JESUS' LIFE: His Friends
In this episode I want you to understand how Jesus chose his friends. He related to a lot of people and was pretty popular with many of them, because he was miraculous. But heaps of people didn’t like him, because he was popular but also because he was changing God’s laws a bit. We know that he IS God, and so could do that, but some of the people felt like he was disrespecting God. I can kind of relate a bit to that.
If you were Jesus and had to choose some people to be your disciples, which kind of person would you choose?
Someone who is funny and does crazy stuff to make you laugh?
Would you choose the educated scholar who has been to university and spent years studying the bible?
Would you choose a priest? Or a doctor? or someone else who has proven that they are educated?
Or would you choose someone who is well loved by the community? Someone who is generous with their belonging, who gives to the poor and looks after those in need?
What about someone with power? Someone who has lots of servants or soldiers to boss around? Or someone with lots of money?
Jesus did not choose any of these types of people to become his disciples. He chose 12 men who would tour around Israel with him, listen to him teach and who would be trained by Jesus for approximately 3 years.
We aren’t told the occupation of all of the disciples Jesus chose, but we do know that he chose at least 4 fishermen. We also know that he chose a tax collector (which was the career of a scam artist in those days, collecting money for the government and then collecting heaps extra for themselves!) He also chose zealot, which was the term used in those days to refer to a political activist.
Here’s the story of Jesus asking Peter, Andrew, James and John to be his disciples from Matthew 4:18-22:
“While Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers. One was Simon, also known as Peter, and the other was Andrew. They were fishermen, and they were casting their net into the lake. Jesus said to them, “Come with me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish.” Right then the two brothers dropped their nets and went with him. Jesus walked on until he saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father, mending their nets. Jesus asked them to come with him too. Right away they left the boat and their father and went with Jesus.”
Jesus also spent a lot of time with people who were not popular!
Matthew 9:10-17 says “Later, Jesus and his disciples were having dinner at Matthew’s house. Many tax collectors and other sinners were also there. 11 Some Pharisees asked Jesus' disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and other sinners?” Jesus heard them and answered, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. Go and learn what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘Instead of offering sacrifices to me, I want you to be merciful to others.’ I didn’t come to invite good people to be my followers. I came to invite sinners.”
Discussion Questions:
Would you say you are more like a Pharisee or a tax collector? Why/Why not?
What are the character traits that you look for in a friend?
Are you a good friend and what can you do to be a better friend?
