The Appointing of the Twelve (3:13-19a).
Having begun in Mark 1:16-39 with the calling of the Four, followed by His teaching, His dealings with unclean spirits and those who were diseased, and the gathering of the great crowds, Mark now in Mark 3:7-19 reverses the order. Here we have begun with the great crowds, and have moved on to the healing of the diseased, the response of the unclean spirits, and the appointment of the Twelve. (In between are the testimonies to what Jesus has come to do and declarations of His status before God in Mark 1:40 to Mark 3:6),
The appointment of the twelve is clearly intended to be seen as of great importance. This is especially brought out by the listing of their names in detail, even though most of them will receive no further mention. We cannot therefore just move on from it without asking what lay at the bottom of it. A number of suggestions can be made:
· Firstly that it was a statement of intent. There are in the New Testament good reasons for suggesting that the twelve were to be seen as the foundation of the new Israel, thus paralleling them with the Patriarchs of the twelve tribes. This would explain the deliberate giving of their names. They are seen as the initial foundation stones of His new ‘congregation (in LXX ekklesia = church) of Israel'. For this compare Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 2:20 - where it is along with the Prophets; Revelation 21:14 - where they are closely connected with ‘the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel'. The new Israel was thus being formed and His Apostles would, as it were, watch over it as its ‘rulers', although it was to be a rulership conducted in humility and with the attitude of servants (see Matthew 19:28; Matthew 20:20-28).
· Secondly we may see that Jesus was laying the superstructure of a group of disciples for the days ahead. From now on this core of disciples, together with those who united with them, were being prepared for the task that lay in front of them. Apart from one they will still be there when the new initiative begins (Acts 1:13). Thus we may see them as intended to be in our minds (although not necessarily exclusively) when we read about ‘the disciples', recognising that, with all their undoubted failures, they were the foundation of the new future, being prepared for it by Jesus Himself.
And we are intended to see that from this day He would begin to prepare them for both tasks.