those other apostles

Ask yourself as a Christian, who, in all of history, did you

more envy? Was he one of the heroes of the Old

Willpower? Would he be a famous saint in the history of the

church? Or would it be one of the people in the New

Testament that was healed, or in some other way, touched

by Christ himself?

Surely the Twelve Apostles – those who lived and worked

with Jesus daily for three full years – must

have been the most privileged in all of history, and the

the ones we would most like to be.

As the small handful of people who have walked on the

moon, only they would have had intimate knowledge of

something the rest of the human race could only dream of

of. There were crowds of people who caught a glimpse

of Jesus, who witnessed one or more of his miracles, who

he heard him preach on at least one occasion. living christians

today I could certainly envy any of them. but there is only

twelve who were with him at all times.

Twelve men were handpicked by Jesus Christ himself,

the Son of God, the Creator of the Universe. they were

chosen from thousands who came to hear what Jesus was

said, at a time in history that he described as a

spiritually “green tree”.

These men were the “creme de la creme”, the best of the

better.

Among them were Simón Pedro (“The Rock”), and several

famous sibling pairs There were Santiago and Juan, the

sons of Zebedee, Andrew and Philip, the fishermen, and

Mateo the tax collector and his brother… the other Santiago.

“The other James?” you might ask. It is true that apart from

being included in the lists of the Twelve Apostles, this other

son of Alphaeus is never mentioned anywhere else in the

Bible. And the same can be said of the other Simon (the

Canaanite) and the other Judas…although some people

I think it might have been the Jude who wrote a page

letter right at the end of the New Testament.

Nothing more is known of Bartolomé either. and men like it

Thomas, Phillip and Matthew are only briefly mentioned in one

couple of other places.

In the case of Thomas, he is remembered today primarily as

“Doubting Tomás” because of his skepticism about the

Resurrection.

And yet, Christ himself selected these men to sit as judges

over the twelve tribes of Israel. He put them above Noah,

Moses, King David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Elijah. conceived

that! Bartholomew, someone we know almost nothing

about, read Elijah on how to be spiritual! but that’s how

is.

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews lists many of the heroes of

faith in the Bible, but then concludes with a reference to

others, “of whom the world is not worthy,” who died without

receiving liberation, and without being recognized by the

world at large for their faith and courage. This people,

also, they were considered greater in the eyes of God than the great

name heroes of the Old Testament.

Even now, few Christians realize, for example, that

“Thomas the Incredulous” traveled to India, where

began a branch of Christianity that continues to this day. Hey

He died a martyr’s death in a cave in which he had been hiding.

for the persecution his message had inspired

among the local population.

Maybe sometimes you feel that Peter, James and John are

such superstars that are out of your league. but not

forget that the Son of God had a place in his tiny circle of

favorite friends for some nondescript like you too.

And the list is not over yet. The book that GOD is writing

it is still being written. And there’s still room to have your

name included among spiritual giants such as Bartholomew

and Simon the Canaanite, and James the son of Alphaeus,

and that other Judas… you know, the one that no one

remember, because he did not betray Jesus!