Dwell in the Word Mark 3:13-21

Consider these questions as you dwell in Mark 3:13-21:

1. What significance is attached to Jesus choosing specific disciples, and what authority does he grant them? How does this reflect Jesus' approach to teaching and ministry?

2. How does the reaction of Jesus' family to his actions and popularity contrast with the way his disciples respond to his authority? What does this reveal about people's perceptions of Jesus at this point in his ministry?

3. In what ways does this passage challenge the notion of passive discipleship? How should Jesus' sending out of the disciples inspire us to take an active role in proclaiming the message of the Gospel?

Transcript:

Alright, so, as we land in verse 13 here, we're seeing a little bit different passage that we're looking at here today. But what do we have? We have a continuing of a particular theme that is that Jesus is the one with authority and now he is going to give that authority to his disciples. And we also see that Jesus has a huge following. This is a continuing, overriding, repetitious theme that's coming out of the text as we read through Mark.

So, what do we see here? He went up on the mountain, obviously to get away from people and he called him those whom he desired. In other words, he picked the specific disciples that he wanted to be the twelve. Now we always talk about the disciples, and you see in the Gospels that talking about all the disciples, we have to remember that Jesus had a lot of followers. We have seen that here in the Gospel of Mark.

So far, he can't keep the people away from him, right? But then there were the Twelve. There were the twelve disciples or the one that he called apostles. Now what is an apostle? Well, an apostle is one who is sent out, one who is a messenger.

And so, Jesus is not just saying, hey, come in here with me, we are going to get together, we're going to have all this little special knowledge for ourselves and we're just going to enjoy our time together. That's not the idea. He is sending them out to preach, we see that in here. And what else? He gives them authority to cast out demons.

In other words, we are seeing that it's not just Jesus who has this authority, he is giving it to his twelve disciples, to his apostles and they also have the authority to do these things. Now this is important because when Jesus is gone, when he dies resurrects and ascends into heaven, now we have someone who is going to be sharing this message. Well, do they have authority? Do they have authority also like Jesus did? Well, we're seeing here that he gave that authority to them.

He chose his specific disciples for a reason because he wanted them to be the ones who he would send out to proclaim the message and to have authority over demons. And so they have this authority to be the ones who are able to say that this is the message that the Christian faith is that we are proclaiming. They are not just some guys who were taught on a mountain and they just said, hey, let's get together and come up with what we're going to say here. No, we see right away here from the beginning of Mark that these twelve guys have authority to teach and to cast out demons. Well, how does this passage end?

They go home, Jesus went home, but there's a crowd again, again there's this theme of Jesus is a super popular guy? Well, they couldn't even eat. I'm not sure what that means. I don't know if they're sitting down to eat and people are barging in, maybe none of the restaurants will seat them. No, that's not the case.

There wouldn't have been restaurants as we conceived them in the first century in this area. But the idea is that they are completely surrounded. And then his family hears this. Now we're seeing that his family is concerned. They think he's out of his mind.

Well, why? What is Jesus doing? He's saying that he has authority to teach and preach and to proclaim the kingdom of God, and he's healing people. He's doing all these kind of things. Why would they think he's out of his mind?

Well, they just know him as Jesus. They just know him as their brother, as their family member. And so, they are concerned about this. And so, what we're seeing is that Jesus is not just teaching and showing he has authority here. It's being seen that this is out of the ordinary, this isn't normal.

There are rabbis all over the place with people following them and teaching. But this is different. Even his family is saying, what is going on here? And this is also showing us that the message of Jesus is unique, it is particular, and that Jesus is in fact doing something that is getting people's attention, even his family. So, what do we do with this passage?

I want to go back up to the top for us to think about this. Jesus called his disciples. I named them apostles. But what was the purpose in this? He sent them out and he gave them authority.

Now, so what does this mean for us? Well, we have been chosen by Jesus. He called us to himself. And often I think it's easy for us to think, hey, God called me, and now it's time to just bask in who he is. And now Jesus comes and he serves me.

And of course, Jesus does serve us. We have the Holy Spirit, we have the comfort that comes from him. But when we think about this, is it just our job to sit still? Is our job to stay on the mountain, to try to build up this relationship by itself? No, it's our job to go out.

Jesus not only sends out his disciples, he sends you and I out to proclaim the message. Now, that looks different for everybody, but it doesn't mean that it's not our job. It is important that we go, and we share the gospel, that we talk with others about the faith. And so may we today and every day think about what is it that we are sent out to do? Who can we talk to today?

Who can we share the gospel with today? Who can we minister to today that God's name might be glorified, that we might be not sitting back on our laurels and enjoying that Jesus has chosen us, but instead going out and being sent as he has called us to do.