32-42 Jesus asks his disciples to
stay awake with him just one hour. The disciple’s exhaustion is too
much and they could not keep awake. Jesus’ disapproval displays the
need for us all to stay and watch with Jesus and make sacrifices of
our own for him. ‘Judas the betrayer’ shows a disciple who had gone so
badly wrong he was willing to sacrifice the life of his friend.
continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:2-3) Therefore, the disciples
To be a true disciple of Jesus one must not disown or deny Jesus but
Jesus chose to have 12 disciples because the number twelve was significant to Jews, and representative of the 12 tribes of Israel that Jews are descendants of. Although the Apostles did not all belong to a different tribe, the fact that there were 12 showed that there was an Apostle to represent each of the tribes. The Apostles all led very different lives before being called up by Jesus. Their names were: "Simon (Jesus gave him the name Peter); James and his brother John, sons of Zebedee (Jesus gave them the name Boanerges, which means Men of Thunder); Andrew; Philip; Barthol... ... middle of paper ... ...
who "does what God wants them to do". This simply means that if we put
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I know who you are—the Holy One of God?’” and again in 3:11, “whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God’”. The disciples are ignorant to fact that the man who called them to drop everything and follow him was the Messiah. Peter properly identifies Jesus in chapter 8 when Jesus asks who they believe he is, but later when Jesus goes into the details of his death Peter denies it and Jesus addresses him as Satan. This is also the point in which Jesus says, “take up your cross and follow me” meaning that they too will
The influence of Jesus of Nazareth, the man, was enormous in his lifetime two millenniums ago, but even more incredible is how his influence has increased today as a member of Christianity's Holy Trinity. Nearly two billion of the world's people worship Jesus as the Son of God today, and even more participate in the mission he began of giving oneself through service to others.
"come with me and I will teach you to capture people." By this I think
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