Groups of Apostles and other Close Disciples
Overview
Just as the four Gospels paint different portraits of Jesus, they also paint the Apostles in different lights. Mark depicts the Apostles as not really understanding Jesus’ message. John, written 20 to 30 years later, paints them as much more sophisticated. Mark tends to emphasize loyalty in the disciples rather than understanding. Matthew emphasizes loyalty and understanding in the disciples. Scripture scholars today consider the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts to have been written by the same human author, often referring to it as a single text, Luke-Acts. This author therefore spends much more time writing about the Apostles, Acts being like a sequel to the Gospel of Luke. Luke-Acts emphasizes loyalty, understanding, and active witnessing to Jesus’ prophetic teaching. In John, discipleship starts at believing and knowing but also requires living out Jesus’ words and deeds.
The evangelists wanted the readers and hearers of the Gospels to identify with the Apostles and other disciples in following Jesus. Artists tend to do the same thing, wanting viewers to identify with the disciples in the artworks. Paying attention to the relationship between Jesus and the disciples in an artwork sheds light on the models of good Christian behavior that are always enacted in the reality of human frailty (think of Peter’s denial and James and Andrew fighting over who could sit next to Jesus). Ultimately, the Apostles were the first members of the Church at the Pentecost event; through the years, the Christian community is considered both the Body of Christ and in relationship with Jesus Christ.
Historical Notes
In the earliest Christian art, Peter and Paul are depicted far more often than any of the other disciples, possibly because they both lived and died in Rome. When a group of Apostles is depicted, it was difficult or impossible to tell which is which. As attention to the individual saints grew throughout the Middle Ages, even group depictions began to include identifying details to distinguish the various Apostles.
You can dig deeper into a few of the group events at these subtopics:
- Last Supper
- Nature Miracles
- Pentecost
- Relationship with Jesus
