The Process of Jesus's Calling Disciples, Part 2 (TMF:2994)
Thursday, October 29, 2026
by Daniel Litton Listen to the Feature
What is meant is that as Jesus is going around calling these early disciples, it’s possible he didn’t even know yet who was going to be part of a select group of Twelve, or that there would even be a select group of Twelve. Luke tells us that, “In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12, ESV). And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles” (Luke 6:12, 13, ESV). Therefore, Luke relays to us that early on Jesus had disciples following him that would not become part of the Twelve. Now, we lack the knowledge as pertains to why Jesus particularly called Philip, but we do know that Philip went and found Nathanael, who was likely his friend. Nathanael points out that Nazareth apparently has a bad reputation as a village. Some theologians have speculated that this was due to Nazareth not being included in any prophecies. Therefore, staunch observers of the Jewish Law would have seen Nazareth as a second-rate area of the country.