Mark 3:13-19
The Appointing of the Twelve Apostles
13Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15and to have authority to drive out demons. 16These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); 18Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Jesus chose twelve men to follow Him...The number twelve is the same number of tribes of the original Israel tribes (the twelve tribes were basically the twelve sons of Jacob)...
After three years of being an eyewitness to Jesus, the Twelve would follow Jesus and pass on His teachings to future generations...
Jesus chose ordinary men...Four were fishermen...One was a tax collector...Simon, nicknamed Peter, by Jesus and Andrew were brothers...John and James were also brothers...
Jesus gave the Twelve the authority to drive out evil and to heal...
The journey was not all easy for them, even at the end of Jesus' life on earth...Thomas would later be called a doubter by many for wanting to touch the wounds of the resurrected Jesus... Jesus let him... Peter would deny Jesus the night of His arrest three times... Jesus would forgive him...John and James would want to be at the right and left of Jesus in all His glory...In His gracious teaching, He tells them that it is better to serve than to be served...Levi, a tax collector, earlier in Mark 2:15 is referred to as a "sinner"...In John chapter fourteen the disciples had questions for Him, still trying to figure out who He was after being with Him for three years, and seeing a multitude of healings, raising of the dead, walking on water, calming storms, turning water into wine, feeding four thousand and five thousand with just a little bread, by blessing it, and many other miracles...
After His arrest and death they had even more questions...
Following Jesus is not always easy...We too have doubts...There maybe times we deny Him...There are times when we want power and glory on earth...There are times after following Him, we too have many questions for Him and question our faith...This is all apart of being ordinary men, like the original Twelve He selected...
We must expect some hindrances in our faith, as did His disciples...Some people do not want to believe, others do not want to talk about Jesus...And many just want to do whatever is in their daily lives and daily routines, with not much attention to any of the rest that is going on...
Jesus would leave the disciples forty days after His resurrection...The Twelve would be faced with many challenges of the traditional Jewish faith and others who did not believe in Him...The Twelve would face dangers of these different groups after His ascension to heaven...
The disciples helped pass on His word...Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:35 that someday heavens and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away...Two thousand years later His word are here today, and as He said, they (His words) will last forever...