Adapted from the Urantia Book original paper here.
We’ve been taught that the twelve apostles were uneducated, or as the people put it back in those days, ignorant and unlearned. But in Jesus’ time, all this meant was that they were laymen: common folk who had jobs or trades and who hadn’t been formally trained in how to interpret the scriptures like had an actual rabbi. All of them, except the Alpheus twins, had graduated from the synagogue schools – and seven of those from the schools in Capernaum, which were considered the best in all of Galilee. So most of the apostles were well trained in the Hebrew scriptures and the current knowledge of that day, even though they were considered ignorant and unlearned by the Jewish priesthood.
Jesus taught the apostles about the kingdom of heaven, and from them he learned a lot about humanity here on Earth and on the other worlds of time and space. What’s important to know, is that each of these guys had very different backgrounds and temperaments. They were not all alike because they hadn’t been put through the same ridged and stereotyped education like we have today. Many of the Galilean fishermen carried gentile blood because a hundred years before the Jews had forcibly converted the people of Galilee. It says a lot about how charming and righteous Jesus must have lived his life among these guys, because even though he was constantly dashing their hopes and ambitions for personal glory to pieces, only one deserted him in the trials ahead.
Andrew, the First Chosen
Andrew, who remained chairman of the apostles the entire time, was born in Capernaum. He was thirty-three years old, a full year older than Jesus and the oldest of the apostles when he was chosen. Andrew came from a long line of excellent ancestors, and was the oldest of five children along with his brother Simon and their three sisters. His father, who by this time was dead, had been Zebedee’s partner in the fish-drying business at Bethsaida, the harbor for all of the Capernaum fishermen. When Andrew became an apostle, he was living with his brother, Simon Peter, and his wife. They were both fishermen, and partners with the brothers, James and John Zebedee.
Andrew had the most skills and abilities of the twelve apostles; he was better at everything except public speaking. Jesus never gave Andrew a nickname, but before long the rest of the crew just started to call him Chief, like they started to call Jesus, Master. Andrew was good at organizing things, but better at administering the duties of his position. He’d make a quick decision on everything brought to him, unless he thought that it was beyond his authority, and in that case he’d take it straight to Jesus. Andrew was clear, logical, and firm when needed but his greatest strength of character was his stability: he never wavered. What he did lack was any enthusiasm for praising the others, even when it was deserved. Andrew simply abhorred flattery and insincerity. He epitomized the all-round, even-tempered, self-made, and successful man of modest affairs.
Andrew was one of Jesus’ inner circle of four apostles along with Peter, James, and John but his responsibilities to the others didn’t allow him to go off with Jesus when he prayed like the others did. Andrew was never a super preacher, but he excelled in personal work with the people and he was Jesus’ chief supporter in his plans for their initial tour around the Sea of Galilee. When chosen, Andrew immediately brought his brother Simon into the fold, and that man became one of the greatest preachers ever of the kingdom of heaven.
Andrew and Simon Peter were unlike in character and temperament, but to their everlasting credit they got along like best friends. It’s not often that an older man like Andrew can exert such a profound influence over a younger and talented brother. But Andrew and Peter were the exceptions to the rule, proving that even brothers can live and work together peacefully and effectively. Andrew and Peter never seemed to be jealous of each other’s abilities or achievements.
Late on the evening of the day of Pentecost, when mostly through Peter’s energetic and inspiring sermon two thousand more souls were added to the kingdom, Andrew told Peter he couldn’t have done that but he was sure glad he had a brother who could. To which Peter in turn said, if you wouldn’t have brought me to Jesus and then kept me there with him, I wouldn’t be here to do it.
After that Pentecost sermon Peter was famous, but it never bothered the older Andrew to spend the rest of his life being known and introduced as “Simon Peter’s brother.” Of all the apostles, Andrew was the best judge of men. He knew that trouble was brewing in Judas Iscariot long before the others suspected that something was wrong with their treasurer, but he never told the others his fears.
Andrew’s great service to the kingdom was in advising Peter, James, and John concerning the choice of the first missionaries who were sent out to proclaim the gospel, and also in counseling these early leaders about the organization of the administrative affairs of the kingdom. Andrew had a great gift for discovering the hidden resources and latent talents of young people. While every one of the apostles loved Jesus, each was drawn to him because of some certain trait that made a special appeal to that apostle. For Andrew, it was his consistent sincerity and his unaffected dignity that he admired the most. Once men got to know Jesus, they wanted to share him with their friends and let the whole world know about him.
Soon after Jesus was murdered and then resurrected, Andrew began writing a personal journal of Jesus’ sayings and his life on Earth. After Andrew was himself killed, other copies of his private record were made and freely given to the early teachers of the Christian faith. These informal notes of Andrew’s were then later edited, amended, altered, and added to until they made up a fairly consecutive story of the Master’s life on earth. The last of these few altered and amended copies was destroyed by a fire at Alexandria, about a hundred years after the original was written by Andrew.
Later, after the persecutions had finally scattered the apostles far from Jerusalem, Andrew journeyed through Armenia, Asia Minor, and Macedonia. His efforts brought many thousands of people into the kingdom before he was finally apprehended and crucified in Patrae, in Achaia. It took our robust Andrew two full days to die on the cross, and throughout these all of these tragic hours he continued to proclaim the kingdom of heaven and bring new souls to God.
Simon Peter
When Simon joined the apostles, he was thirty years old. He was married, had three children, and lived at Bethsaida, near Capernaum. His brother, Andrew, and his wife’s mother lived with his family. Both Peter and Andrew were fishermen and partners with Zebedee’s sons. The Master had known Simon for some time before Andrew suggested him as the second apostle. When Jesus named Simon, Peter, he did it with a lighthearted smile meaning it to be sort of a nickname because Simon was well known to be erratic and impulsive. Still, it’s true that later on Jesus did attach new and significant importance to what he lightly bestowed on Simon.
Simon Peter was an impulsive optimist. He’d grown up freely indulging his strong feelings and letting everything inside, out. He was always getting into trouble because he kept talking without thinking. This thoughtlessness was also always making trouble for his friends, and Jesus had to kindly scold him for it at times. The only reason Peter’s mouth didn’t cause him more trouble was because he learned early on to first talk his plans and schemes over with his older brother, Andrew, before he’d go out in public.
Peter was an eloquent and dramatic preacher. He was also a natural and inspirational leader. He was a quick thinker, but not a deep thinker. He asked a lot of questions, more than all of the other apostles put together, but while most of them were good and relevant there were a lot that were thoughtless and foolish. While Peter didn’t have a complex mind, he did know himself fairly well. Because of this, he was known for quick decisions and sudden action. For example, while the others were talking about how astonished they were to see Jesus on the beach, Peter just jumped off of the boat and swam ashore to meet his Master (we’ll get to this story later on…).
The one trait that Peter most admired about Jesus was his exceptional tenderness. He often thought about Jesus’ patience and tolerance, and he never forgot Jesus’ lesson about forgiving the wrongdoer, not only seven times but seventy times and seven. He thought a lot about his Master’s forgiveness during those dark and dismal days after he had denied Jesus in the high priest’s courtyard.
Simon Peter would suddenly swing from one extreme to the other. For example, first he refused to let Jesus wash his feet and then, on hearing the Master’s reply, he begged Jesus to wash him all over.
Still, Jesus knew that Peter’s faults were in his head and not in his heart. He was one of the most unexplainable combinations of courage and cowardice that had ever lived on Earth. His greatest strength of character was loyalty and friendship. Peter truly loved Jesus. But despite huge devotion to Jesus he was so unstable and inconstant that he even let a servant girl tease him into denying his Lord and Master. Peter could withstand persecution and any other form of direct assault, but he just couldn’t handle being ridiculed. He was a brave soldier when he was facing a frontal attack, but he was a fear-cringing coward when surprised with an assault from the rear.
Peter was the first of Jesus’ apostles to defend Philip’s work with the Samaritans and Paul’s work with the gentiles. But then, later at Antioch, he reversed himself when he was ridiculed by some Jews, which then brought Paul’s wrath down on him. Peter was the first apostle to make a wholehearted confession of Jesus’ combined humanity and divinity, and yet at the same time he was the first apostle, except for Judas, to deny him. It wasn’t that Peter was so much a dreamer, he just wanted to indulge his ecstatic and enthusiastic side instead of handling the plain and matter-of-fact duties of the real world.
When following Jesus, either figuratively or literally walking down the road, Peter was either leading the charge or trailing way behind. After his rash denials of Jesus, he found himself with Andrew and the others back at the fishnets while they waited to find out what was going to come down after the crucifixion. When Peter was completely sure that Jesus had forgiven him and he knew that he was still one of his Master’s apostles, the fires of the kingdom burned so brightly in his soul that he became a great and saving light to thousands who sat in darkness. Peter was the outstanding preacher of the twelve, and he did more than any other one man, except for Paul, to establish the kingdom of heaven and send its messengers to the four corners of the Earth in one generation. Something of Peter’s style and teaching is shown in the sermons partially recorded by Luke and in the Gospel of Mark, but his vigorous style was better shown in his “First Epistle of Peter,” at least before it was later altered by one of Paul’s disciples.
After leaving Jerusalem and before Paul became the leader of the gentile Christian churches, Peter traveled extensively, visiting all the churches from Babylon to Corinth. He even visited and helped many of the churches which had been raised up by Paul. Although Peter and Paul differed a lot in their education and temperaments, even in their theology, they worked together in harmony with one another to build churches during their later years. But Peter persisted in making the mistake of trying to convince the Jews that Jesus was, after all, truly the Jewish Messiah. Right up to the day of his death, Simon Peter was confused between the ideas of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, Christ as the world’s redeemer, and the Son of Man as the revelation of God, our loving Father.
Peter’s wife was a strong and capable woman. For years she was a member of the women’s corps, and then when Peter was driven out of Jerusalem, she went with him on all of his journeys and missionary excursions. When Peter was finally caught by the Romans and condemned to die on the cross like Jesus had, a sentence he considered to be a high honor, his loyal wife was fed alive to the wild beasts in the arena at Rome.
Okay, folks, that’s it for Son of Man: Urantia, Chapter 18, part 1, “The Twelve Apostles.”
Next week we continue with part 2.
Have a fantastic week out there everyone.
Bob