Jesus chooses a couple of sets of brothers to be among the Twelve: Andrew and Peter, James and John. Plus, there’s Thomas the Twin.
Why did Jesus do this? Possibly, because the Old Testament so often shows us brothers in conflict, especially older brothers hating and abusing younger brothers, while the younger brothers triumph. For the New Testament brothers, we don’t even know which brother is the older one. We just know that brothers are following Jesus together. Jesus comes to divide families, but ultimately to bring peace and reconciliation, to turn the hearts of fathers back to children, of children to the fathers, of brother to brother.
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