Sunday Devotional: Luke 6:12-16

¹² And it was during these days he [Jesus] went out to the mountain to pray, and he spend the night in prayer to God. ¹³ When it was daytime, he summoned his disciples, and he chose from them twelve, whom he also called apostles. ¹⁴ Simon, whom he called Peter, Andrew, his [Peter’s] brother, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, ¹⁵ Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon, who was called “the zealot,” ¹⁶ Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who was the betrayer.

At this point in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus had been tempted in the wilderness, called some of his disciples, and performed some miracles. Jesus now turns his attention to selecting a specific number of them who would be his closest. There are two things I want us to notice today as we look at this passage.

First, Jesus spent a night in prayer before making his choice. If, as we believe, Jesus is God–the Second Person of the Trinity–why did he need to spend a night in prayer? Let me start by saying that there is much about the inner workings of the Trinity that we don’t know, and can’t know. We are not trinitarian beings–we’re unitarian–so the idea of one being consisting of three separate and co-equal persons is not within our experience. However, we can know what we are told in Scripture. Perhaps at some point I will devote a blog article or two to what the Bible tells us about the Trinity. For now, suffice to say that Jesus came to earth as the God-man. He was perfect in his divinity, and he was also perfect in his humanity. Surely it’s not unreasonable to assume that as perfect man, Jesus would pray. And as God, he would know exactly what to pray. To whom? God the Father, of course. The Father and the Son are both of the same divine being, but they are separate. There is an economy, or a way of working, within the Trinity that we are given a glimpse of in Scripture. Within that economy, the Son does what he sees the Father doing–he follows the Father’s lead (John 5:19; 6:38). So, it also seems reasonable that the Son would commune with the Father before making a decision that would have major lasting effect.

The twelve men Jesus was about to choose would be the ones who would take the gospel message, teach, plant churches, and form the foundation of the church. Effectively, by the power of God, these men would change the world. The enormity of the moment was not lost on Jesus. The fact that even he took it to prayer is instructive for us (as I’m sure he intended it to be). How often do we approach decisions by trying to figure them out by ourselves, and when all else fails, we pray? Prayer should be our first resort, not our last. If it was this way for Jesus, then it certainly should be for us.

My second observation concerns the disciples themselves. Notice that Jesus chose the twelve from among his disciples, so there were more than twelve people following him. Jesus set these men apart, and called them “apostles”–those who are sent out. These are the ones who would receive special training, who would be his closest friends, that they might know Jesus, be equipped to disciple others, and spread the gospel throughout the world. If Jesus was a phoney, or did not live up to the claims he made, these men would know it. So who were these men? Scholars? Religious leaders? Orators and philosophers? No. They were fishermen, tax collectors–ordinary people, about to be transformed by an extraordinary person.

But look at the last name on the list: “Judas Iscariot, who was the betrayer.” Some translations render the Greek verb used here (egeneto) as “became”–“who became the betrayer.” This is certainly a legitimate translation, but I think it takes away from the fact that Jesus clearly knew who Judas was, and what he would become (Matthew 26:21-25; Mark 14:18-21; Luke 22:21; possibly also John 17:12). If Jesus had chosen not to include Judas in the twelve, it’s very possible Judas would not have betrayed him, and Jesus would never have gone to the cross. One might speculate that Jesus faced a temptation that night not unlike the one he faced in the Garden of Gethsemane–letting the cup pass to avoid the rejection and the horrific death he knew was coming. But he willingly included Judas among his closest friends for three years, despite knowing Judas’s heart. Yes, he would become the betrayer. But to Jesus, Judas already was.

Jesus’s love for us, his people, was so great, that he didn’t drop Judas Iscariot from the list. Just as he did in Gethsemane, he accepted the plan that he, the Father, and the Spirit had agreed upon in eternity past, that we might be saved, and have eternal life with him.

I hope these observations enrich your worship of our great God and Savior. Have a great week!