The Choice Of The Twelve
THE CHOICE OF THE TWELVE
MARK 3:7-19
The first duty of the apostles was to be with Christ to learn from him, and then extend his work.
Although Jesus may have found it judicious to “withdraw” because of the Pharisees’ opposition to his work, he was certainly losing none of his popular appeal. Crowds were coming from areas outside Galilee—from the south (Judea, Jerusalem and Idumea), the east (Transjordan) and the north (Tyre and Sidon). The impact of his healing miracles was so intense that he had to retreat to a boat in order to fuifil his task of preaching.
With this increased spread in his influence the time had come for Jesus to appoint twelve men as his special helpers. They were first of all to be with him in order to learn from him, and only then were they to go out and extend his work. These twelve were the nucleus of the later and wider group of apostles. Their number is significant; we cannot help comparing the fact that there were twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28), and also that Moses appointed twelve spies to go into Canaan—and gave one of them a new name (Numbers 13:8,16). We are justified in seeing here the beginning of a new Israel. It is also significant that Jesus himself was not one of the twelve.
The list as Mark records it indicates how some of the twelve received new names. Simon became Peter (Greek for “rock”; the Aramaic equivalent is Cephas), an allusion to the character of life and function which Jesus envisaged for him. James is the same name as Old Testament Jacob. The name “Boanerges” continues to tease scholars. It is often taken in a derogatory sense (cf. 9:38; Luke 9:54-55), but it seems unlikely that Jesus would have given such an uncomplimentary designation to his disciples: was their witness to Jesus to be as loud as thunder? Andrew and Philip have Greek names, showing how far Greek culture had been assimilated in Palestine. Bartholomew is probably Nathanael (John 1:45ff.). “Thomas” is from Aramaic Teoma (a twin), identical in meaning with the Greek “Didymus.” James, the son of Alphaeus, is probably “James the younger” (15:40), possibly the brother of Levi/Matthew. For Thaddaeus, Luke has “Judas the son of James” (cf. John 14:22). “Cananaean” has nothing to do with Canaan, but means a Zealot or extreme Jewish nationalist. “Iscariot” may mean “man of Kerioth” or be connected with Latin sicarius, an assassin.
It is common to note what a mixed catch the Great Fisher had taken and how he brought them together in harmony. Christian unity begins at this individual level.