Who is Jesus Christ and who are His Apostles? We have little information on the early childhoods of any of these men. They are in Palestine and, if similar to Jesus, they did not travel more than 70 miles in their early years.
Jesus has a big birth story and little tidbits of growing up. His human father, Joseph, was a carpenter, and His mother was Mary – a woman chosen by God to give birth to Jesus. Born in Bethlehem, moving to Egypt for a bit, amazing the Elders of the church at age 12 with His knowledge and confidence, and then starting His journey to the Cross as a young adult.
Halleys’ Bible Handbook suggests that as a carpenter, Jesus must have had considerable physical strength. Speaking so effectively to vast multitudes in the open air, we imagine he must have had a powerful voice. From His discourses, conversations and teachings, we think of Him as being always under control, never in a hurry, in perfect poise, slow and majestic in all His movements. There are hints that He had a sense of humor. 1
The Book of John gives us John the Baptist’s view of who Jesus was.
John 1:29-34 NIV
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’
31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.
33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” [many manuscripts is the Son of God. Isaiah 42:1]
John the Baptist was very well liked by the people and here he is saying that he is less important than Jesus because Jesus is the ‘Chosen One’.
Jesus: The personal name of the One whose title gave its name to the Christian Religion. (Jesus of Nazareth, Son of David, Christ Jesus, the Messiah Jesus, Jesus Christ. 2
As for the Apostles, we have nothing about births and childhood. We meet all of them as adults when Jesus picks them to journey with Him.
Matthew 10:2-4 NIV
2 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;
3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;
4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
From Max Lucado’s “The Inspirational Study Bible” Topical Concordance :
Simon: later named Peter, brother to Andrew Matt.16:17,18; John 1:42
Andrew: Brother of Simon Peter, former follower of John the Baptist.
James: Son of Zebedee and brother to John, martyred under Herod Agrippa
John: Son of Zebedee, brother of James, sometimes called “the beloved disciple and Saint John”, traditional author of the fourth Gospel, the three Epistles of John and the Book of Revelations. Jesus also called these two “Boannerges – Sons of Thunder Mark 3:17
Philip: E. M. Blaiklock states: John remembered Philip vividly as an able and notable man. He came from Bethsaida, and was one of the first to be called. He was instrumental in bringing Nathanael to Christ. 3
Bartholomew: Mt 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14; Acts 1:13
Matthew: called “Levi the son of Alphaeus” in Mark 2:14, traditional author of the first Gospel.
Thomas: His incredulity of Jesus’ resurrection gained him the name “doubting Thomas”.
James: Son of Alphaeus
Simon: Who was called the Zealot. Luke 6:15. The Caananite
Judas: Brother of James, Mk 6:16; Jn 14:22; Acts 1:13 Possibly Thaddaeus also called Lebbaeus Mt 10:3
Judas Iscariot: Who became a traitor.
Here is a story of the first Disciples being called by Jesus.
Matthew 4:18-22 NIV
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”
20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them,
22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
You find similar stories in Mark 1: 16-20 and Luke 5: 4-11.
Mark 1:16-20 NIV
16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”
18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets.
20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
Luke 5:4-11 NIV
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.
7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken,
10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.”
11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
Now let us look at another story of Jesus gathering His disciples.
John 1:35-51 NIV
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.
36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon. (Halley’s Handbook says 10am based on the Roman time.pg.531)
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus.
41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).
42 And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter) [Cephas (Aramaic) and Peter (Greek) both mean rock.] (Halley’s states: The fact that Jesus gave Simon a new name at this, their first recorded meeting, seems to indicate that Jesus already had him in mind for the Apostleship.pg.532)
43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.
45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.
47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
50 Jesus said, “You believe [Or Do you believe … ?] because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.”
51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, [The Greek is plural.] you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” [Gen. 28:12]
These men had different backgrounds, different teachings and experiences and different hopes and dreams. They took all their differences and joined together with Jesus to go tell others the truth about God. This is why the Christian church today is full of people with different upbringing, hopes and dreams. You are a part of the early church in that you are just like those Apostles – following Jesus!
Over the next few weeks we will be following Jesus and the Apostles as they journey around the country learning to care for and love all people and to grow in their relationship with God.
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