13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
At this point in His ministry, Jesus selected twelve men from the many people (Mark 2:15) who followed him. Those twelve would become known as the apostles. These twelve were to stay close to Him and learn from Him so He could send them out to preach and be given specific authority to cast out demons. Jesus kept the twelve close so they could learn deeply from Him every day. We too have the opportunity of this kind of learning if we spend much time in God’s word and in prayer by the Holy Spirit.
Again Mark points out that Jesus is overwhelmed by crowds that even prevented him from eating. His family tried to get him away because they thought he was mad for caring more for the crowds than his own needs. When people look at your life, do they think you are mad because your focus is more on doing what God wants than it is on what the world might consider best for yourself? Jesus had a mission from God the Father and He used every opportunity to live that mission (He also never did more than the Father called Him to do).