Choosing the 12 -- Jason Brown

Thought you might appreciate this. It's an imaginary memorandum from a consulting business ("The Pastor in Collaborative Ministry") to Jesus.

THE PASTOR IN COLLABORATIVE MINISTRY

TO: Jesus, Son of Joseph
Woodcrafter Carpenter Shop
Nazareth 25922

FROM: Jordan Management Consultants
Jerusalem 26544

Dear Sir:

Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for mangagement positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests: we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.

The profiles of all tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully.

As part our service and for you guidance, we make some general comments. This is given as a result of staff consultation and comes without any additional fees.

It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. WE would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, demonstrate a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel it is our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale.

One of the candidates, however shows greater potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand men. All other profiles are self-explanatory.

We wish you every success in your new Venture.

Sincerely yours,
Jordan Management Consultants

(Taken from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Woodland Hills,CA)

Posted on Tue, June 16, 2009 by Jason Brown

5 comments (Add your own)

1. Bill White wrote:: I hate to think how they would have reviewed me. Would I have been emotionally unstable like Peter or promisingly productive like Judas?
Tue, June 16, 2009 @ 7:17 AM
2. Ricky Williams wrote:: On the second page of the Mark Manuscript, we see Jesus call his first two disciples - Simon and Andrew, both fishermen. Then, 'going on little farther' he calls two more - James and John, also fishermen.

So, Jesus is in this podunk town that has probably never produced any public figure of importance and he chooses his first four disciples (that's 1/3 of his company personnel) all from the same profession, in what seems to be a random and haphazard way. That really is silly. If a church did this today, went out and hired 1/3 of its employees while taking a stroll at the docks, the church would go under.

Why is this the case? Perhaps the way we do ministry today is much more complicated than what Jesus had in mind for his disciples. Could four random fishermen run a church today? If not, is "church today" what Jesus had in mind when he asked people to "follow me"?

I don't think the answers to these questions are easy or straightforward. But I do believe they are worth thinking about.
Tue, June 16, 2009 @ 8:20 AM
3. Almita wrote:: Dear Son (Jesus),

I want you to choose these twelve men that I have elected to be your companions and disciples, and eventually your apostles. I know you will agree with me that they are really nothing very special, but there are no very special people with all of the necessary attributes needed to do the work that I want you to assign to them. However, my intention is that you will teach them everything that I have told you, wow them with the miracles that I have commanded you to perform, and tell them of my plans for their lives. You know, of course, that they will not understand much of what they hear or see because they have the wrong concept of just who you are and the real purpose for your coming into their world. But don't worry! I will send my Holy Spirit after you have come back home, and He will teach them the meaning and purpose of everything that you have told them. They will, with my help, become everything that they need to be in order to fulfill to the maximum all of the goals that we decided upon before I sent you to them. - And there will be many who will believe their words who are just as ordinary as they are, and who will (with my help) be just as extraordinay in performing the works that I have for them to do. You will be glorified, my son, in each one of these faithful ones. See you soon,

Love, Abba
Tue, June 16, 2009 @ 9:18 AM
4. Alecia wrote:: I loved this the first time I read it and still love it as well as my sage sister Almita's letter. In answer to Ricky's question: I disagree--the answer IS straightforward. The disciples didn't start "running the church" the moment Jesus called them. Only after they were filled with the Spirit were they "qualified" to do so. So yes, I think four truly transformed random fisherman/dock workers could run a church today--even though it's different from the early church. Filled fishermen are, in fact, exactly what the Church today needs and what the Church has always needed. We are pretty clueless, I think, about what God can accomplish through ordinary people completely controlled by the power of his Spirit.
Tue, June 16, 2009 @ 11:22 AM
5. Greg Wallace Dolmage wrote:: Nice comment Ricky. You notice that Jesus never said, "Come join my church." He didn't even say, "Come join my ministry." He said, "Follow me." I am not sure how significant this may be, but it does beg the question, "What does it mean to follow Jesus?"

Could it be as simple as "going where Jesus goes and doing what Jesus does?" That of course is too simple, says the overqualified seminarian student. Shouldn't these fishermen have clarified the doctrines and value statements of Jesus before they even considered going with him? Heck, they don't even know where he is going. So maybe they needed to be a little simple. Maybe they needed to not be the qualified. And maybe I need to take a similar stance. Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.
Tue, June 16, 2009 @ 11:50 AM

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