Jesus picked 12. To start with, they were very different. There was a core of fishermen (Peter, Andrew, James, John) but there was also a tax collector (Matthew). They came from different places around the Sea of Galilee, and had strong feelings about other villages. Our Lord took them and molded them into disciples. He taught them to bury their differences and work together, although occasionally this went wrong, as when James and John put in a bid for preferential treatment. He issued them with basic rules for going out to preach the kingdom of God: not to take extra clothes or spare cash, for instance; to accept hospitality where offered; not to hang about where they weren’t wanted, but to shake the dust off their feet and move on. But the time did come when individual character triumphed over training. Judas went off and betrayed the Lord. Peter made bombastic promises, but lost his nerve and denied Jesus. The others made themselves scarce in this of crucifixion. Only John was there at the foot of the cross. After the resurrection, none of them believed Mary Magdalene when she said she had seen the risen Lord. John believed, Peter wasn’t sure what to think. Then the twelve barricaded themselves in the upper room out of fear. Thomas wasn’t there. When Thomas heard that Jesus had visited the ten, he stubbornly refused to believe without physically touching and feeling. A week later he surrendered: “My Lord and my God!”
Some of disciples inclined to believe, some were skeptical. If it hadn’t been for Pentecost, the would have gone their separate ways, and their time with Jesus would have been just a memory. But God had other plans. Look at our first reading today. There are the old familiar faces, but signs and wonders are being worked through them. The crowds revere them, and thousands are seeking baptism. If we read a little further in the Acts of the Apostles, we find them being sent to jail, we find them taking on opposition for Jesus’ sake, which previously would have made them quake in their boots. That’s why the Holy Spirit did, and does. The risen Christ lives again in His disciples.