What does Luke 6:16 mean?

Luke finishes the list of Jesus' twelve apostles with two men named "Judas." The son of James is also called "Thaddaeus" (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18) and possibly "Judas, not Iscariot" (John 14:22). We don't know which "James" is his father—the son of Zebedee is probably too young to have a disciple-aged son. Jesus' half-brother James, who became the leader of the church at Jerusalem and authored the book of James, is likely also not his father. Nor is this Judas the half-brother of Jesus and author of the book of Jude; at this point, Jesus' brothers still think Jesus is crazy (Mark 3:21; 6:3).

Judas Iscariot, of course, is the disciple who will betray Jesus into the hands of the priests and elders to be crucified by the Romans (Mark 14:10–11). Much conjecture has been made as to the meaning of "Iscariot." One theory is that Judas is from the town of Kerioth in Judah. This would make him the only disciple not from Galilee. Another is that he was one of the Sicarii, assassins who carried a curved dagger called a sicarius, or that his heinous betrayal is as violent as an assassin. In translations such as the NIV and CSB, John 13:2 identifies his father as "Simon Iscariot," so the placename seems to be the most reasonable.

Regardless, Jesus chose Judas Iscariot after God gave Him divine guidance during a long night of prayer (Luke 6:12). Judas's inclusion is part of God's plan.

Now that Jesus has chosen His twelve primary leaders, He challenges the crowd to follow. First, He explains what is required of a follower in the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17–45). Then He calls on the crowd to make the choice to base their lives on His foundation (Luke 6:46–49).