NOTES for Mat 10:1-7

These are verses that are usually read with extreme inattention: a list of names—what could be more boring! Who remembers the names of all twelve apostles? Twelve seconds; the clock is ticking. Hard to remember? Probably nothing terrible. The main thing is that the Lord remembers them. But what matters is that the Evangelist considered it necessary to call each one by name. He could simply have said there were twelve—and that would be all. He could. But then these people would have been completely faceless. By calling each one by name, the Evangelist tells us that every person is important and dear in God’s eyes—precisely because he is himself. He does not love “everyone in general”; He does not choose “someone,” but specific people.