Jesus was moving around with upwards of 100 disciples all of the time. In preparation for making the huge decision of who the 12 apostles would be, Jesus prayed all night. Luke highlights the gentle humanity of Jesus.

What things in my life warrant more prayer than I am giving to them? Instead we spend a ton of time worrying about them.

The church did not make up the word Apostle. It was a messenger, envoy, ambassador, delegate, one commissioned by another to represent him in some way.

Why?

-Criticalness of time: Hatred for Jesus is ramping up. Jesus needed to identify who would carry on the mission after Jesus’ death.

-Human limitation: Jesus cannot deeply disciple all of the people following him. Jesus invests in 12. If those 12 disciple 6 there are now 72. If each of those disciple 6 there will be 432 then 2,592, then 15,553, then 93,312… this is the model Jesus gave us, not attraction based evangelism.

-Theological reason: mirrors the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus is declaring that He is the true Israel; the culmination and fulfillment.

Half of the disciples came to Jesus in pairs or groups. The diversity and even the hatred they had for each other is astounding. It is likely that Matthew directly extorted Peter, Andrew, James, and John.

Vs 17 Jesus came down to a level place rather than teaching from up on a hillside. He allowed himself to be touched and accessed. Their hearts would have been made more receptive to the message he was about to teach.

In the church we often want people to accept the truth so that we can love on them.

Luke shows us how Jesus apprenticed the apostles. Watch me do. We do together. You do and I watch. Now go do. Discipling isn’t teaching. It is living alongside each other.