Jesus doesn’t call us all to be apostles. Thank God.

A Reflection for the Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles

Find today’s readings here.

“Jesus went as much as the mountain to hope,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day got here, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he selected Twelve, whom he also named Apostles.” Lk 6:12-13

Today, the church celebrates the Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, two of the twelve apostles. The Gospel is kind of short, and mostly consists in rattling off the names of the twelve that Jesus has chosen from amongst his larger group of disciples for this special designation. 

While there are necessary historical and theological reasons for choosing the number twelve for the variety of apostles, other people in the broader group of disciples might need wondered, those guys? Seriously? 

Not everyone seems to be chosen. What can we make of this? 

I’m a happily married man today, but in college I used to be distraught in my discernment over what I should do with my life. I remember pondering that if I actually took this Christianity thing seriously, then the one real option I had was to change into a priest. 

Due to some good friends and Jesuit spiritual directors, I used to be led through a discernment that helped break a few of my tunnel vision around vocation. (Pro tip: When you’re ever hearing words like “That is the one way” in prayer, it’s an excellent sign that the voice will not be from God.) 

Scripture scholar Gehard Lohfink points out (in a wonderful article for America) that Jesus didn’t even call everyone he met to be a disciple, let alone an apostle:

He went to the house of the tax collector Zacchaeus (Lk 19:1-10) in addition to that of the tax collector Levi (Mk 2:14-17). But Zacchaeus didn’t receive an invite to discipleship as Levi did. Zacchaeus vows to alter his life; in the longer term he’ll give half of his wealth to the poor of Israel and return wrongfully obtained money fourfold. But he’ll stay in Jericho and proceed to practice his calling as a tax collector.

He also notes that we have now no evidence that Lazarus, a friend whose death moves Jesus to tears and to his best miracle, was included in Jesus’ disciples. It could be ludicrous to think that Jesus thought less of individuals like this, or that they rejected Jesus’ message one way or the other. “Every person who accepts Jesus’ message concerning the reign of God has his or her own calling,” Lohfink reminds us. “Each can, in her own way and capability, contribute to the increase of the entire. Nobody is second class.”

It could seem counterintuitive on the feast of two apostles to reflect on the ways during which we’re explicitly not called to be apostles. And yet grace and freedom abound in the conclusion that within the Kingdom of God, there are a mess of vocations and ways to live in the liberty of Christ. (Cue humming along to There are lots of parts…we’re all one body).