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MATTHEW 10
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page 1169
Who Were the Twelve Disciples?
Matthew 10 includes a list of Jesus’ twelve disciples. Jesus chose and sent out the disciples
to share the Good News about Jesus, perform miracles, and lead God’s people. Jesus’
special team of disciples included some people—such as fishermen and tax collectors—
who weren’t impressive in the world’s eyes. But Jesus picked them for this important job
and transformed them into leaders of the early church.
Simon Peter was a fisherman who
became the leader of the disciples. Jesus
described him as the rock he would use to
build the early church (see Matthew 16:18).
He was responsible for sharing the Good
News with the Jewish people after Jesus’
death.
after he realized Jesus had supernatural
knowledge about him (John 1:47-51).
Thomas is remembered as Doubting
Thomas because he doubted Jesus’ resurrection at first. Once he touched Jesus’
wounds, though, he believed that Jesus was
truly God (John 20:25-29).
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was a
fisherman too. He was among the first
people Jesus invited to follow him.
Matthew (also known as Levi) was a tax
collector before Jesus called him to become
a disciple. He was an observant follower
who wrote about events that happened
James, son of Zebedee, was a fisherman
around him, many of which are recorded
who left everything behind to serve Jesus.
He later became the first disciple to be killed here in the book of Matthew.
for following Jesus.
James, son of Alphaeus, along with the
John
, son of Zebedee, was James’s
brother—and another fisherman! He was
probably the author of the book of John.
When Jesus was on the cross, he asked John
to take care of his mother.
Philip, another fisherman, came from a
Greek-speaking Jewish family. It took him a
while to understand that Jesus is God (John
14:8-11).
other disciples, received the authority
through Jesus to heal people.
Thaddaeus, probably the same person as Judas, son of James, is known for
asking Jesus why he would show himself
to his disciples and not to the whole world
(John 14:22).
Simon the Zealot was part of a group
(the Zealots) who thought the Roman government should be overthrown by force.
Bartholomew, probably the same
person as Nathanael, wasn’t sure there
Judas Iscariot accepted money from
was anything special about Jesus because
the leading priests to betray Jesus. He was
he came from Nazareth, an ordinary village also known to steal from the disciples’
(John 1:45-46). Nathanael became a disciple money bag.
