Hanningfield Green
Lawshall
Bury St Edmunds
Suffolk
IP29 4QD
Mark Ch3: 1 – 6 & 13 - 30
Read Isaiah 61: 1 – 2a.
Here in the gospel of Mark and indeed as we look at other books, we are going to be looking at very simple sections of scripture as we identify the Apostles and ask what did Jesus see in them and why did He even want them. Which perhaps leads to a second and more personal question, Why does He want US? I will attempt to answer the first question today, but for the life of me, as I look around, I’m afraid that I just cannot possibly answer the second one!
Seriously though, it's not a complex passage that we are going to look at, and it’s not a doctrinal passage and yet surely it is one of the most encouraging passages in Scripture.
Mark doesn’t particularly keep his stories in a chronological or in-depth manner but keeps them rather condensed and fast paced. And so, we're just going to look at this in a broad and general view.
The first question is: On what basis did Jesus’ use to call these men? After all:
· There was no job advert. And even if there was it is highly unlikely that any of them would have applied as they would not have met the credentials required.
· They didn't volunteer for the job either.
· There was no job interview for them to display their CV’s or answer awkward questions.
· Therefore, they did not need a reference from another person either.
In fact, they did absolutely nothing. Other than obey.
Doesn’t this already sound familiar as it sounds very much like our calling?
They are not the noblest. They are not the most educated, the most highly skilled or the most gifted humanly speaking. The truth is they are basically distinguished by only one common thing, for they are just ordinary people.
But when you look at them, they are in fact a very, very strange group. There again as we look around at ourselves, perhaps we may agree!!
They were prone to mistakes and misjudgements, misunderstandings, bad attitudes, lapses of faith, bitter failure and they were argumentative. And even Jesus remarked that they were slow learners.
And when you think about the results of this from a human perspective, these twelve ordinary, but diverse group of men are brought together for the sole purpose to extend the Kingdom of God. And furthermore, the advancement of the gospel in the world depends upon them, and there is no other plan.
· They are going to be responsible to receive divine revelation.
· They and their associates are going to write the New Testament.
· And they are going to be the foundation of the church.
And it all depends on these twelve men whose most notable characteristic is that they are just plain ordinary men.
We know for sure that some were following John the Baptist. We know that at least four were fishermen, so at least they had that in common, Furthermore, there was two sets of brothers, otherwise there would be no reason to put these men together, to live together, to work together or minister together apart from the purposes of God. They were virtually all from Galilee, so they grew up in the same basic area, with the exception of Judas Iscariot who was the only outsider and a total stranger because the Hebrew meaning of Iscariot apparently is ‘man of Kerioth’ which is an area south of Hebron and about 100 miles away.
Not one of them is known as a scholar, not one of them has a track record as a speaker or some kind of theologian and if anything, they were completely the opposite as in Acts 4: 13 “Peter and John were called uneducated and untrained,” and therefore total outsiders from the religious establishment of Jesus' day.
So, the question is: Who are these men?
In Mark 1: 16 – 20 and Matthew 4: 18-22, we read of the calling of Simon, Andrew, James, and John. In John 1: 43 – 51 Jesus calls Philip and Nathanial and then in Mark Ch 2: 14 and Matthew 9: 9, we read of the calling of Levi. But no-one else is called and nothing else is noted until Luke 6, Mark 3, or Matthew 10, when it would appear that Jesus had already called a group of men to Him, and it is from them that He appointed the twelve who He wanted to set aside as apostles.
Luke 6:12 tells us that Jesus spent the whole night in prayer, “when the dawn came, He got up.” He prayed from dusk to dawn, interceding because this was such a crucial selection. And then when He knew the will of His Father and He knew what He wanted, He called them to Himself, and they came to Him. And this was reaffirmed in John 15:16, when Jesus said to these same Twelve, “You have not chosen Me, but I've chosen you and I have appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and your fruit will remain.”
The group consisted of Simon and his brother Andrew, James and John the sons of Zebedee, Levi the son of Alphaeus, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, James, Judas (not Iscariot), Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot.
The first thing that we note is that as Jesus appoints them in Chapter 3, He gives different names or indeed nicknames to some, which seem to give us an indication of their character, or what they will become.
Simon who was called Peter was their leader. He was argumentative and stubborn, one who just rushed into things without giving them much thought. Jesus named him Cephas meaning ‘the rock,’ which gives us an insight as to how Jesus would transform his character and indeed his relationship to the foundation of the church.
On the other hand, unlike Peter, you had Thomas who people identify as the ‘doubter’, but there again he may have been more of a realistic person and therefore needed more assurance before making up his mind. In John 11: 7 – 8 the disciples questioned Jesus’s decision to go up to Judea as previously the Jews had sort to stone Him there, and Thomas makes this remarkable reply in v 16, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him,” which in its self may have portrayed his real character.
There again there was Nathanial (who’s other name was Bartholomew), who also doubted when he said in John 1, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth.” Surely, he like Thomas was a man who wanted to examine the claims before making his mind up.
James, and John the sons of Zebedee, He called Boanerges which means ‘The sons of thunder’, (which could have referred to their intense and outspoken personalities). Their characters come to the fore in Luke 9: 51 – 56, when they went into a village of Samaritans and the people didn't treat them very well and they came to Jesus and said, “Lord do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did.” So, Jesus rebukes them and tells them that He has come not to destroy men’s lives but to save them.
Likewise in Mark 10 where Jesus is telling His disciples that they were going to Jerusalem, where He will be betrayed, condemned to death, scourged, mocked spat upon before being killed, and on the third day He will rise again. But, James and John just do not seem to be listening because immediately afterwards they ask Jesus to allow them to sit on either side of Him in His kingdom. And furthermore, some seem to think that their mother was Jesus’ aunt and if it was so that Jesus might be more favourable to her request in Matthew 20: 20 - 21 when she also asked for them to sit on either side of Jesus in His kingdom.
Thaddaeus who is called Lebbaeus Thaddaeus in Matthew while Luke and Acts call him Judas the son of James.
Levi who Jesus named Matthew. A Roman sympathiser who was hated by everyone as he collected taxes from the Jews to give to the Romans and no-doubt himself.
Then there was Simon the Canaanite which is a name referring to his zealousness of the law and describing him as a Zealot. So, he was a political radical and some of those radicals were called Sicarii who were determined to overthrow the Romans. They carried around little daggers in their cloaks and when they found an unsuspecting Roman soldier or a Roman sympathiser, they murdered him. Wikipedia tells us that the Latin name for them was Sicarius or ‘dagger-man’. Therefore, he would have had nothing in common with Matthew and indeed if they had met in any other circumstances, it may have led to murder!!
Then of course there was Judas Iscariot. John 12: 6 calls him a thief. He stole from the disciples, and he was the betrayer and possibly the saddest man in all of history because he lived with Jesus for three years and had the greatest story of opportunity ever given to anyone, yet he threw it all away by betraying and rejecting Jesus.
As you look at them, they would appear to be an unsavoury group of men, who I’m sure would not have been chosen if it had been up to us! And the truth is, we initially don’t know much about them. It’s only as we go through the gospels and New Testament readings that we get a fuller picture.
Yet they were personally selected out of the many disciples that followed Jesus. He identified who they were. He chose them. He called them. He knew all their faults weaknesses and failures long before He chose them, and He even knew Judas would betray Him even though He gave him all the same privileges and blessings that He gave to the other disciples.
So, the question has to be asked, why these men and why twelve when He could have had a multitude?
First of all, we must realise that the nation of Israel had decided that they knew God's will for themselves. And this was to live a type of holy life based on how good you were, because by doing so they believed that they were pleasing God. And that whole system of legalism was manipulated and maintained by a group of men known as Pharisees who made sure they maintained their hold over the people, by promoting a works by man and a god righteousness system.
Therefore, if we look at the start of Jesus’s ministry, we can begin to see the bigger picture and how this judgement came about. Right at the beginning of Mark 1: 14 - 15 and Matthew 4: 17 Jesus comes to Galilee after John the Baptist had been put into prison and He says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” The time has come when the prophetic timetable for this new King has arrived. And it was a time for action. A new King has come and with it a new era of how God would deal with man. The temple and its religious systems would pass with no more animal sacrifices required as Jesus is the perfect sacrifice and He is the new temple that offers salvation, therefore there is the need to repent and come to Him.
Surely, Jesus is using the apostles and this new era as a statement of judgement upon Israel who clearly did not know the will of God.
In Luke 4: 16 – 21 Jesus goes into the temple in Nazareth and quotes Isaiah 61 and verse 1, it is a description of His ministry, it also implies revolutionary implications as He says that He has come to deal with the enormous problem that has afflicted mankind throughout history. Poverty, Sorrow, Bondage, Suffering and Oppression. READ V1. (Perhaps we can understand why people misunderstood as they thought that He had come to lead them in an earthly victory rather than a spiritual one! And He now continues, "But here and now was the acceptable year of the Lord," as He declares that He is fulfilling that scripture. And He stops at that point as the rest of verse 2 onwards is about the future and the judgement that is to come. Jesus was proclaiming that this acceptable year of the Lord was the dawning for a new era for the worlds afflicted people and that He was the answer to all their problems!!
In John 2: 13 Jesus goes into the temple and cleanses it. We are told that He made a whip and throws them all out of the temple. But, furthermore, He attacks the Sadducees, and the scribes and the whole power structure of Israel. He pronounced a judgement on them and said, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise.” And the disciples remembered the words from Psalm 69:9 “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up,” when David was being persecuted because of his zeal towards God’s house and God’s honour.
Then in Mark 3: 1 - 6 we are still not very far into His ministry, “Jesus enters the synagogue and looks around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts” and heals a man’s withered hand. and He has in their minds violated the Sabbath, and the Pharisees went out, and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians (who disagreed with one another on most things accept their hatred towards Jesus), so they plotted against Him as to how they might destroy Him. The Sadducees already want Him dead because of what He did when He cleaned the temple. Now all the religious leaders are coming together, and they all want Him dead.
They have already made their minds up about Him, and that conclusion is given in verse 22. “The scribes who came down from Jerusalem, and they said, regarding Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebub.” He cast out demons by the ruler of the demons. He is from Satan.
And in verse 28, Jesus responded to this by saying, “All sins shall be forgiven the sons of men and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin.” The Holy Spirit had attested to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. If you say that He is satanic, then you have blasphemed the testimony of the Holy Spirit and that is unforgivable. They have concluded the wrong thing about Jesus. They have concluded the complete opposite of the truth. They have concluded not only is He not of God, but He is of the devil.
As a result, they have brought upon themselves a greater condemnation, not only have they disqualified themselves as the leaders of Israel, because they are corrupt, vile, hypocritical, and full of iniquity; but they have also brought upon themselves eternal damnation.
Isn’t it interesting that at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and now at the end of Jesus’ ministry, three years later, (as recorded in Matthew 21, Mark 11, and Luke 19), and within hours of Him entering into Jerusalem being hailed as the Messiah, Hosanna Son of David, He goes back to the temple, and He does the same thing. He assaulted that corrupt religious system and He threw the people out. But this time He not only denounces the religious leaders, but He preaches a sermon against them which is recorded in its fullness in Matthew 23. He called the religious leaders of Israel snakes and vipers and men who produce sons of hell and whited sepulchres. In other words, v27 they are like a tomb, on the outside painted white, but on the inside, they stink with dead men's bones. They are killers of the prophets and even killers of the Son of God as He depicted in a parable He told them about a man who sent His Son, whom they killed.
His final words to the people of Jerusalem was to beware of the scribes and the Pharisees, beware of the religious leaders, for, “They are going to receive a greater condemnation.” His devastating assaults on the temple, His attack against the leaders of Israel recorded in Matthew 23, is surely a destruction pronounced on the whole system, you remember, He said, “Not one stone will be left upon another,” it's not just the temple that He is referring to, but the whole religious structure is coming down, and it will be replaced by a New Covenant and will be heralded by the calling of the Twelve Apostles.
The choosing and commissioning of the Twelve was a judgement on Israel's corrupt leaders. In Luke Ch 22, Jesus is talking to His disciples, who are arguing about who's going to be the greatest. But He says to them in verse 28, “You stood with Me in My trials. You didn't forsake Me. And just as My Father granted Me a Kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My Kingdom.” And furthermore “You will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
That’s why there were twelve of them? Because they constitute the new spiritual leadership of Israel.
An unmistakable message is therefore sent to the leaders of Israel that they are unqualified, that they are exempt. An unmistakable message is sent to the nation that the corrupt leadership to which they have been subjected to, is rejected by God, judged, and condemned because they misrepresented the Old Testament and therefore corrupted the people.
With the coming of the Messiah comes a new Covenant and with the coming of a New Covenant comes a new leadership. And they are replaced by this most unlikely group of twelve men, none of whom comes out of the religious world. No rabbis, scribes, priests, Pharisees, or Sadducees. Surely, this demonstrates not only our Lord's scorn for the leadership in general, but to prove that the Kingdom of the Messiah had no relationship to Judaism, and its leaders had no connection to God. They thought they knew God. They thought they were the guardians and outlets of the will of God. But they were far from the truth.
This is a very, very strong judgement. As Jesus demolishes the spiritual false leadership of Israel and replaces them with a group of non-descript men as if choosing such lowly men itself is also heaping scorn on the supposed elite status of the leaders of Israel.
Throughout His ministry, Jesus attacks their spiritual bankruptcy, pride, hypocrisy, iniquity, cruelty, and deceptiveness. And here He pronounces judgement on them while they're planning His murder. The whole religion of Judaism is set aside for the gospel of grace. And in the future, there will be men who will speak the truth, they will preach the New Covenant gospel. They will preach repentance and forgiveness of sin by faith in Christ alone. They will preach the cross. They will preach the resurrection.
Jesus continually throughout His ministry warns them of the tragic consequences of their rejection of Him but they keep on rejecting Him. And now, the reality of His death looms as the cross is getting nearer. And the question needs to be raised...what's going to happen then? Then what? Who's going to carry on? Who's going to carry the message?
And here's the plan. These Twelve men. They are the eyewitnesses of Jesus’ baptism and crucifixion, and they are the first generation of gospel preachers who preached the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone based on His work on the cross and His resurrection.
Jesus has spent a lot of time with multitudes and a lot of time healing people. And now it's time to focus and intensify the training of the Twelve.
Perhaps the key to understanding what His intentions were comes in verse 14, “He appointed twelve...for two reasons...so they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach.” These twelve men were the first ones to fulfill the Great Commission, given to them in Matthew 28, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel,” And they are the foundation of the church given in Ephesians 2:20. They are the new leaders of the new kingdom, of the New Covenant. They are the new leaders of the new and true Israel... divinely selected and approved representatives of Christ to preach the new and true covenant of salvation by grace through faith in Christ which alone brings salvation and eternal life.
God can use anyone, because the power is not in the person, but the power comes from within. So God chooses such lowly ones, because then it's never a question of where the power comes from, and in 1 Corinthians 1: 18, we get an insight into this, “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, to those who are being saved is the power of God for it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.'” Paul lays out the preaching of the gospel, by using words taken from Isaiah 29:14 that God isn't interested in using the wise and the clever. He's not dependent on them. Verse 20, “Where's the wise men? Where's the scribe? Where's the debater of this age?” Where are they? You're not going to find them among the Twelve because You are not going to find them in the early church.
As far as the religious establishment of Israel was concerned the choosing of the disciples and the subsequent calling of the disciples meant nothing to them. And this was shown in Acts 4:13, when the so called elite in Israel “saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, and untrained.”
And reading on, the only explanation they could give for that power they realised “was that they had been with Jesus.” The Apostles were not the explanation. Jesus was always the explanation. And surely, it's the same today. We're not the explanation, Jesus is the explanation.
People can never ever find the secret to what's going on in the Kingdom by looking at the people within the church today just as they didn’t then, as Jesus doesn't need the wise, He doesn't need the scribes. He doesn't need the debaters. He's happy to show that the power is with Him so that there's never going to be any confusion about whether or not these twelve men pulled off a world-changing event.
They're going to call, for a new Israel, a true Israel of God that accepts the Messiah, embraces the cross and the resurrection. And it began on the day of Pentecost when Peter gets up and proclaims the gospel and three thousand people are going to be baptized and profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. And those three thousand continued in fellowship and prayer, and within a few weeks, months, and years those three thousand became tens of thousands, and the rest is history.
Just like the disciples we may not be the noblest. We may not be the most educated, or the most highly skilled or the most gifted humanly speaking, but perhaps I can answer that second question after all!! Why US? Because just like the disciples, we are here today as part of that history because we who have received Christ as our Saviour have that same Holy Spirit working in us. Romans 8: 16 – 17 tells us “The spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus.”
And furthermore Ephesians 1: 13 – 14 tells us that, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance.”
So, we can be used just like the disciples were because we have been given the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that we are heirs of salvation and Jesus asks us to live our lives in such a way so that His power through the Holy Spirit can flow through us so that He might be glorified and that our witness will be a light to those around us when we walk with the Lord!
