“Why are you so frightened? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:35-45)
Another fault of the disciple was their desire for personal glory. This is shown when James and John asked Jesus,
“When you sit on your throne in your glorious kingdom, we want you to let us sit with you.”(Mark 10: 35-45)
They both want positions of importance alongside with Jesus but disciples aren’t expected to have a desire for personal glory they are meant to put others before themselves.
Another two faults of the disciples were that they were constantly afraid and unable to understand. One example of this is when Jesus told his disciples he will be put to death and rise three days later. It says in Mark’s Gospel,
“They did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him.” (Mark 9: 30-32)
Even Peter, the leader of the disciples, had faults. One of the main ones was when Peter denied knowing Jesus even though he promised not to just to save himself from persecution. As you can see the disciples had many faults but these faults are nothing compared to when Judas betrayed Jesus for money which led to his death. It could be argued that Jesus made a mistake in choosing this one disciple because Jesus did not choose his disciples for them to betray him- he chose them to fulfil his Commission.
Now I will look at the arguments against this opinion. If Jesus knew that Judas would later betray him why did he pick him? Here are a few reasons Jesus chose Judas:-
- Jesus loved Judas and was reaching out to Judas.
- It was God’s will.
- It fulfilled prophecy.
- Jesus set an example for us towards those who are unsaved.
When Jesus chose Judas some people say that Jesus deliberately chose him because he had a very important purpose. Jesus wants Judas to be an example for all of us to learn from. He shows us what sin and betrayal can do and how we have to make decisions in life.
Some people say that Jesus did not make a mistake when choosing his disciples because he was demonstrating that all people aren’t perfect but they are still treated equally in the eyes of God. An example of this is Peter. Although he denied Jesus three times, Peter learnt from his mistakes and spread Jesus’ Commission and later became a leading role in the church. In my experience, I have learnt that people are generally good but sometimes can let you down.
So as you can see, people have many different opinions about whether Jesus made a mistake choosing his disciples or not. After looking at each of the points in turn I have come to a conclusion that Jesus didn’t choose his disciples by mistake- he chose them purposely. I think this because Jesus chose ordinary people so he can’t have expected them to be extra special or completely perfect. Like I said in the beginning a definition of failure is when someone does not succeed in what they are trying to achieve or are expected to do but I think the disciples did succeed in what they were expected to do because the disciples went on to write the Gospels and they continued to spread Jesus’ word after his resurrection.
