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Read Mark 3:7-19
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7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. 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.
What are we to make of the 12 disciples? Are they some “league of extraordinary men,” “band of brothers,” or more like Robin Hood’s “merry men”? Maybe it’s more accurate to look at them as unusual suspects: a tax collector, a zealot, brothers Jesus nicknamed “sons of thunder,” doubting Thomas, impetuous Peter. By the standards of the day, they were certainly not what you might expect. Today’s reading may record an amazing invitation to preach and cast out demons, but through the rest of this gospel, Mark makes it clear that these men felt great fear, and were still very insecure in their faith.
The grouping seems unusual, the individuals filled with fears, faults, and failures, but they are the ones Jesus gathered and called disciples. Following his death and resurrection, Jesus sends them out again. Filled with the Holy Spirit, history shows us their impact as they reach out and change the world with the truth of the life-giving cross of Christ.
It isn’t much different for you and me. We might find it overwhelming to think of ourselves in the same light as “the Twelve,” but Jesus gathers and calls us by the same title—disciple. It might be a different time, but we are filled with the same Holy Spirit. We might be called to different roles within the body of Christ, but we are sent with the same mission. You and I are two more in a long list of unusual suspects reaching out and changing the world with the truth of the life-giving cross of Christ.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, lead me and all others who bear the name of Christ to faithfully bear witness to the truth of His life-giving cross. Amen.