Why does Jesus decide to chose twelve of his disciples and call them apostles? This was clearly thought through and followed his clashing with the religious leaders.

Numbers often have significance in Luke’s writing and throughout the bible. Seven and twelve would have been known to have astrological significance in the cycles of days and weeks. Both have meanings to do with perfection and completeness.

The specific choice of twelve here seems to relate to the history of Israel. The birth of the nation centred around the twelve sons of Jacob who became the twelve tribes.

By appointing twelve as apostles at this time, Jesus was being symbolic. He was establishing a new Israel, son of God, new humanity. This would have been evident to all the religious leaders at the time. There had to be twelve men to make the point.

In the Old Testament, the twelve tribes represented the totality of the people of God. Jesus was re-defining this as the Kingdom of God. In the New Testament we see twelve used symbolically. It does not mean the actual number but is more about perfection and completeness.

Although there appeared to be some maintenance of an identifiable group of twelve (probably for symbolic reasons) the actual number of apostles seemed to have varied. We have twelve named in Luke but have no idea who many of them were or did beyond this reference. It is clear that they supported Jesus practically, finding routes, accommodation, food, handling finances, even picking up the rubbish. This then continued as the church grew. It is possible that the unknown ones were the cooks, writers and other helpers. Were some musicians, dancers, artists or poets? It seems that Jesus was able to be left to fulfil his ministry without having to spend time on the chores.

They were the first responders, experimenters in following Jesus and his new life, taking the good news to, and healing, others.

They were the witnesses of everything Jesus said and did.

There is also this reference to them being called ‘apostles’. As the church grew there are more people named as apostles. The symbolism is dropped as we have moved on from the initial comparison with Israel. They are no longer all men but include women. They appear in the list of ministries and have a foundational role. All those who wrote the New Testament books were probably called apostles as they have helped to set out the church foundations.

Apostle means a messenger, someone sent for a purpose. An angel was a messenger. Before the church age, angels were the apostles equivalent.

At the time in Israel, there was an important job, titled ‘saliah’. These acted as a person’s agent, their messenger or proxy. The role was more than just to pass on the message, they had full authority to act on behalf of the person they represented. An ambassador would be another similar title.

For Jesus, there were also the issues of developing specific friendships and the passing on of information. There were quite a few disciples following Jesus and he needed arrangements in place where, at times, he could concentrate his attention on a small number of people and rely on them to pass information on to others.

There is no clear description of an ‘apostle’. It seems they could be anyone given a specific purpose at a specific time, particularly when this has a foundational aspect, on which others would build. In Jesus’ time he needed a group of friends who he could work with and rely on to prepare a foundation for others. In the church some like Paul seemed to be given a clear role, laying church foundations for the rest of his life. Others may have had other roles but at times fulfilled a particular purpose.