The earliest and the closest disciples of Jesus did not choose to be disciples on their own; Jesus Himself invited or called them to become His disciples. The Bible keeps account of how Jesus called them from various places under different circumstances to become His disciples. The fact that Jesus Himself called them to become His disciples leaves us with good reason to believe that having disciples was very important to Jesus. Having disciples was something Jesus wanted or needed and hence, He made it happen. But why did He need disciples?
Jesus needed disciples to run the day-to-day activities of His ministry
Though Jesus was God, He was also as human as we are. He was just as susceptible to some physical experiences such as hunger, thirst, tiredness, pain, etc. However, as a Savior of the world, the scale of work He had on His hands to do was way too big for His pair of hands to do; so He needed help and extra hands like ours to fulfill His mission which was to preach the gospel to the poor; to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised (Luke 4:18).
To understand the extent to which Jesus needed disciples, imagine a church with a numerical strength of 5000 which has no elders, deacons, deaconess, ushers, etc. but it is only managed by a single pastor; that is the pastor does all the work of the church. Such a pastor would have died soon from fatigue.
In Jesus’ ministry, the disciples of Jesus were just like the elders, the deacons, the deaconesses, etc. in today’s church. They were helping Jesus to run the church. Remember, Judas Iscariot was the treasurer, managing the finances of the ministry; and the other disciples have their respective roles to play. Jesus often sent His disciples to get things done for Him.
When Jesus needed a beast of burden to transport Him to Jerusalem, He sent two of His disciples to go to a village to fetch an ass for Him. Had it not been that Jesus had disciples He would have had to go in person to fetch the ass and the colt when He needed to sit on an ass to enter Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-44; John 12:12-19).
Before Jesus did the miracle of feeding the multitude with five loaves of bread and two fish, His disciples did the work of grouping the large multitude of 5000 plus people and had them sit in groups of fifty. Then Jesus prayed over the loaves and fishes and gave them to share among the people. If Jesus had no disciple, He would have been compelled to do all that by Himself. (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15)
At some point, Jesus went to Capernaum and the tax collectors demanded and should pay the temple tax. When Jesus heard of it, He said to Peter, “go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.” Peter went and did the same. Had it not been that Jesus had disciples, He would have had to do this by Himself (Matthew 17:24-27).
When Jesus was arrested, beaten, tried, and was on the way to be crucified, He still needed the services of his disciples for He was so tired and weak that He could not carry His cross. Had it not been that His disciples ran away at the time of His arrest and they were nowhere near Him, they would have had to carry His cross to Calvary. However, in their absence, a man called Simon of Cyrene was used to transport Jesus’ cross to Calvary. (Matthew 27:32; Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26)
Even when Jesus died, He was buried by His disciples, not His family members. A man called Joseph of Arimathea, whom the Bible describes as a disciple of Jesus, and Nicodemus buried Jesus. (John 19:38-42)
Still, when Jesus was dead and buried in a sepulcher, His disciples did not give in easily. The women among the disciples had wanted to go and embalm Jesus’ body if He had not resurrected from the dead – they were still loyal and serviceable to Him even when He was dead and buried (Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1; Matthew 28:1).
After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, the disciples had to go to all the world and tell the people of Jesus to win them Matthew 28:18-20).
So you see Jesus needed disciples at every point of His ministry. Right from the beginning, He understood the crucial role His disciples would play in His life and in His ministry hence He spent quite some time to teach, prepare, and equip them for the job ahead.
Jesus needed disciples to grow His ministry
In Matthew 10:5-14 and Mark 6:7-13, Jesus called His twelve disciples, empowered them, and sent them out two by two to preach, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons. Later on, He also appointed seventy disciples and sent them out two by two into every town and place where He was about to go, and they were to preach, heal the sick, etc. (Luke 10:1-23)
Jesus used His disciples to widen his sphere of influence. Jesus’ ministry which consisted of healing the sick, raising the dead, preaching salvation, working miracles, casting out demons, etc. was very impactful and was much appreciated by the people. Jesus sent them two by two at the same time. And the disciples went from place to place to preach, heal and cast out demons, etc.
On the whole, they made Jesus’ ministry grow bigger; that is, they widened the sphere of Jesus’ influence, or they broadened the catchment area of Jesus’ ministry, they made Jesus’ ministry reach out to thousands, and they made many people in different locations benefit from Jesus’ ministry. Jesus’ ministry, during the short three and half years, had a profound impact on the lives of the people because of the relatively large disciples who went from place to place to do what Jesus would have done.
Jesus would not have done so much if He were on His own; with the aid of His disciples He did far more than He could have done alone – he reached many places and impacted many people in just three and a half years.
Jesus needed disciples to continue from where He left off
Today, Christianity is all over the world – as far east as Japan, and as far west as the United States, and as far north as Iceland, and as far south as Chile. Mind you, it all began in the city of Jerusalem – a very small spot as compared to the rest of the world.
The founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, ascended into heaven not quite long after giving birth to the religion. But Christianity has come this far due to the hard work of some followers of Jesus who were also called disciples. The apostles were found healing, raising the dead, preaching salvation, etc. much like what Jesus Christ did when He was on earth.
And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, (Acts 5:12-14)
And they propagated the good news even amid difficulties, hard times, persecution, suffering, and death. Today, the effort of the earliest disciples and that of the later ones has paid off to give Christianity the number one spot in the world of religion.
Christianity has thrived and succeeded despite the absence of its founder. That is why Jesus needed disciples. Jesus needed disciples to continue His ministry when He was no more on this earth. Jesus’ ministry of preaching salvation, healing, raising the dead, etc. would have come to an end after His ascension to heaven had it not been for his disciples who were there to continue from where he left off. Jesus Christ needed disciples for the sake of the continuity of His ministry. That is why after Jesus had fulfilled His purpose on this earth and His time was up to depart, He commanded His disciples to continue His ministry, saying
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV, also see Acts 1:8; Mark 16:15).”
Conclusion
Jesus needed disciples at every turn. Just like in today’s church, the pastor cannot do it all alone. He needs coworkers like deacons, deaconesses, elders, ushers, etc. to help him run the church. In the same vein, Jesus needed disciples to help Him do His ministry.