A Sunday School teacher asked her class if anyone in the class knew the difference between angels and saints. One of the boys raised his hand and said, “That’s easy! The Angels are a baseball team and the Saints are a football team!”
Oh how I miss sports … but I digress.
In today’s lesson we hear of Jesus choosing the twelve disciples, whom he also named apostles.
So what’s the difference?
A disciple is a student. In Jesus day, a disciple would learn the teaching of the rabbi. The disciple would learn the interpretations of the scripture, the life teachings and more. There was a blessing in Jesus’ day – “May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi.” May you follow so closely behind and in the steps of your teacher that the very dust that is being kicked up by his sandals cover you.
An apostle is one who is sent. The word “postal,” as in postal service, comes from the same word. The apostle is one who is sent out to share the message of the teacher or leader.
The two seem to go hand in hand, don’t they? As a teacher, you would hope that your student not only hears the message, but shares it as well.
We do that as parents, don’t we? We teach our children and hope they learn and carry that message forward. Sometimes that works. Sometimes it doesn’t!
When our daughter was about two years old, my wife had her up on the bed as she folded laundry. When the task was about done, my wife accidentally knocked a stack onto the floor. “Shoot!” she said. A couple minutes later, our daughter was throwing the folded laundry items onto the floor, one at a time and saying, “Shoot!” with each toss. My wife was thankful she said “Shoot!” and not somethings else!
As a pastor, one of my greatest joys is when I hear a member of the congregation repeat a statement of faith that they had picked up from me. While it is not all about me, it still warms my heart to know that these disciples have become apostles, too.
In that list of names, add your name, too. For I believe God has called you to follow and to learn, and I also believe that God sends you to spread the message.
Legend has it that St. Francis of Assisi put it this way, “Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.”
Luke 6:12-19
Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles
12 Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Jesus Teaches and Heals
Let us pray: