He called the twevle and appointed them: Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the Less and his brother Jude, Simon and (the traitor) Judas. That’s the way we learned their names when I was in Mullaghroe School. I am not long in from Morning Mass here in Kilmovee and the gospel passage read at that Mass and a variation of it for this Sunday, speaks of Jesus calling and naming the twelve.
Someone suggested that if Jesus had sent his twelve disciples for psychological testing this might well be the reply he would have received:
Thank you for submitting the résumés of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have taken our battery of tests. We have run the results through our own computer. After having arranged personality interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant, it is the opinion of our staff that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the enterprise. They have no team concept. Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has no qualities for leadership. The two brothers James and John place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas shows a skeptical attitude that would tend to undermine morale. Matthew has been blacklisted by the Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, definitely have radical leanings, and registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale. One of the candidates however, shows real potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man.
(Anon)
Yesterday our Taoiseach thought to re-shuffle the cabinet, to promote some junior members of his team to cabinet positions for the remainder of the Government’s time in office but it did not work. Was it a “stroke”? Was he trying to put his best foot forward? We’ll never know the answer but it makes us wonder how would Jesus go about choosing twelve? How would he have coped had he to make his choice on National Television and across the floor from the opposition.
It’s most likely no accident that Jesus climbed a mountain, spent a lot of time in prayer and then named the twelve.