Who Were the Twelve Disciples

I love the question I saw recently, “Your children know the names of the Seven Dwarfs… How about the Twelve Disciples?”  I must admit that even as a pastor, the twelve names don’t just flow off my tongue.  Certain disciples are hard to miss.  Come on, most know about Peter.  His brash sayings always fill the room!  Matthew is also hard to overlook as the tax-collector and author of one of the gospels.

But what about Nathanael or Philip.  They seem like more forgotten apostles.
Oh, and what about the terms “disciple” and “apostle”?  Disciple simply means “learner or follower.”  There were certainly many disciples that followed Jesus beyond just “The Twelve.”  They were at various levels of understanding the true nature of Jesus (John 6).  Apostle means “sent one.”  And so this term picks up frequency in the church after Jesus’ death as apostles are sent into the world to proclaim the new about Jesus.

For those that would like a quick snapshot about the twelve disciples of Jesus, I recently ran across this neat chart.  It was created by Jeff Patterson and Willamette Church.  It gives a great overview of each disciple.

My big takeaway.  Whether I know their names or not, I admire what God did with them.  These were a collection of ordinary men whom God captured (in a good way) and used for divine purposes.  Most died heinous deaths, but they would not have traded knowing Jesus even though experiencing such adversity.