“Who Is On Your List Of Disciples?”

Not A Trivial Question

Before the Last Supper is celebrated in a couple of weeks during Holy Week, how many of Jesus' 12 disciples can you name? The options are alphabetized.

  

1.   Andrew                                    11. Matthew

2.   Barnabas                                  12. Matthias

3.   Bartholomew                            13. Nathanael

4.   James (son of Alphaeus)             14. Paul

5.   James (son of Zebedee)             15. Philip

6.   John (son of Zebedee)               16. Simon (Peter)

7.   Judas (son of James)                  17. Simon (the Zealot)

8.   Judas Iscariot                            18. Stephen

9.   Luke                                         19. Thaddaeus

10.  Mark                                       20. Thomas

Maybe da Vinci's famous painting will help jog your memory.

To avoid spoiling the challenge, make your selections before you consult the Bible, a Bible scholar, a preacher, or Google.

How confident is your answer?

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How Did You Do?

Did you have fun with this? If you only picked 12 names from the above list, more than one right answer exits. How can that be if Scripture is always true?

First, let’s eliminate the ones who weren’t part of the original 12.

2. Barnabas –     in the book of Acts, went on missionary journeys

9. Luke –           wrote a Gospel and the book of Acts

10. Mark –         wrote the first Gospel

12. Matthias –    in the book of Acts, replaced Judas Iscariot

14. Paul –          in the book of Acts, a missionary and church planter

18. Stephen –    in the book of Acts, the church’s first martyr 

Now that we've narrowed the list of 20 down to 14, the tricky part comes next. Andrew's brother Simon was renamed Peter by Jesus. But Simon Peter wasn’t the only disciple to be known by two names.

3. Bartholomew                     =        13. Nathanael

7. Judas (son of James)          =        19. Thaddaeus

So Who Is The 13th Disciple?

Rembrant's painting “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee" captures the fear felt by everyone except Jesus as rough waves tossed the boat.

Count the men on board. (You may need to Google this picture to enlarge it enough to see all the people.) Jesus is traveling with 13 people, not just 12.

Look at the man in green at the bottom clutching a rope with his right hand and holding his hat with his left hand. Who is it? Rembrandt. He painted himself into that scene with the other disciples.

By including a baker's dozen with Jesus, this 17^th century Dutch painter invites us to imagine ourselves in the boat with them experiencing that trial.

Christians should know the Twelve, but at least our salvation isn't at stake if we forget some of their names or include the apostle Paul. What matters is this:  are we on Jesus' list of disciples today?  

A disciple is a devoted follower. Disciples don't admire Jesus from a distance. They walk at the Lord's elbow. This often means going places and doing things they otherwise wouldn't on their own.

A disciple is a lifelong learner. Disciples don't just occasionally breathe, eat, or sleep; nor do they pray, read the Bible, or serve others every now and then. They also don't retire from corporate worship when they're still ambulatory. Committed followers keep going and keep growing until the moment they see Jesus face to face.

Rembrandt invites us to consider our relationship with Jesus. What insights or questions does this painting inspire in you as it relates to faithful discipleship?

David