Matthew 4:18-22
Jesus Chooses the First Four of the Twelve
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Acts 4:7-13
Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin
7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is
“‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
Matthew 16:13-20
Peter's Confession of Christ
13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
1 John 4:7-21
Disciple John of Love and God's Love
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Jesus chose John and Peter to be His Disciples for different reasons...Jesus knew they personalities and their talents better than anyone...He knew what they could do, and what they would do...And both were fishermen...One might have thought that Jesus would have chosen great writers or great speakers and orators, so they could do His Great Commission of telling others about the gospels, but He did not...
After Jesus had died on the cross, Peter and John became active, especially Peter...The educated group of Sanhedrin, priests, the Sadducees,and the captain of the temple guard had brought John and Peter in front of them to discuss the two to be arrested...Peter had healed a crippled beggar and John was with him...Now the two were trouble because they were spreading the name of Jesus around, talking about His resurrection, and using His name to heal people...This educated group called Peter and John "unschooled and ordinary men."...These were two of Jesus' main disciples that He had hand picked and the scholarly among the group saw that they were "unschooled and ordinary men" -and they were...
Jesus had told Peter that he would be the one that would lead and build His church and not even the gates of Hades would overcome it...Jesus gave Peter the authority and responsibility to open the kingdom of heaven for new believers...Jesus would start His church with Peter...Peter would be as tradition has it, the churches first Pope...St. Peter would write two books, two epistles of the New Testament...He no doubt influenced St. Mark in the Gospel According to St. Mark, because he knew John Mark, or St. Mark...When Peter miraculously escapes from prison, the first place he goes to is the house of Mary, the mother of John, also known as Mark (Acts 12:12)...Many think that Mark’s father, Aristopolos, was a cousin to the wife of St. Peter...So Peter and Mark were no doubt close...And as you read the Acts of the Apostles, Peter appears to me to be the leader of the Disciple's Teaching the Jews in the first half of Luke's Book of the Acts of the Apostles, and Paul is the teacher to the Gentiles, in the second half of the book...
John, was younger than Peter...He would become known, especially later in His life for writing about Love, God's Love and that God is Love...John wrote five books of the New Testament...He wrote the Gospel According to John, three epistles, and the Book of Revelation...He would be called the Disciple of Love -and seems to know as much about love and the Love Jesus had more than any man...No doubt that John and Jesus did have a special relationship...Maybe being younger (and maybe even the youngest disciple) John was closer to Jesus than the others...
John's Gospel is especially interesting to me...He writes in his first chapter about Jesus being the Word, and has always being with God, His Father...Then He says the Word is God, and the Word has become flesh...John is telling us that Jesus is God in the flesh...John is the one who would later write much about Jesus explaining the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-31 and John 16:5-16)...John is the one, at least for me, gives the most insight on the Trinity of God (even though he does not use the word Trinity)...John's gospel, to me, is different than the first three gospels about Jesus...John says he wrote the book so that we would know that Jesus is the Son of God, and by believing in Him we will have life in His name (John 20:31)...And in John's first epistle, we learn as much about the Love of God as anywhere in the Bible...These two books contain deep, well thought, well written, very scholarly theology about Jesus, the Messiah, and the Son of God...Men and women have for centuries have read and studied these books, and will continue to read and write about them...
John's Books, at least for me, are not bad for an "unschooled and ordinary man"...His books steep with theology at the deepest levels...His books have been read now close to two thousand years...His books will continue to be read till the end of time...This is not bad for a fisherman, who was unschooled and just an average man...The disciples were ordinary men, just as we are ordinary men and women...