Jesus chooses twelve disciples

People loved listening to Jesus. Andrew was a fisherman from Galilee. One day he went to listen to John the Baptist. John was preaching and baptizing people. Then he saw Jesus going by and he said, “Jesus is the Lamb of God. He will take away the sin of the world.”

Andrew decided to find out more. He followed Jesus and spent the afternoon with him. Then he told his brother Simon Peter, “I have found the Messiah, God’s chosen one.” He took Peter to Jesus. Philip was a friend of Andrew and Peter. After he had met Jesus, Philip went to his friend Nathanael and told him about Jesus. He took Nathanael to meet Jesus. And in this way more and more people began to hear about Jesus. Some time later Jesus was standing by the Sea of Galilee. The people crowded around him. Everyone wanted to hear his words. Jesus saw two boats at the edge of the water. He knew that they belonged to Simon Peter, and he got into the boat and asked Simon to go out a little way from the shore. Now everyone could see and hear Jesus. When he had finished speaking, Jesus told Peter, “Go out into deep water. Let down the nets so you can catch some fish.”

Simon answered, “Master, we worked all night and did not catch anything. But I will do what you ask.”

Simon did not think they would catch anything, but when he let down the nets, the nets quickly filled with fish. There were so many that their nets began to break. So Simon called his friends and they came to help. They hauled the fish from the nets into the boats, and the boats were so full that they nearly sank. Simon was afraid when he saw what Jesus could do, but Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be fishers of people.” Then Simon and Andrew left their boats to follow Jesus. Just then Simon Peter’s friends James and John were getting their nets ready to go fishing. Jesus called them, and they left their boat with their father Zebedee and followed Jesus. Soon after this Jesus went to the mountain to pray. When he came back he chose twelve men to be his special friends. He called these men his disciples. They were always with him and he told them all about God’s kingdom. They saw his miracles. They saw him helping people and healing them. They were with him to the end of his life.

The twelve men were Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, James and his brother John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot.

Matthew 4:18-22 Mark1:14-20, 3:13-19 Luke 5:1-11, 27-28, 6:12-16