Text
1 He summoned twelve of his disciples and gave them authority to cast out unclean spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve Apostles: first Simon, who was also called Peter, then Andrew his brother, then James the son of Zebedee and his brother John, 3 then Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew the Tax Collector, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, 4 Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot, who would betray him.
Comments
At the end of chapter 9, Jesus, observing the crowds, commented that there were too few workers for the harvest. In response, he designates twelve of his disciples to be his apostles. The Greek word apostolos means “sent one,” and translates the Hebrew term shaliah, which refers to a representative or delegate, someone sent to act on someone else’s behalf. Jesus is literally delegating. The number twelve is meant to echo the Twelve Tribes of Israel in the OT. Once again, Jesus is reenacting the history of his people. A few comments on the names of some of the apostles:
Peter is an alternate name Jesus gives to Simon (see 16.13-20)
There are two apostles named James: James son Zebedee and James son of Alphaeus. Somewhat brutally, they are traditionally known as James the Greater and James the Less respectively. Neither are to be confused with James the relative of Jesus, traditionally known as James the Just, who was a witness of the resurrection and became the leader of the Christian community in Jerusalem (see 1 Cor 15.7).
Bartholomew is a family name: Bar Tolmai in Aramaic, meaning son of Tolmai. He is traditionally understood to be the same person as the Nathanael who appears in Jn, since the two always appear together with Philip.
The list of the apostles in Lk is the same as in Mt and Mk, except that Thaddeus is replaced with a man named Judas son of James (Lk 6.16). This is traditionally understood to be one person with alternate names (like Simon Peter), commonly known today as Jude Thaddeus.
Simon the Cananean in Mt and Mk is the same as Simon the Zealot in Lk 6.16. Both titles mean the same thing: someone who is fiercely and even violently dedicated to the Law. Simon is traditionally believed to have belonged to an insurrectionist faction before he became a disciple of Jesus.
Judas’ surname Iscariot is from the Hebrew Ish Kerioth, or man from Kerioth, Kerioth being a city in southern Judea.
