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Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”
They said to one another, “It is because we have no bread.” And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? … When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” They said to him, “Twelve.” … Then he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”(Mark 8:14-17, 19, 21)
The gospel portrait of the first followers of Jesus is, on the whole, an unflattering picture. The gospels do record professions of faith in Christ: Peter’s, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), and Martha’s, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world” (John 11:27). But there are also many instances where the faith of Jesus’ followers was weak, where they were slow to understand his message, where they were ruled by fear.
Sometimes the disciples failed to understand the teachings of Jesus. They had to approach him privately to have him explain the meaning of parables (Matthew 13:36). They were sometimes shocked by his message: “When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, ‘Then who can be saved?’” (19:25). And they were very slow to understand his coming death and resurrection. Luke recounts three different times that Jesus foretold his coming passion (Luke 9:22, 44; 18:31-33). Yet even after the third explanation, the disciples “understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said” (18:34).
The dullness of the disciples continued to the end. Luke recounts that at the Last Supper, even after Jesus had shared his body and blood with them, they fell into a dispute over which of them was the most important (Luke 22:24). Jesus tried to warn Peter that he would be severely tested, but Peter brushed his words aside with bluster and bravado (22:31-33). Jesus told the disciples to be ready for a time of crisis, and they reassured him that they were indeed prepared for it because they had two swords—misunderstanding the nature of the coming trial (22:36-38).
It is as if Jesus had not picked the most qualified and promising people to be his disciples, but had instead simply asked people at random to follow him. Normally the leader of a new cause will want to assemble the best talent; Jesus, on the other hand, seemed to select a group of people who were at best unremarkable. The Pharisees dismissed the friends of Jesus as a scruffy lot, “tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 7:34); their judgment was not off the mark.
And that is good news for us. No matter how slow we seem to be in growing to maturity in our faith, no matter how frail we seem to ourselves, no matter how discouraged we become, we are in good company. The first followers that Jesus chose were no more adept at following him than we are. They found eternal life, not because they earned it, but because Jesus freely gave it to them.
Jesus has also chosen us and offers us eternal life. No doubt he could have chosen more competent people. But, despite our weaknesses and failings, he chose us.