Luke begins this passage by reminding us of the necessity in Jesus’ life for quiet time and prayer. We find in Luke, that he tells his readers about this important part of Jesus’ life on earth quite often. Jesus spends the entire night in prayer. After we meet the twelve disciples, he preaches what many call the Sermon on the Plain. In Matthew, it takes up several chapters and is well known as the Sermon on the Mount. This is a most important sermon for Jesus; it defines his ministry and allows him an opportunity to describe what is required for a person to be in a right relationship with God. It is one of those moments that requires complete concentration and subservience to the voice of God.
In Luke 12, we read that Jesus spent the night praying to God. There is a bit of misunderstanding with this phrase. It does not mean that Jesus spent the night talking to God … in fact, he spent the night listening as well as talking. It was communication … a dialog.
When morning came, he stood before the large number of disciples that had been following him from the beginning and from among those, he separated twelve who would be apostles. By doing so, Jesus was not appointing leaders over the rest, but rather, he was selecting twelve who would be in service. They received no more power than anyone else, this was not an honor. There were no requirements or special talents that these men had. As he called them, he gave them more responsibility. These men will be tested, they will act as witnesses to the Lord’s life and ministry, and will be expected to carry his message long after his death.
The Church’s foundation comes from these twelve men, much as the foundation for Israel is found in the twelve tribes.
The list that Luke gives is also important. He begins with Simon Peter, who is the rock … the foundation of the church and ends with Judas Iscariot, who is identified as the traitor before we even arrive at that point in the story.
There is very little information given to us regarding these men – only their names. To Luke, that is all that is important. Individually these men are not as important as they are as a group. They are in service to Jesus Christ. It is Jesus’ message that is important.
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