Mark in March – 3:13-19

Mark 3:13-19

Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles

¹³ Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. And they came to him. ¹⁴ Then he appointed twelve of them and called them his apostles. They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach, ¹⁵ giving them authority to cast out demons. ¹⁶ These are the twelve he chose:

   Simon (whom he named Peter),
¹⁷ James and John (the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus nicknamed them “Sons of Thunder”),
¹⁸ Andrew,
   Philip,
   Bartholomew,
   Matthew,
   Thomas,
   James (son of Alphaeus),
   Thaddaeus,
   Simon (the zealot),
¹⁹ Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

Just for a little background, flip over to Luke 6:12-13 which tells us that Jesus prayed all night the night before He called His disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles.

Disciples are, by definition, followers of Jesus Christ.

Apostles are those called and sent by Jesus to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus went up on the mountain and called His disciples and they came to Him.  Jesus didn’t have a cell phone, so how did He call them?  From the mountain, did He put His hands to the sides of His mouth and start shouting their names, one by one?  What a thrill that would be to hear your name being called by the Master as it echoed from the mountain!

Or did He speak softly to their spirits and draw them, by His love, to where He was on the mountain?

Either way would be glorious.

Jesus has called the name of every person ever born.  He has knocked on every heart’s door, which means that He is standing outside waiting for us to “open that door that only has a handle on the inside” and welcome Him in forever.

In verse 14, is there a significance to the number of disciples He called?  Commentaries say it is probably relative to the twelve tribes of Israel, which were led by the twelve sons of Jacob, who were chosen to follow God.  However, these twelve tribes failed miserably throughout history to consistently follow God.

From the twelve disciples came the Church of the New Covenant of which all followers of Christ are “adopted” into.  By being “born again,” we are now children of God, the Father.  I am a child of the King!!  (You may call me Princess LaVon!)(wink wink)  These twelve disciples were also called apostles because Jesus sent them out to preach.

Verse 15 tells us that Jesus gave them authority over demons and evil spirits – to cast them out.  Of course, they could only cast out demons by the authority of Jesus, but at the very mention of His name, the demons would flee!

Now comes the names of the twelve apostles.  How wonderful to be re-named by Jesus.  Peter means “rock,” so actually Jesus renamed Peter after Himself, the Solid Rock…”and upon this Rock, I will build my church.”  Don’t misunderstand that the Church is built on Peter; it wasn’t.  The Church is built on Jesus Christ, but Peter was the beginning of it as he went out preaching and converting people to The Way.

I love nicknames!!  How special to be nicknamed by Jesus  -- “Sons of Thunder.”  Do you think James and John were shy and timid?  No!  Thunder can make you doubt the security of what you’re standing on when it’s boom shakes the earth.  James and John probably shook the security of a lot of people who were not trusting Jesus before they heard James and John preach!!

Verses 18 & 19 – I can’t even imagine what each of the disciples thought as their names were called. 

And then there was Judas Iscariot, who probably had no clue what was in store for him, but my imagination leads me to consider that maybe he got a little “puffed up” with self-importance when Jesus called his name.  But, what do I know?  Only Jesus knew Judas Iscariot’s heart when He called him.

Judas Iscariot:

• Was called by Jesus to be an apostle, which means that he was a follower of Christ and obviously preached Jesus Christ to others, but the New Testament doesn’t tell of his preaching.
• Betrayed Jesus to the leading priests for thirty pieces of silver. (Matt.26:14-16)
• Was at the Passover Meal where Jesus said, “One of you will betray me because the Son of Man must die, but how terrible it will be for my betrayer. Far better for him if he had never been born!”  And Judas, already possessing the thirty pieces of silver, said, “Teacher, I’m not the one, am I?”  And Jesus said, “You have said it yourself.” (You have already told the leading priests that you would show them where I will be so they can arrest me.)  Why did Judas ask that question?  There are several theories.  One theory states that perhaps Judas was trying to make the other disciples think it wasn’t him.  My heart wants to think that Judas really didn’t know they were going to kill Jesus.  I think when Jesus said, “the Son of Man must die,” Judas’s breath caught in his throat.  But for thirty pieces of silver, he thought he would show the high priests where Jesus was going to be and then Jesus would be able to get away just like He had always been able to do and Judas would be thirty pieces of silver richer and no one would be harmed.
• Realized they were going to kill Jesus and the reality set in that Jesus was not going to get himself out of this execution. In Matt. 27:3-5, it appears that Judas repented and was filled with remorse.  He took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and said, “I have sinned, for I have betrayed an innocent man.”  He threw the thirty pieces of silver down on the floor and went out and hanged himself.

Did Judas immediately find himself in hell?  Scripture says that he repented and sorely regretted what he had done (was filled with remorse).  Was he forgiven?

Did he fail to understand from the beginning that the intent of the leading priests was to kill Jesus? 

Could he not think beyond the thirty pieces of silver?

Was his hanging himself what Jesus was talking about when He said, “how terrible it would be for His betrayer?”  Or did He mean that Judas would be in hell because of his deed?  The Scripture never refers to when or where or if Jesus may have forgiven Judas Iscariot.  Nor does the Scripture specifically state that Judas Iscariot ask God for forgiveness.  He clearly did not go to Jesus and ask forgiveness.  I’m sure that shame kept him from following Jesus up the hill to Calvary, begging for forgiveness.

There are so many questions regarding Judas Iscariot that will never be answered this side of Heaven.  But we know that we can not be quick to condemn Judas Iscariot to hell, for we do not know what happened in his final hours, just as we do not know for certain about anyone that we may have questions about.  It is only for God to know and judge.

I started with Mark 3:13-19 and ended up in Matthew 27 today.  What does Mark 3:13-19 say to you?