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    Jesus’ mission on earth included not only the work of redemption, which was certainly foremost, but also the work of ensuring that the work of spreading His message of salvation was carried on after His ascension into heaven. To that end, Jesus realized that just teaching a large crowd of followers was not enough. He needed to select from those followers men of character who would be partners in His ministry both then and after He was gone.
    The men Jesus selected were not the men we might look to when selecting followers. Several of them were fishermen. Peter was known to be impetuous. James and John were called the ‘Sons of Thunder’ because of their penchant for looking at everything through the lens of the Law. Matthew was a tax collector for the Romans, hated among the Jews of the day. Simon the Zealot was the member of a militant religious sect with a Roman price on their heads.
    Yet, Jesus chose these men. Why? Because He knew what was in their hearts, and in their hearts was a furor and a zeal that made them fearless preachers of the Gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit. It was because of these men- indeed because of the Spirit in them- that the Gospel has come to us in its purity and truth.
    Why is Jesus’ selection of His apostles important to us today? Because that work of selecting Christians to do God’s work has not ended. We are not all called to be pastors or teachers, but we are all called to be evangelists- to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and raised wherever we are and whatever we are doing.
    If Jesus selected fishermen and zealots and gave them the power of the Spirit, then how much less can we expect as the children of His kingdom? We may not have the gift of fearless speech like Peter or the eloquent words and logic of Paul, but we have the Word and are constantly surrounded by those who have not heard the Gospel. Because of the Word, we have the Spirit, and it is that Spirit that allows us to preach boldly, even if it is only to our neighbors or coworkers.
    So, let us look to Jesus apostles not only as the honored fathers of our faith, but also as examples of what Christians should be. Like them, we can then go forth boldly and proclaim the message of the Gospel that has been given to us.
DLH
