Devotional Day #22: Luke 6:12-19

This Devotional message is part of the Clayton Church Value-Based Discipleship series, which was launched on Sunday 23 July 2017. View the series index here.

Passage: Luke 6:12-19

In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

Scripture

Jesus’ first 12 disciples were a diverse collection of people, from various sections of Jewish first century society. The diversity of his first followers, as shown in the naming of each of them demonstrates how Jesus’ ability to connect and reach out to people transcended culture and societal norms.

My Words

Jesus retreated from the plains where masses of people could easily gather to the mountainous region so he could pray in seclusion. This he did all through the night, endlessly without ceasing. When dawn broke, Jesus drew all the disciples before him and appointed the primary core group of twelve: Simon Peter & Andrew (brothers), James and John (brothers), Philiip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Simon the Zealot, Judas (son of James) and Judas Iscariot.

Having appointed this inner group, Jesus then returned to the lower plains where the crowds had gathered to hear him and receive healing. This crowd comprised the wider group of disciples, plus people from Judea, Jerusalem, Tyre and Sidon. All who came with afflictions caused by unclean spirits received healing, which only made the crowds more eager to just touch Jesus. Such was the power of Jesus that manifested that all were healed.

What I Discovered

These passages teach on the theme of connection and the way that Jesus and His disciples interacted.

  1. Jesus’ group of disciples were indeed a diverse group, including staple fishermen of society but also less desirable or respected occupations like tax collectors. Having Matthew the tax collector alongside Simon the Zealot would in itself have been a miracle – Zealots were rebels and against the ruling Roman Empire, whilst tax collectors were viewed suspiciously because they acted on behalf of the Romans!
  2. It is unfortunate that Judas Iscariot’s reputation was to be “the one who became a traitor”. Similarly, for the other Judas to sometimes be labeled as “not Iscariot” would have been still slightly awkward.
  3. In this story we see more than twelve disciples of Jesus, but He picked these twelve to be the leaders and core/inner group of believers and followers.

Obedience Step

“I Will”

I will be inclusive of people no matter what their background.

In recent times this was a practical step of obedience for me because we have had new people join the life-group. One individual had a very different background and upbringing compared to the rest of us. Our very identities, occupations and education levels created those differences but we still worked together as a group to be inclusive and welcoming, focusing on the things that unite rather than the obvious differences. Many discussions were had but each time the newcomer raised and drove the conversation from their point-of-view – by asking specific questions on our attitude to the areas of difference, the newcomer inadvertently drew our attention to the differences, and thus made it an additional challenge for us and our mindset in overcoming them to still build unity.

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