Bible in 5: Mark 3:7-19 — The Ones He Wanted
Jesus goes up the mountain and appoints twelve for two things, in this order: to be with him and then to preach.
Mark 3:7-19 (RVR1960) narrates the day Jesus moved from the crowd to twelve men. After healing many and silencing the demons, he went up the mountain and called "those he wanted." Read the full passage in your Bible.
From the crowd to twelve
The previous scene is a crush of people. They came from Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem, but also from Idumea, from the other side of the Jordan, and from Tyre and Sidon, Gentile lands. They came to hear him and to be healed. So many people were pressing on him that he asked for a boat to be ready on the shore so he wouldn't be crushed (see Mark 3:9). The demons fell before him and shouted who he was; he commanded them to be silent (see Mark 3:11-12). His identity would not be known by fame or by shouts, but on the cross.
Then he goes up the mountain. Mark 3:13 (RVR1960) says: "And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him." Luke adds that he spent the entire night praying before choosing (see Luke 6:12-13). No one applied, there was no open call or résumé filter.
«From that companionship comes the courage to speak, not the other way around.»
First, to be with him
Mark 3:14 (RVR1960): "And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach." There are two purposes and an order: companionship comes before mission. The authority to heal and cast out demons arrives in the next verse, attached to that closeness (see Mark 3:15).
The names surprise. In the same list fit Matthew, who collected taxes for Rome, and Simon, called the Zealot, from the opposite side; also Judas, the one who later betrayed him (see Mark 3:16-19). Fishermen, a tax collector, and a resistance fighter. Years later Paul would write that God chooses the weak and foolish things of the world (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-27). And the number twelve was no accident: it pointed to the reconstituted people of God.
Then, sent out
The group born here runs through the whole gospel. Jesus sends them out two by two (see Mark 6:7), Peter confesses who he is (see Mark 8:29), and they remain as witnesses of the resurrection (see Acts 1:21-22). When the authorities see them, they don't recognize them by studies or titles, but because they had been with Jesus (see Acts 4:13). Following Jesus looks more like walking with someone than memorizing a syllabus.
Your week has no lake or mountain. It has transportation, class, work, the phone. Even so, you can do the same as they did: set aside a few minutes to be with him before going out to do things for him. A passage read slowly, a prayer without hurry and without an audience. From that companionship comes the courage to speak, not the other way around.
And the question remains open: what if you don't lack strength to serve, but time with him?
