Words to Treasure
Jesus went up on a mountainside. He called for certain people to come to him, and they came. He appointed 12 of them so that they would be with him.
Mark 3:13-14
Penny really wanted her black belt in Karate. “Mr. Cho?” she asked. He nodded to her, “Yes?”
“What’s the fastest way to get a black belt?”
“Be a good student. Listen and learn,” he said.
“But that’ll take a long time.”
Mr. Cho smiled and nodded. “Yes. I teach and you learn from me.”
We know that Jesus had twelve disciples, but what exactly is a disciple? The word disciple means “learner or student.”
Jesus chose twelve men to be his students. Some of his disciples were simple fisherman, and one was even a tax collector. These disciples left their homes, families, and jobs to travel with Jesus and learn from him. Like any student, sometimes they did smart things and sometimes not-so-smart things. But Jesus saw something very special in each of them.
Did You Know?
Did you know Jesus gave nicknames to some of his disciples? Jesus named James and John “sons of thunder” because they overreacted sometimes. For instance, when a Samaritan village didn’t want to welcome Jesus, James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven to wipe the village off the map. That was not such a good idea. But they were still learning. (See Luke 9:54–55.)