Men of No Reputation

"The Ways of God are higher than the ways of man." (Isaiah 55:8). The Prophet Isaiah said these words and how true they are. I was recently contemplating the Apostles, who since Middle Ages have been robed in scholarly garb and seen holding scrolls like Aristotle. The men Jesus chose were not religious men, they were not from Oxford Pharisees or the Yale Sadducees, they were simple fishermen. These men whom everyone knows by name, particularly Peter, James, and John, have gone down in history. And yet they weren't scribes, kings, warriors, or philosophers, they were evangelists. They never sold anything, they didn't try to build golden cities like Byzantium or write books for profit, everything Jesus taught them and Holy Spirit reminded them of (John 14:26), they shared for free with anyone who listened. They didn't have book campaigns, they didn't live in palaces, and they didn't have yachts but they had fishing boats, they were men of no reputation, fishermen, tax collectors, and zealots, hated by one side of society or the other.

The Apostles were ordinary men like you and me. They weren't the elite scholars, seminarians, and religious authors of the day. They were simple folk with open hearts that Jesus saw could believe. There is an adage in seminary, "seminary often becomes cemetery" how true this was for Pharisees whom Jesus said, "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either," (Matthew 23:13-14), and "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!" (Matthew 23). The Disciples were different, they weren't those whom the Apostle John said, "He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him." (John 1:10-11). In contrast, the Apostles were men who immediately saw who Jesus was, a teacher and the Christ, "But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God," (John 1:12-13), "The following day John was again standing with two of his disciples. As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus," (John 1:34-37), "Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them.They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” Come and see,” he said. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day," (John 1:38-39), "Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus. Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ," (John 1:40-41), "Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.” “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied. As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.” “How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.” Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”  Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth." (John 1:45-51). The apostles were quick to believe in Jesus, they knew he was the Rabbi (Teacher) that Jesus confirms He is (Matthew 23:10), they knew He was Messiah and Christ who He says He is later (John 4:25-26). These men had rudimentary religious training, in 30 A.D. Jews went to Hebrew School I and if they did well, they were then elevated to Hebrew School II and went on to learn to be a Rabbi, but if they didn't do well or were mediocre, they went home to learn the trade of their father like John and James (Matthew 4:21).

The religious elite in contrast to Apostles were always skeptical, and never believed, their response to John Baptist alone was skepticism, "This was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John, “Who are you?”  He came right out and said, “I am not the Messiah“Well then, who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?”No,” he replied.“Are you the Prophet we are expecting?”“No.”Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?”John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah: I am a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Clear the way for the Lord’s coming!’”  Then the Pharisees who had been sent asked him, “If you aren’t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?” (John 1:19-25). No matter what Jesus did, even fulfilling all prophets, they refused to believe, and as Pilate noticed were jealous of Jesus (Matthew 27:18). Christ picked average people who became the Apostles, they had open hearts, and they weren't perfect. Peter denied Jesus three times (John 18:15-27), Thomas doubted Jesus (John 20:25), John and James were overzealous (Luke 9:54), Matthew was the scum of society a tax collector (Matthew 9:9-13), Simon was of political violent sect known as the zealots (Luke 6:15, Acts 1:13), and rest I am sure had their own faults, in specific they couldn't caste a demon out of boy (Mark 9:14-29) despite having been given that power and more (Matthew 10:8). No, they weren't perfect men, but the Perfect, Jesus Christ who is God chose them and made them ministers of his New Covenant and Gospel. Even the Apostle Paul, the most scholarly apostle of them all, decided to throw off his scholarship, seminary, and more, "I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!," (Philipians 3;5-11), "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified," (1 Corinthians 2:2), and "As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world's interest in me has also died." (Galatians 6:14). Paul was Pharisee of Pharisees, he even killed Christian before his conversion, and yet he chose to be like rest of apostles, simple God loving men who would be bold to share the message of salvation (John 6:40, John 3:16, Romans 10:9-10) to all people no matter what perils, prison, persecution, and punishment awaits them.

These men were of no reputation. They didn't have megachurches, they had steps of temples. They didn't have books they sold, but scrolls containing the Gospels. They didn't wear scholar's robes, they wore the average attire of ordinary men at the time (tee shirt and jeans or sweats if it were today's clothing). They weren't pretentious, not did they act superior to other people, they weren't proud of their knowledge, though they had wisdom of God (Colossians 2:2-3, ). They loved Jew and Gentile, and crossed cultural divides. They were men who aren't in the annuls of kings and philosophers, but their words have been treasured for twenty one centuries, and have captivated the hearts of trillions. They didn't have an office, or pension, but they worked hard in their offices of apostle, prophet, and more, and their pension lies in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). They were humble men, who moved by love of God and His gospel, went forth to all nations to tell them of saving work of Jesus Christ. They weren't ascetics (Colossians 2:23 ESV) or told people to deny normal needs (1 Timothy 4:3), they weren't perfect, but they shared the perfect love of god (1 John 4:8). They weren't worthy, they were weak and yet that weakness became God's weapon to deliver people from bondage of sin and men's traditions (2 Corinthians 12:9, Mark 7:7). The apostles were like me and you, what made them different was who they walked with, Jesus our God in flesh, but a day is coming when we too will walk with Jesus in Flesh (Revelation 19:11-16, Revelation 20:4, Revelation 21:1-53), and right now we walk with Jesus in Spirit (Romans 8:9, Colossians 1:27, John 19:20-21).

They were men of no reputation, the scholars and religious leaders scoffed at them (), but their reputation to those who believe is great renown, for they wrote down the Gospel and preserved it for us so that we may be saved because of their testimony, "I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message" (John 17:20). One day we shall see Peter, Paul James and John, and I think we will be surprised. They won't be these towering titans with robes of the scholar and proud looks, but short, animated men whose passion for Christ has stirred us and whose weakness make us remember its ok to be human and trust Christ to forgive us and help us walk in all righteousness. Amen.