As Jesus was to live only for a short time on earth, it was needful
that He should leave behind Him others who should carry on His work,
and preach the Gospel after His death. But if these men were to repeat
to others the words which Jesus had spoken, and show them the
wonderful things which He had done, it was necessary that they should
be constantly with their Lord, so as to be able to bear witness as to
all that He had said or done.
During the time that our Saviour had been teaching and healing the
sick, many persons had become His followers, besides those whom He had
especially called to be His disciples. From amongst the number of
those who had become disciples, twelve were now to be chosen, to be in
constant attendance upon their Master, that they might, after his
death, bear witness to His life, and actions, and teaching.
The night before this choice was to be made Jesus "Went out into a
mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." Thus He
set us an example of the way in which we should prepare ourselves for
any important work we have to do; and that is, by asking guidance and
help from our heavenly Father.
"And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples whom he would;
and they came unto him: and of them he chose twelve (whom also he
named Apostles) that they should be with him, and that he might send
them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to
cast out devils." He ordained twelve--Simon (whom he also named Peter)
and Andrew his brother; and "James the son of Zebedee, and John the
brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons
of thunder; and Philip, and Bartholomew; and Matthew, and Thomas; and
James the son of Alphaeus, and Judas Thaddaeus, the brother of James;
and Simon the Canaanite, called Zelotes; and Judas Iscariot, which
also betrayed him."
We have already seen how Andrew, Simon Peter, James and John the sons
of Zebedee, Philip, and Matthew, were called in the first instance to
be the disciples of Jesus: Bartholomew, who was also ordained an
Apostle, is supposed to be the same person spoken of as Nathanael, who
being brought to Jesus by Philip, at once acknowledged Him to be the
Son of God, and became one of His disciples. Of the other five
apostles, we know nothing previous to their being now chosen: to the
name of one, there is a terrible distinction, "who also betrayed him";
and in the three accounts of this event, written by different writers,
he is thus pointed out as "the traitor." Of the twelve Apostles, five
have left us valuable records of our Saviour's life and teaching.
You will remember that in the Bible we have Four Gospels; that is,
four different accounts of our Lord's sayings and doings whilst on
earth, and of the Gospel which He came to teach. The first of these
was written by Matthew, about five years after the death of Jesus
Christ. The Gospels "according to St. Mark and St. Luke," were written
about twenty-seven years later: St. Luke was a disciple of Christ's
before His crucifixion, and St. Mark was probably one also, but
neither of them was an Apostle. As the Gospel of St. Matthew gives an
account of the birth of Jesus Christ, St. Mark's says nothing on the
subject, but begins with the public appearance of John the Baptist;
whilst, on the contrary, that of St. Luke gives many particulars
omitted by St. Matthew. St. John, who lived to be 100 years old, did
not write his Gospel until sixty-four years after the death of Christ:
he seems to have written it, in order to tell us many things not
mentioned in the former Gospels, particularly the conversations and
discourses of our Lord: and he repeats very little of what is recorded
by the other Evangelists, as we call those who wrote the Gospels. Out
of the four Evangelists, two were Apostles also, and two were not. St.
Luke has also left us another very valuable record, of the acts done
by the Apostles after our Saviour's death: this is the only history of
all that the Apostles did and said, and it is called "The Book of the
Acts of the Apostles." Before St. John wrote his Gospel, he wrote what
is called "The Book of the Revelation of St. John," being an account
of visions vouchsafed him, and prophecies made known to him, whilst in
banishment in the isle of Patmos, on account of his religion.
St. John also wrote three of the Epistles, or Letters, which form part
of the New Testament. Peter wrote two Epistles, James and Jude, or
Judas Thaddaeus, each one: but the greater number of the Epistles were
written by St. Paul, who did not become a disciple or follower of
Jesus until after the crucifixion.
The Jewish Rabbis preferred to take as their pupils and disciples,
rich and learned men; but, as we have seen, Jesus chose poor and
ignorant men, to show that learning was not necessary to enable men to
understand the Gospel; for that its truths are so plain, that even the
most ignorant person, who in his heart loves God, can understand the
Gospel, and learn how to please God.
Multitudes of the people continued to come to Christ, to hear him, and
to be healed of their diseases: he healed them all, and also tried to
show them how they ought to behave, in order to obtain the blessing of
God. Seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and there
spake all the words which we call the "Sermon on the Mount": an
account of this Sermon is given to us both by St. Matthew and St.
Luke. All Christians should study it, and try to obey it: even
children can understand a good deal of it, if they will try.
When Jesus "had ended his sayings," and was come down from the Mount,
"he entered into Capernaum, where at this time He worked the miracle
of healing the Centurion's servant." A Centurion, amongst the Romans,
was the captain or commander of 100 men. This Centurion, though he was
himself a Gentile, was kindly disposed towards the Jews, and had at
his own expense built a synagogue for their use: he also believed in
Jesus as the Son of God; and did not doubt that at His word the
disease of which his servant was dying would at once be removed:
therefore, not thinking himself worthy even to speak to the Lord, he
sent unto Him the elders of the Jews; probably the elders belonging to
the synagogue he had built. Jesus immediately went with these elders;
but when they got near the Centurion's house, some of his friends came
at his desire, to beg that Jesus would not trouble himself to come,
for if He would only speak the word, his servant would be healed. It
would seem that the Centurion himself quickly followed the last
messengers; and he received the reward of his faith, for his servant
was healed, and at the same time Jesus told those about Him, that the
Centurion had shown more faith than He had found amongst the Jews; and
that many Gentiles would through their faith be received into the
Kingdom of Heaven, whilst many of the Jews would be shut out, on
account of their wilful unbelief.
The next miracle we hear of, was the bringing to life of the widow's
son, who was being carried out of Nain to be buried, when Jesus came
to the gate of that city. "And there came a fear on all" who saw these
things: "and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen
up among us; and that God hath visited his people." These people
rightly felt, that the Doer of such things must indeed be the Messiah:
and this saying was spread abroad, not only throughout all Judaea, but
throughout all the region round about. "And the disciples of John"
went to him in prison, where he had been, as we have heard, put by
Herod; "and shewed him of all these things." "Now when John had heard
in the prison the works of Christ, he, calling unto him two of his
disciples, sent them to Jesus," telling them to say, "Art thou he that
should come, or do we look for another?" John did not send to ask this
question for his own satisfaction; he knew well enough that Jesus was
indeed the Messiah that "should come," and that no other was to be
looked for: but he wanted to strengthen the faith of his own
disciples, and convince them that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, and
that they must follow Him.
"When the men" whom John had sent "were come unto" Jesus, "they said,
John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should
come? or look we for another?"
This question our Lord did not immediately answer, in words, at least;
but "in the same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues,
and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind, he gave sight."
Then Jesus, answering the question put to Him by the disciples of
John, said unto them, "Go your way, and tell John what things ye have
seen and heard; how that the blind receive their sight, and the lame
walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised
up, and the poor have the Gospel preached unto them." The Jews all
knew perfectly well, that the doing of all these wondrous miracles was
to be a sign to point out the Messiah, for the prophets had declared
that He should do them. Now these things were being done every day,
and therefore it was quite clear, to all who were not determined not
to believe, that he who did them was the promised Messiah, the Son of
God. All who heard what Jesus now said must have understood Him to
mean that He was the promised Messiah, and that they need not look for
another.