3. T/w calling of the Twelve. — If this phrase be taken quite strictly, there is no difficulty in deter- mining when and under what circumstances the call to which it refers was given. The Synoptic accounts are in virtual accord. They show that it was not at the outset of His ministry that our Lord incvpased the company of His immediate followers until it numbered toefcc. That increase took pl.iie vli.n the fame of His teaching and words, as He «int through the towns and villages of Galilee, 'preaching tlii^ sospel of the kingdom, healing all manner of .lisci-e .■unl .all manner of sickness "(Mt 9'*), botli ,il ir.i. Id to llmi the atten- tion of the populace, ami so excited the resentment of the scribes and Pharisees that they began to take counsel with the Herodians ' how they might destroy him ' (Mk 3"). The need for more labourers was evident, and not less evident to Jesus the
DISCIPLE
signs that the time for traininjr such labourers might be short. St. i\Iatthe\s- tells, immediately before he records the calling of the Twelve, that when Jesus ' saw the multitudes he Avas moved with compas.sion for them, because they were dis- tressed and scattered, as sheej) not having a shepherd. Then saitli he unto his disciples. The harvest tnily is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his harvest' (Mt gaeff.j That summons to prayer becomes more urgent and pressing in the light of St. Luke's record, that immediately prior to His choosing the Apostles our Lord ' went out into the mountain to pray ; and he continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called his discijples, and he chose from tlu-iii "twelve' (T.k C,™'-\ TIi.' immediate purpose of the rail i~ (•.\|ii.~-..i ii\ >;. Mark thus: 'And he .•ii.|...iiitea twche tli;-i i Ii-n might be with him, ami that lie mi-ht seihl then] forth to preach, and to liave authority to east out devils' (Mk 3'^-). On the question whether some of the 'Twelve had not received a jprevious call, or perhaps more than one previous call, to be followers of Jesus, and if so, in what relation these earlier callings stand to the appointment of the Twelve, see art. Apostles.
i. The training of the Twelve. — When St. Hark tells us (3") that Jesus ' appointed twelve that they might be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,' he discloses the characteristic and the all-important feature of tlie method of their training. They were to see the works of the Saviour and to hear His words, and in addition to that they were to be constantly in contact with His personality : they were to be with Him (see above, p. 107).
That 'course of instruction,' as Keim calls it, which contact with Jesus secured to His disciples, was maintained with very slight interruption from the calling of the Twelve until the Betrayal. The chief intermission, of which we have any word, of the intercourse of Jesus with His chosen followers, was occasioned by that mission on which the Twelve were sent quite soon after their call (Mt 10*). The interval occupied by the mission was probably not more than a few days—' at least a week ' (Latham, Pastor Pastorum, p. 301). Tliat mission was a testing of the Apostles themselves, not less than an act of service to those to whom they were sent ; and the test was so endured that it needed not to be repeated. The Twelve went forth under the conditions which Jesus prescribed : they delivered the message He bade them, and they used freely the power to heal mth which they were entrustecl. No similar service .separated them again from their Master,— unless, incleed, they had part in that mission of the Seventy of which St. Luke tells (lO"'-)- The time would yet come for them to deliver their testimony and to fulfil their ministry. Meanwliile the Saviour jealously guards for them the precious opportunities which remain for free intercourse witli Himself. He leads them away from the crowds, taking them now to 'a de.sert place' (Mk 6''), and again to the remote '])arts of Ca?sarea Philippi' (Mt 16"). "We gain the impression that as the brief spell of His own earthly ministry neared its term, our Lord con- centrated Himself increasingly upon tlie inner band of His followers. Ewald is true to the in- dication of the Gospel narratives when lie says that 'the community of His friends' was to our Lord 'during the last year and a half the main object of His earthly labours' (i/^/, vol. vi. 417).
Should it be asked more particularly what was the instruction of which the Twelve were the recipients, a full answer would require a recapitu- lation of all the teaching of Jesus. This much
may be said here, that the Twehu shared the instruction given to 'the niultituile.' with the added advantage of the e\]'hni;ai'iii~ whieh they sought, and which our Lonl iirely mk urded them, 'when he was alone,' 'privately. .See Mk 4", on which Swete (Gospel according to St. Mark, p. 84) comments : ' Exposition now regularly followed (iirfKvev TravTo.) the public teaching.' Furthermore, the Gospels contain records of discourses addre-ssed only to the inner circle of the disciples. Among such discourses should be reckoned in all proba- bility part at least of the group of addresses known as the ' Sermon on the Mount ' — notably the part contained in Mt 5, which bears all the marks of a discour.se to more immediate followers. Not, how- ever, tliat the more immediate followers are in this I i.ii th iilar connexion to be restricted to the Twelve, in e ihe discourse in Mt 5 must — in spite of tlie ] I'-itiMii St. Luke gives to his version of it (G'-"^) — lie ihired earlier than the calling of the Twelve; it ' lias tliroughout the character of an early and opening discourse.' None the less it is to be accounted among our Lord's less public utterances : it is 'Jesus' address of welcome to His band of disciples' (Keim, op. cit. 286-290). Again, in Mt 10*"''^ we have what appears at first sight to be a sustained address to the Twelve in reference to their mission. But on a comparison with Mk 6*"" and Lk 9-"° it seems likely that only vv.""" were spoken with direct reference to the mission, and that w.'*-*^ are grouped with them, though coming from a later time, because they contained sayings of Jesus in reference to a kindred topic — the future missionary labours of the Apostles. Yet further must be added to the discourses delivered to the Twelve alone, the apocalyptic discour^ Mt 24 (cf. Mk 13 and Lk 21), with its parabolic sequel in cli. 25 ; and the discourse in the upper room on the night of the Betrayal (Jn 14-16). And when we endeavour to tabulate the instruc- tion imparted more privately to the Twelve, we may not omit the signs, each so full of teaching for them, of which they alone — and in one case but three of their number — were the spectators. The Walking on the Sea, the Transfiguration, the Cursing of the Barren Fig-tree, the Feet-washing in the Upper Room, the Miraculous Draught of Fishes (Jn 21'"f-), — these all surely formed part of the lessons most indelibly impres.sed on the Twelve.