Throughout time we have seen
that God uses normal, regular, everyday, unwise, foolish person to do the extraordinary,
something that Paul illustrates in 1Corinthians 01.20-29. God chose Abraham who
was an idolater (Joshua 24.02), a liar when he called his wife his sister (Genesis
20.01-18), and lacking in faith sinned in Genesis 16.01-15. Yet God chose
him and called him His friend (Isaiah 41.08) and had him become the father of
the nation of Israel (Genesis 15.01-21; Isaiah 51.02; Luke 01.73)
and our spiritual father (Romans 04.16-25; Galatians 03.01-29). God chose
Moses, the son of Hebrew slaves (Exodus 02.01-10) who grew up in the Egyptian
palace and murdered an Egyptian (Exodus 02.11-12), spent forty years in the
wilderness as a shepherd (Exodus 02.14-22; Exodus 02.14-22; Acts 07.29-30)
and misrepresented God in the wilderness (Numbers 20.08-12). Yet God chose him to
deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 12.33-14.31), through him
gave the nation the Law (Exodus 20.01-17), talked to him “face to face,
just as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33.11) and led the nation to the borders of the Promised
Land (Deuteronomy
32.49-50; Deuteronomy 34.01-04). God chose David, a
lowly shepherd boy (1Samuel 17.28; 1Samuel 17.34-35), the youngest
son of Jesse (1Samuel
17.12), overlooked by his family (1Samuel 16.01-11), who later
became an adulterer and murderer (2Samuel 11.01-27). Yet God chose him to be the
slayer of Goliath (1Samuel 17.01-58), anointed as the second king
of Israel (1Samuel
16.12-13; 2Samuel 05.01-05; 1Chronicles 11.01-03) and still
to this day he is regarded as the greatest king of Israel.
Luke 06.12 “It was at this time” or more
literally it should read “In those days…”
meaning that this account took place during the ministry of Jesus but not
necessarily after the Luke 06.01-11 (The
Lord of the Sabbath).
Luke 06.12 “that He went off to the mountain to pray”
We are not told exactly what mountain that our Saviour went off to and prayed
at, as there are many in the area around the Sea of Galilee. As much as this
mystery might bother us, what is important here is the model that our LORD and
Saviour displayed by withdrawing to a quite place in solitude to spend time in
prayer communing with His Heavenly Father. Not only does Jesus model this, but
also He tells His followers to do the same, to go to a secluded place in Matthew 06.05-06.
The Greek word that the Holy Spirit directed Dr. Luke to
use here for “pray”
in Luke 06.12
(as well as in Matthew
06.05-06) is (G4336) proseucomai and it means to
pray to God. This word is used eighty-seven times in the New Testament with
forty-eight of those occurring in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke)
and an additional sixteen times in the Book of Acts (which was also written by
Dr. Luke), and never in the Gospel of John.
This is the second time Dr. Luke records for us that Jesus
prayed, the first being in Luke 05.16 after He healed the man with
leprosy.
Luke 06.12 “and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.”
In the original Greek “the whole night” this is a phrase that medical
writers used of all night watches (Robertson’s
Word Pictures in the New Testament), and its written as fact that Jesus
spent the whole night literally in prayer to God. Here we see that Jesus desired
and sought the direction of His Father in choosing the Apostles in the morning.
There are those who might question why Jesus had the need to seek direction
from His Father to choose the Apostles. Why didn’t Jesus just use His
omniscience as God, thus knowing all things to pick the Apostles instead of
staying up all night in prayer when He could have had a good night’s sleep? It
is because like any other difficulty that Jesus endured, He endured them as a
man, a man who had to seek the will of His Father just as you and I do. In Philippians
02.05-08, Paul explains how Jesus emptied Himself and
did not cling to His rights as God when He came as a man. In answer to His all
night in prayer, God revealed His will to Jesus for which of the disciples
would be chosen to be Apostles.
Luke 06.13 Jesus
then called all of His disciples to Him, and then from that group He chose
twelve and called them Apostles. The Greek word for “apostle” is (G652) apostolov and it means a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders, much like an
ambassador who is given full authority of the one who sent him. Remember,
Jesus chose these twelve after spending all night in prayer with God (Luke 06.12),
and that includes Judas the betrayer. Jesus would later say to His Apostles,
“You did
not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear
fruit, and that your fruit would
remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”
(John 15.16)
This
is interesting in light of the rising popularity of Calvinism in the church
today, we see that Jesus chose the twelve, including Judas after a night of
prayer with God, yet Judas of his own will, contrary to Calvinism, chose not to
follow Jesus in the end.
It wasn’t until later in Luke 09.01-02 that Jesus gave
them a full commission and gives them the authority to do signs and wonders. Jesus
chose twelve Apostles out of all of His disciples representing the twelve
tribes of Israel. Because the nation of Israel and her leaders were not
accepting of Jesus the Messiah, the twelve Apostles were to be the new leaders
of God’s Kingdom. Paul writes that the Apostles were the foundation of the
church in Ephesians
02.19-21. Jesus told the twelve Apostles in Luke 22.29-30 that they would rule and reign over
Israel in the millennial kingdom (Revelation 20.01-06).
John tells us on “the wall of the city (New Jerusalem) had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve
apostles of the Lamb.” (Revelation 21.14) The foundation of the church
(Ephesians
02.19-21) and New Jerusalem (Revelation 21.14) are the Apostles. The writer
of Hebrews in Hebrews
03.01-02 called Jesus an apostle. The large group of disciples who
followed Jesus were followers, the Apostles were those sent out by the
authority of the Son of God. For the Jews, this was something already
established in their culture. In Hebrew the word is shaliach and the first one mentioned in the Bible was Eliezer who
was sent by Abraham to get a wife for Isaac (Genesis 24.01-67). David as well
used shaliachim or messengers to
propose marriage to Abigail (1Samuel 25.01-44).
From now on, these twelve Apostles were going to be with
Jesus on a full-time basis. Dr. Luke now gives us the list of men whom Jesus
chose after spending all night in prayer with His Father (Luke 06.12). They are also listed
in Matthew
10.02-04, Mark 03.16-19 and Acts 01.13 (which leaves out
Judas Iscariot because at this time he had already committed suicide, Matthew
27.03-08; Acts 01.18-19; 2Corinthians 07.10).
Luke 06.14 “Simon, whom He also named Peter”
Peter is by far the most well known of these twelve Apostles and in all four
lists is always mentioned first (see also Matthew 10.02-04, Mark 03.16-19 and Acts 01.13).
As we have already seen, Peter was married, since Jesus healed his
mother-in-law (Luke
04.38-39) and Paul mentioned that Peter had a wife in 1Corinthians
09.05. Simon was his given name and when Jesus first met Simon, “Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which
is translated Peter).” (John 01.42) Eight other
times in the New Testament Simon Peter is referred to as Cephas, which is the
Aramaic equivalent of Peter (1Corinthians 01.12; 1Corinthians 03.22; 1Corinthians 09.05; 1Corinthians 15.05; Galatians 01.18; Galatians 02.09; Galatians 02.11; Galatians 02.14).
The name Peter is taken from the Greek word (G4074) Petrov Petros and in English today it
would be “Rocky”. When Jesus said, “I also say to you
that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of
Hades will not overpower it.” (Matthew 16.18),
Matthew records for us a different Greek word for “rock” in this statement by our
LORD. The Greek word that he used for “rock”
is (G4073) petra petra. (G4074) Petrov Petros is different than (G4073) petra petra. The Greek word
(G4073) petra petra implies a rock that is a sure foundation (Matthew 07.24-25;
Matthew 16.18;
Matthew 27.51;
Matthew 27.60;
Mark 15.46;
Luke 06.48 (twice)),
which is different than (G4074) Petrov Petros which is a detached
stone or boulder, or a stone that might be thrown or easily moved (cf. Vine,
W.E.; Merrill F. Unger (1996-08-28). Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of
Old and New Testament Words: With Topical Index (Kindle Locations 52395-52405).
Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.)
Peter was just a boulder on built on top of the foundation
of Jesus (1Corinthians
03.11). Peter, unlike what the Roman Catholics teach and believe is
not the rock that the church is built on, for Christ is the rock or sure
foundation of the church (Ephesians 02.20). Peter himself in his first
epistle compares believers as small stones that a part of the church (1Peter 02.01-10),
where the word for stone is the Greek word (G3037) liyov.
Peter was a fisherman (Matthew 04.18;
Mark 01.16;
Luke
05.01-11; John 21.01-08), who
usually spoke the most, was part of the inner circle with James and John (Matthew 17.01-08;
Matthew 26.36-37;
Mark
05.35-43; Mark 09.01-08; Mark 14.32-33; Luke 08.51;
Luke
09.28-36), walked on water but then sunk
because of his lack of faith (Matthew 14.25-33),
was the one who confessed that Jesus is the Messiah (Matthew
16.13-20; Mark 08.27-30; Luke 09.18-21) but was also rebuked by Jesus and called Satan (Matthew
16.21-23; Mark 08.31-33).
Peter boasted that he would never forsake Jesus (Matthew 26.31-35; Mark 14.27-31;
Luke 22.33;
John
13.31-38), yet he denied Jesus three times
(Matthew
26.69-75; Mark 14.66-72; Luke 22.54-62; John 18.15-27), yet unlike Judas (Matthew 27.03-08; Acts 01.18-19;
2Corinthians
07.10) showed a Godly sorrow for his sins
and was restored to fellowship by Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee
after Jesus was resurrected (John 21.15-17).
Peter was instrumental at the
beginning of the church in the Book of Acts and wrote the two books that bear
his name. Church history states that he was crucified upside down, as he
refused to be crucified the same way as His Lord. Most people note that being
crucified upside down is even worse than right side up.
Luke 06.14 “and Andrew his brother” Andrew, Simon
Peter’s brother is usually always mentioned in connection with Peter (Matthew 04.18;
Matthew 10.02;
Mark 01.16;
Mark 01.29;
John 01.40;
John 01.44;
John 06.08).
Like Peter, Andrew was from Bethsaida (John 01.44) and both later moved to Capernaum
(Mark 01.21;
Mark 01.29)
and had a fishing business together (Matthew 04.18). Andrew was a disciple of John
the Baptist and started to follow Jesus when John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus
as “the Lamb
of God!” (John 01.35-36) Andrew then introduced Simon
Peter to Jesus after following Jesus (John 01.35-42). Andrew was the Apostle who
found the young boy that had the lunch of five loaves and two fish that Jesus
used to feed five thousand men (John 06.01-14).
When you see Andrew being mentioned in the Gospel, he is
usually bringing someone to Jesus. Church history tells us that he went to Scythia,
which is north of the Black Sea, where he also suffered death by crucifixion.
Luke 06.14 “and James and John” Theses two
brothers are always mentioned in connection with each other and they were the
sons of a man named Zebedee (which means giving,
Matthew
04.21; Matthew 10.02; Mark 01.19-20; Mark 10.35;
Luke 05.10).
They were partners with Simon Peter and Andrew in the fishing business before
they were called by Jesus to follow Him (Luke 05.01-11), and were part of the inner
circle with Peter and Jesus (Matthew
17.01-08; Matthew 26.36-37; Mark 05.35-43; Mark 09.01-08;
Mark
14.32-33; Luke 08.51; Luke 09.28-36). They were nicknamed the “Sons of Thunder” by
Jesus (Mark
03.17). The Bible does not tells us why Jesus gave them this
nickname, many feel it was because they wanted to call down fire from heaven to
consume a Samaritan village in Luke 09.51-56. James and John were also the
ones who had their mother go to Jesus to ask if her sons could sit on the right
and the left of Jesus (Matthew 20.20-24). Many
tend to think that Salome was their mother, and if so, Salome was the sister of
Jesus’ mother Mary, thus making them cousins of Jesus. Salome was one of
the women who ministered to Jesus (Matthew 27.55-56; Mark 15.40; Mark 16.01) and possibly even
contributed financially (Luke 08.02-03).
According to church history, James
was the first Apostle to be martyred. Herod ordered the death of James by a
sword in Acts
12.01-02.
John was probably younger since he
is always listed after his brother James. John was probably originally like
Andrew, a disciple of John the Baptist and started to follow Jesus when
John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus as “the Lamb of God!” (John 01.35-36). John wrote five books of the New Testament, the Gospel of
John, 1John, 2John, 3John and the Book of Revelation. He called himself the
“disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13.23; John 20.02; John 21.07; John 21.20-24) in his Gospel account.
John was placed into a cauldron of boiling oil and banished
to the island of Patmos (Revelation 01.09), where we received the
Revelation of Jesus Christ about the end times (Revelation 01.01-03). According
to historians, at the age of one hundred years old, he was taken from church to
church throughout the region of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). When the
people heard that John had arrived they all ran to gather around him, for he
was the last surviving member of the twelve Apostles that were hand picked by
Jesus. They were all expecting him to share these amazing memories and glorious
insights to share with them. Yet time after time, place after place, John would
stand to his feet, look out at the crowd and utter one sentence of just five
words: “Little children, love one another.”
John is the only Apostle that we know for sure that was not martyred.
Luke 06.14 “and Philip” In all four lists of the
Apostles (see also Matthew 10.02-04, Mark 03.16-19 and Acts 01.13),
Philip is always mentioned fifth. Just like Simon Peter and Andrew (John 01.44),
Philip was originally from Bethsaida (John 12.21). Philip was met by Jesus (John 01.43)
and was the disciple who Jesus asked, “Where are we to
buy bread, so that these may eat?” (John 06.05)
when Jesus was preaching to the five thousand men. And it was Philip who replied, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not
sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.” (John 06.07) The last time we see Philip in the Gospels was in the Upper
Room the night before Jesus’ arrest. Jesus had just said, “I am the way, and
the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. “If you had
known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and
have seen Him.” (John 14.06-07) Philip then replies by foolishly asking, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
(John 14.08) Jesus then rebuked Philip and “said to him,
“Have I been so long with you, and yet
you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father;
how can you say, ‘Show us the
Father’?” (John 14.09)
Philip is not Philip the
evangelist that is mentioned in the Book of Acts (Acts 06.05; Acts 08.05-40; Acts 21.08). Church history tells us that Philip was martyred
for his faith.
Luke 06.14 “and Bartholomew” or called Nathanael
by John (John
01.45-49; John 21.02). John tells us that “Philip found
Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote--Jesus of
Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come
out of Nazareth?” Philip *said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael
coming to Him, and said of him, “Behold, an
Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”
Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree,
I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi,
You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” (John 01.45-49) Some
accounts record that Bartholomew/Nathanael worked in India and was martyred,
while other accounts have him ministering in Persia, Egypt, Armenia and Asia.
Luke 06.15 “and Matthew” Dr. Luke tells us that
while Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He “noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting
in the tax booth” (Luke 05.27) and we saw how Matthew threw a
great party for Jesus and that Jesus stated that He was the Saviour of Sinners in Luke 05.27-39.
There are no certain accounts of his life after the Gospels and his death, but some
state that he was put to death by nails being driven through his body.
Luke 06.15 “and Thomas” is known as “Doubting
Thomas” for making the statement, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and
put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I
will not believe.” (John 20.25) after the other Apostles telling him that they saw the
risen Lord. Jesus then appeared to Thomas eight days later (John 20.26) and said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands;
and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving,
but believing.” Thomas answered and said to
Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because
you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet
believed.”” (John 20.27-29)
The name though that Thomas is referred to in the Gospel of
John is Didymus, which means twin
(John 11.16;
John 20.24;
John 21.02). Scripture doesn’t record for us if he really had a twin
or if it was just his nickname. Thomas was the eternal pessimist. For after the
Jewish leaders of Bethany wanted to kill Jesus (John 10.31; John 10.39), Jesus
left it was not His time to die (John 07.30). While
they were away, Jesus heard the news that Lazarus, His friend had died (John 11.01-03). “Then after this
He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You,
and are You going there again?” (John 11.07-08) “Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go,
so that we may die with Him.” (John 11.16)
There seems to be some good evidence that Thomas shared the
Gospel message to India and it was there that he was thrust through with a
spear and died.
Luke 06.15 “James the
son of Alphaeus” All that we have recorded for us in the New
Testament about James is that his dad’s name was Alphaeus, his mother’s name
was Mary and that he had a brother named Joseph or Joses (Matthew 27.56; Mark 15.40). Matthew
the tax collector was also the son of Alphaeus (Mark 02.14), so it is possible
that they were brothers. In Mark 15.40, James is called “James the less”
or it can be translated as “Little James”. Some speculate that this was to
distinguish him from James, the brother of Jesus who wrote the Book of James. Nothing
much more is known of James.
Luke 06.15 “and Simon who was called the Zealot;”
which means that Simon was a member of a radical, terroristic group called the
Zealots. This was a group who were fervently dedicated and devoted to the Law
of God, and would use any and all means necessary, including kidnapping and
murder against anyone who was going to oppose them, especially the Romans who
were occupying the land of Israel. The Zealots were the men who after Jerusalem
fell in 70 a.d.,
they fled to the rock fortress of Masada and held out for three years.
Finally, when the Romans were about to breakthrough, the committed mass
suicide, men killing their kids and wives, and then each other. For they
decided that it would be better dead than a slave of Rome. Anyone who was
caught or suspect of being in partnership to the Romans, be it a Roman or a
Jewish man, like Matthew the tax collector, the Zealots found nothing wrong
with violently murdering them! By doing so, they believed and taught that they
were doing God’s work. Simon the Zealot was said to have traveled all the way to the British
Isles and there suffered martyrdom by crucifixion or being sawn into two.
Luke 06.16 “Judas the
son of James” Matthew calls James here Thaddeus (Matthew 10.03)
and some manuscripts have his name as Lebbaeus.
Thaddeus literally means breast child
and Lebbaeus means heart child. Today we would just call him a “momma’s boy”, and
these nicknames suggest that he was probably the youngest in his family. John
in John
14.22 mentions him when he asks Jesus
when will His Kingdom come. Most accounts in history suggest that he traveled
to Arabia and there suffered martyrdom by crucifixion or being sawn into two.
Luke 06.16 “and Judas Iscariot, who became a
traitor.” Or this can be written in the Greek that He gave no signs
of being a traitor when Jesus chose him. He was not this naturally evil looking
guy that we see portrayed in the pictures and paintings. In fact, when Jesus
said that one among them would betray him, not one of the other Apostles
accused Judas of being the betrayer (John 13.21-30). Judas was also the one who
keep the moneybox for the group and took advantage of that by stealing money
from the moneybox (John 12.05-06; John 13.29). Because Judas Iscariot
betrayed our LORD, he was always placed at the end of each of three lists of
Apostles found in the Gospels (see also Matthew 10.02-04, Mark 03.16-19) and is left off
the list in Acts
01.13 because by that time he was already dead.
Judas is the Greek version of
the Jewish name Judah. His father was Simon Iscariot (John 06.71; John 13.02; John 13.26). Iscariot is
probably the Greek translation of a Hebrew phrase that means the “the men of
Kerioth”. The Old Testament mentions two places called Kerioth, one in Moab (Jeremiah 48.24;
Jeremiah
48.41; Amos 02.02), and the other in the most
southern part of Judah, about fifteen miles south of Hebron (Joshua 15.25),
which is the likely place where Judas and his father were from. If true, this
made Judas the only member of the twelve Apostles from Judah, for the rest
where all from the Galilee. The Judeans looked down upon the Galileans, seeing
them as uncivilized country bumpkins. Scripture does not record for us the call
of Judas by Jesus, some seem to think that it was probably during the time when
Jesus came into Judea and baptized people in John 03.22. Just like the other
Apostles, when Jesus chose Judas to be one of the Apostles, he too would have
left his prior occupation to follow Jesus full time. In fact, Judas stayed with
Jesus when many of the large group of disciples forsook Jesus in John 06.66-71.
Unlike the other eleven Apostles, Judas did not believe that Jesus was the Son
of God (Matthew
16.16) through Whom is found eternal life (John 03.16; John 05.24; John 06.40; John 06.68). He was like the
other eleven Apostles though, who all thought that Jesus was there to overthrow
Rome and be the conquering Messiah.
In this group of twelve Apostles, we see two sets of
brothers (Peter and Andrew, James and John); men who were in business with one
another (Peter, James and John), those who had opposing political perspectives
in Matthew the Roman tax collector and the Roman hating zealot Simon. There was
one Judean (Judas Iscariot) and eleven Galileans.
We see the list of the Apostles,
those chosen by Jesus from many disciples to be the ones that were closer to
Jesus than any other person in the world at this time. Yet, we know that Judas
later was the betrayer, and in him we see that even those who are “physically”
close can still not be saved. Remember, Jesus chose these twelve (John 15.16)
after spending all night in prayer with God (Luke 06.12), and that includes Judas the
betrayer.
This also serves as a good
reminder that Jesus and the writers of the New Testament all warned that there
will be false teachers arising from within the church (Matthew 07.15-23; Acts 20.27-30; Romans 16.17-18; 2Corinthians
11.12-15; 1Timothy 04.01; 2Timothy 03.13-17; 2Timothy
04.03-04; Titus 01.10-16; Titus 03.10-11; 2Peter
02.01-02; 1John 02.18; 1John 04.01;),
and those men and women claim to follow Jesus but don’t have a true
relationship with Him. Paul mentioned false teachers by name (1Timothy 01.20;
2Timothy
02.17), specifically Hymenaeus who said that the resurrection at the
end was already past (2Timothy 02.16-18), and Hymenaeus led Philetus
astray. Alexander was another false teacher that Paul
mentioned, for Alexander stood up against Paul and Timothy and the sound
teaching of the Word (2Timothy 04.14). People
continue to view these false teachers, wolves in sheep’s clothing with
pragmatism, the ends justify the means, and say things such as, well people are
getting saved or they are doing good things for God. Judas shows us that doing
good works for God, being physically close to Jesus and naming the name of
Christ does not necessarily mean that they are a true disciple of Jesus. Jesus
chose Judas, but Judas DID NOT choose Jesus. The Old Testament
prophesied that Judas would betray Jesus in Psalm 41.09 and Psalm 55.12-14
and these were fulfilled in John 13.18. The prophet Zechariah prophesied that
Judas would be paid thirty shekels of silver for betraying Jesus (Zechariah
11.12-13) and fulfilled in Matthew 27.09-10.
There are no more capital “A”
apostles, for the requirements to be a capital “A” apostle were:
01. They must have been chosen by the LORD (Luke 06.12-13;
Ephesians
04.11).
02. They must have seen the risen Christ (Acts 01.15; Acts 01.21-22; 1Corinthians 09.01).
There are none today have seen risen Christ (1Peter 01.08).
03. They must have the authority to perform miracles (2Corinthians
12.12).
04. They must have the power to impart gifts of Holy Spirit (2Timothy 01.06).
05. They must have had fellowship with Christ (Acts 01.21-22).
06. They must have been commissioned to write the Scriptures (2Peter 03.14-16).
07. They have already laid the foundation of the church (Ephesians 02.20).
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