Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. What He said during His earthly ministry two-thousand years ago is vitally important to hear and understand. As Jesus told the devil, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'” That includes everything Jesus said since He’s God.

Jesus’ Sayings To His Disciples

So far in our series we have looked at how the unbelieving world, along with liberal and progressive ‘Christians’, view the words of Jesus in the New Testament. Their beliefs are a continuation of ancient heresies. Liberal and progressive ‘Christians’ don’t believe that the ‘historical’ Jesus said most of what is recorded of His sayings. They see Jesus as weak and defeated. We strongly disagree.

We have looked at the first recorded words of Jesus in the New Testament when He spoke to His mother at the age of twelve, along with His verbal exchange with John the Baptist and with Satan.

In the last part of our series, we began looking at what Jesus said to His closest disciples who would become the apostles He would empower and send out to preach the Gospel. We saw what Jesus said to Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip and Nathanael (Bartholomew). We move now to the next six disciples.

Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor. Luke 6:12-15

We often see Jesus spending hours in prayer, especially before He would make important decisions or face extreme opposition. Jesus spent “all night in prayer to God” before calling the disciples to Himself and choosing twelve men “whom He also named apostles.” These twelve apostles (apostolos) would become the official representatives of Jesus and the Kingdom of God to the world. They would later be joined by the Apostle Paul who would be the Apostle to the Gentiles (e.g. Romans 11:13; Galatians 2:8). Each of these men played a vital role in God’s eternal plan, even Judas Iscariot.

Matthew the Tax Collector

As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ So he arose and followed Him. Matthew 9:9

Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ So he arose and followed Him. Mark 2:13-14

After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ So he left all, rose up, and followed Him. Luke 5:27-28

It appears from the three mentions of Jesus calling Matthew that it might have been their first meeting. Jesus saw Matthew sitting at the tax office near the sea and said “Follow me,” upon which Matthew immediately got up, left his tax office and became a follower of Jesus. However, there may be more to the story than we see here. We learn from Peter in Acts 1 that the requirement for selecting an apostle to replace Judas is that the men had to have accompanied the others “all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us.” The emphasis, Peter said, was that “one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” Matthew was definitely a witness of Jesus’ resurrection and may have also known Jesus from the baptism of John.

We learn several things about Matthew from the Gospel accounts:

  • Matthew is a tax collector .. he worked for the Roman government collecting taxes from Jews .. the Greek word for tax collector is telónés (publican, collector of taxes, paying at the end)
  • Matthew’s tax office was located near “the sea” .. based on the context of Mark 2, Matthew’s office would have been in or near Capernaum which was located on the northern edge of the Sea of Galilee
  • Matthew is also known as Levi .. he was a Jew .. Jews who collected taxes for the Romans were usually despised by other Jews
  • Matthew was the son of Alphaeus .. that information becomes important when we learn later that another apostle named James was also the son of a man named Alphaeus
  • Matthew left his tax collecting work immediately to follow Jesus when the Lord called to him

One of the most important aspects of Matthew’s calling is what Jesus said afterward. Jesus called out to Matthew, “Follow me,” and Matthew immediately left his work station to follow Jesus. The next event Matthew recorded was Jesus having a meal at his house.

Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, ‘Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard that, He said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. Matthew 9:10-13

Here’s how Mark and Luke recorded the same event:

Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, ‘How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard it, He said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Mark 2:15-17

Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, ‘Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. Luke 5:29-32

Luke wrote that Matthew (Levi) gave Jesus a “great feast” in his house and invited tax collectors and many others. Interestingly, Matthew and Mark’s accounts call those others “sinners.” The Greek word is hamartōloi and and was used to describe someone as “sinful, depraved, detestable.” That’s how the scribes and Pharisees viewed the people Jesus was eating with at Matthew’s house.

All of the accounts include these famous words of Jesus – “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, too repentance.” Interestingly, Matthew added a sentence between the other two – “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”

Jesus used what was a common rebuke of the time – “But go and learn what this means.” It demonstrates something of what Jesus thought about the comment made by the scribes and Pharisees. They wanted to know why Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus pointed them to Hosea 6:6, which is in the context of the prophet’s call to national repentance. Hosea also included an interesting reference to being raised up on the third day to live in God’s sight:

Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth. O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, And like the early dew it goes away. Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of My mouth; And your judgments are like light that goes forth. For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:1-6

The scribes and Pharisees most likely knew the Hosea reference and understood that Jesus was rebuking them about their attitude toward “sinners.” Jesus made it clear that the reason He had come (from Heaven to earth) was to call sinners “to repentance.” Jesus included another rebuke of the religious leaders when He said “I have not come to call the righteous …” The scribes and Pharisees saw themselves as “righteous” and most other Jews as “unrighteous.” Jesus’ words were a rebuke to the religious leaders. We will see many more such rebukes later in this series when we look at Jesus’ sayings to the religious leaders of Israel.

Thomas the Twin

Matthew is usually paired with Thomas in lists of apostles (e.g. Luke 6:15). We don’t have a record of Jesus calling Thomas to follow Him, but Thomas became one of the twelve apostles. Thomas was called “the Twin” (e.g. John 11:16; 20:24) which is Didumos in Greek. That’s interesting because the name Thomas also means “twin” in Aramaic and Hebrew. It may be that John included the Greek name because his Gospel account was directed to the entire world which spoke Greek as a primary language at the end of the first century AD. Another theory is that Thomas was “double-minded” (twin-minded) in his doubt of the resurrection of Jesus (John 20:24-29).

James, Son of Alphaeus

James the son of Alphaeus is sometimes paired with Simon the Zealot and sometimes with Thaddaeus in lists of the apostles. We don’t have a record of when Jesus called James, son of Alphaeus, to be one of His disciples.

There are many theories about the identity of this James:

One is that he is the brother of Matthew since Matthew is also identified as being the son of Alphaeus. It’s possible there were two or more men named Alphaeus whose sons were apostles, but if James and Matthew were brothers that might explain how James came to know Jesus.

Another theory is that James and Matthew were not brothers, but had both been tax collectors and happened to have fathers with the same name. This James is not called a tax collector or publican, so that’s not a strong theory.

Another theory is that this James was James the Less (mikros – small, little) mentioned in Mark 15:40. A woman identified as “Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome” is mentioned as being one of the women standing near the cross when Jesus was crucified. She is further identified as one “who also followed Him and ministered to Him when He was in Galilee” (Mark 15:41). John 19:25 identifies three or four women at the cross as Mary the mother of Jesus, her sister, a woman named Mary and identified as Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. Depending on how you read the Greek text of John 19:25, it may be that Mary the wife of Clopas is the same person as the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus. However, it is questionable that two sisters would have the same first name. While some people think Clopas was another name for Alphaeus, that is somewhat doubtful based on the spelling of their names (Alphaios vs. Klópas) There are also some scholars who think James the Less helped lead the Jerusalem church and wrote the Letter of James, though that does not have much scholarly support.

Another theory is that this James was the half-brother of Jesus who would later help lead the Jerusalem church and write the book of James. This is not a strong theory because John 7:5 says that “even His brothers did not believe in Him.” Matthew 13:55 identifies the brothers of Jesus as “James, Joses, Simon, and Judas.” In the same context (verse 57), Jesus said – “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house” – which would seem to point to members of His own household did not honor Him in what He was doing in ministry. They even thought Jesus was out of His mind (Mark 3:21). Luke 8:19 says that Jesus’ mother and brothers tried to see Him, but were not able to get to Him because of the crowd. When Jesus was told that His mother and brothers were trying to see Him, Jesus said – “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.” We also see in 1 Corinthians 15 that Jesus showed Himself to the apostles and hundreds of other people at the same time after His resurrection, then “After that He was seen by James” (1 Corinthians 15:7). It’s doubtful that James the Less was the half-brother of Jesus.

Simon the Zealot

Simon was called “the Zealot” in Luke 6:15 and Simon “the Cananite” in Matthew 10:4. Again, we have no record of when Jesus called him as a disciple. We also know very little about him. Simon may have been a member of the Jewish Zealot Party which was a group of people who strongly defended the Law and were zealous to overthrow foreign control of Israel. If that’s true, it would have been interesting to see how Jesus brought Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot together in a bond of loving discipleship. The Greek word Kananaios in Luke can be translated Cananaean, but it is also Aramaic for Zealot. The word Matthew used is zélótés, which transliterates as zealot.

Thaddaeus

Thaddaeus is one of the last disciples mentioned in lists of apostles. He was also called Lebbaeus – “Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus” (Matthew 10:3). Luke 6:16 calls him “Judas the son of James.” We have no record of when Jesus called Thaddaeus to become a disciple.

Judas Iscariot

The last apostle named in all of the lists of apostles is Judas Iscariot. He is always identified as the “betrayer” of Jesus.

  • Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. Matthew 10:4
  • Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. Mark 3:19
  • Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor. Luke 6:16

We have these words of Jesus in John’s Gospel concerning Judas Iscariot that identifies him as the “son of Simon.” Jesus also identified Judas as “a devil.”

Jesus answered them, ‘Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?’ He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve. John 6:70-71

We don’t have a record of when Jesus called Judas to become a disciple.

Next Time

Now that we’ve met the Twelve, we will look next at some of the major points Jesus shared only with them in the next part of our special series, And Jesus Said.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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