I Will Follow

What does an Apostle and a penny have in common?

They are both one sent.

What did the disciples say when they caught all those fish in the net?

Holy Mackeral

Matthew 10:1-8:

“Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”

Hello Matthew: I guess when Jesus called the 12 of you to be His disciples you all felt pretty confident about the task?

Actually, it was just the opposite. A disciple means we had a lot to learn. Jesus had to disciple us in His Word, teach us to love each other, train us to be obedient, and help us develop new habits. And even though we had a lot to learn, we finally reached a point where He called us His Apostles.

Apostles? So you were both disciples and Apostles? So what’s the difference between a disciple and an Apostle?

As disciples we were students - in training – as Apostles – we became the teachers – the evangelists - sent out 2 x 2 to share all we had learned as disciples. In fact, that is God’s goal for every disciple – soak up the learning – then become an Apostle and go into all the world and share the good news of Jesus Christ.

So, you feel ready to share your faith now?

We have grown in our Faith, but we will never reach the perfection of our Lord because we are just ordinary men – on the other hand, we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit. God gave us the power to cast out demons and heal the sick. It is an indescribable gift! But our main task is to preach the kingdom of heaven.

Rumor has it, Matthew, that you are the only wealthy disciple.

That is true. And to my shame, I gained it by being an extortionist – by working for Rome – against my own people. That’s why I was hated so much. It would take time for the other disciples to forgive me and accept the fact that I had changed.

Speaking of the other disciples – I find it interesting that Simon – who became known as Simon Peter – always seems to be mentioned first. Was he the first disciple chosen?

No, not first in number, but first in rank.

Wait a minute, I thought all 12 of you would be equal in power and authority? How come Simon, called Peter, is at the forefront?

Well, we were equal in terms of function, but not equal in terms of rank. Let me explain it this way. Every church, every government, every family needs a leader. Our leader was Peter. In fact, we had little groups within our group. Andrew, Peter, James and John hung together. Group 1. Then Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, and I were seen as group 2. And group three was made up of James (this one the son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, and the other Simon - who was a Zealot, as well as Judas Iscariot.

Oh my, I had never heard that before. So the 12 disciples were in three groups and each group was made up of 4 disciples?

That’s right. And that first group of four were the first four to be called. I was in the second group. Judas, who ends up betraying Christ, what a dummy, he was in the last group to be called.

I never realized that. In fact, I know the most about the four disciples in the first group. And when I think about it, I hardly know anything about the disciples in group two or three – other than the fact that Judas was “the Betrayer.”

Yes, that’s about all anybody knows about Judas – he was the bad guy.

This is starting to make more sense. That first group would have been a little more intimate with Jesus, wouldn’t they? They would have been with Him for a longer time too? And in that first group they needed a strong leader. And whallah – you have the strong-willed, outspoken, go-get-em Peter.