Many years ago, I was considered for a position that I felt utterly unqualified to fulfill. I prayed fervently that someone else would get the job. Once the job was indeed offered to someone else, I immediately complained, “Why didn’t they ask me?”  

Why did Jesus select those twelve to be apostles? How did he single them out from the other disciples? And what did the others feel about that? Did they have any say in the matter? Did anyone turn Jesus down?  

One of the ironies of being selected for an elite group is that you lose a little of yourself. You’re lumped into being “one of the Twelve”—your identity is forever tied to the others (including that traitor). Your names are inscribed forever in the Gospels but too often connected with stories of how foolishly you and your cohort behaved. My work as an astronomer often involves sorting and classifying different objects in space. That can also come with no small amount of emotional anxiety. Remember the tears shed when Pluto was no longer called a planet? It was as if somehow being a planet was better than some other designation.  

But that is judging the way the world judges, as St. Paul warns the Corinthians. To the world, every selection to one group or another is a matter of honor and prestige. To Jesus, it is simply parceling out the work to be done. Some are called to be healers; some, to be healed.