THESIS:
Jesus deliberately chose very ordinary, even petty men – to do very
extraordinary things and he continues to use plain men and women for His glory!
This evening we’ll be considering Mark 3:13-19
And He
went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they
came to Him. 14 Then He
appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out
to preach, 15 and to have power
to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: 16 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, Philip,
Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the
Cananite; 19 and Judas Iscariot,
who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house.[1]
This is one of 4 lists of the
12, later called apostles. Matthew has a list, Luke and Acts each have a list.
John alone is the only gospel account with no list. In addition, depending on
your translation, you may also see a phrase ‘whom he also called Apostles’ in
the text. This phrase is not represented in the KJV, or the NKJV, or even the
NASB, but it is in the ESV and the HCSB. Since it is not a disputed matter –
the 12 certainly were apostles, and Luke’s account invariably includes the
phrase – so I will not even be considering this minor textual variant. I just
wanted to address it, so that you are aware of it. And I know this is an
elementary question, but we have to ask – Why do we even have the lists in the
first place? What benefit is it to us to know who those men were? Why does Mark
include an apostolic roll? How does it further his goal to show Christ as a suffering
servant?
As we consider these verses, let
me point out that no matter which list you look at Peter is listed first, Philip
is listed fifth, James son of Alphaeus (aka James the less) is listed ninth,
and Judas Iscariot is listed last. This is likely due to the Lords grouping
them in 3 groups of 4 men. This would probably indicate Peter, Philip, and
James son of Alphaeus were each one chief among their respective group. Each
list is slightly different in order, showing that one writer did not copy from
the other. Even the two lists by Luke are different in order, but they all
agree in Peter, Philip, James, and Judas.
I’d like for us to consider each
of these men individually. Let’s see
what kind of people these disciples, now called to be Apostles were.
1.
Simon, to whom He called Peter:
We know that Peter means rock – or we might say, a stone or even a pebble. Think
of these men as foundation stones. Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
Simon being the first called became the first among equals. And think how rocks
need to be smoothed out at the quarry before they are of any use. Peter
certainly needed Christ to chisel off his rough edges. We might ask ourselves,
what kind of rough edges is the Lord working to smooth off us?
2.
James and John: We will consider
these men together, since they are brothers and have the distinction of being
known as ‘Sons of Thunder’. Probably the term Boanerges
is better understood as a loud vociferous preacher.[2] (the verb βοα (boa), meaning to shout or cry, the word ενεργεια (energeia), meaning activity or
operation). John was a follower of John the Baptizer. We are quite familiar with John – The author
of the beloved 4th Gospel, 3 epistles and the enigmatic Book of
Revelation. Today we think of John as the Apostle of love addressing in his
epistles his ‘beloved’ brethren…But he was not always considered loveable. He
and his brother had asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven to
consume the Samaritans of a certain village because they would not receive them
(Luke 9:51-56). And what do we know of James?
Less than we sometimes think. There are 3 James’ in the New Testament. In
verse 17, the brother of John, was one of the Sons of Zebedee. James the less,
son of Alphaeus who we read of in verse 18 – another of the 12, and James the
half-brother of Christ, who wrote the epistle of James. As for John’s brother James,
he had a short ministry. In Acts 12 we read that Herod the king had him put to
death by the sword. He was not the 1st martyr, but was the 1st
of the Apostles to be martyred. John, on the other hand outlived the
rest of them all and for a time was exiled to the island of Patmos working in
the mines.[3] He
was the only one of the Apostles not
to die a martyr’s death. Yet they did try to kill him, they boiled him in oil
& poisoned him, both ineffectively; he died a very old man in Ephesus. There is a church tradition, which says, that when John
was evidently an old man in Ephesus, he had to be carried to the church in the
arms of his disciples. At these
meetings, he was accustomed to say no more than, “Little children, love one
another!” After a time, the disciples
wearied at always hearing the same words, asked, “Master, why do you always say
this?” “It is the Lord's command,” was his reply. “And if this alone be done,
it is enough!” Just to add to the possible confusion, James, the brother
of Jesus was also called an apostle in Gal. 1:19, but he was not one of the 12.
4.
Andrew was the brother of Peter and
also originally a follower of John the Baptizer. He evangelized his brother
Peter as we read in John chapter 1. Andrew is also the one who brought the boy
with 5 loaves and 2 fish to Christ.
5.
Philip is one of those easiest to be
confused. If you recall, in Acts there was also a Philip who was one of the 7
deacons chosen. This deacon was known as the evangelist, and seems to me to
have a greater ministry than the Apostle! Philip the Apostle is the one who
asked Jesus to ‘show us the Father’ in John 14. But he is an Apostle and in the
list in the fifth position – which is has some significance.
6.
Bartholomew is not listed anywhere
outside the gospels. Some think he is also known as Nathaniel especially
since Bartholomew means ‘son of Talmai’. John Henry Burn states, “St. John always couples Nathanael, as the other
Evangelists do Bartholomew, with Philip; and while they never mention
Nathanael, he never mentions Bartholomew, but speaks of Nathanael instead.”[4]
7.
Matthew we also know as Levi the tax
collector. It is likely he is brother to James the Less – but this is not
certain.[5]
8.
Thomas has the distinction of being
one of whom we immediately think of as ‘doubting Thomas’ since he did not at
the first believe the Lord had risen. He is also called the twin (didymus).
9.
James (son of Alphaeus) aka the
Less. May be the brother of Matthew, or not. He seems to be the leader
of the 3rd group of four apostles.
10.
Thaddaeus is also known as Judas
(son of James). Edersheim says, “James is
designated by St. Matthew as Lebbæus, from Lebh, a heart, and is also named
Thaddæus, a term which we would derive from Thodah, praise. In that case both
Lebbæus and Thaddæus would point to the heartiness and the thanksgiving of the
apostle, and hence to his character. St. Luke simply designates him Judas of
James, i.e. the brother (less probably, son) of James. Thus his real name would
have been Judas Lebbæus, and his surname Thaddæus.”[6]
11.
Simon the Cananaean is not from
Canaan as you might think, but more likely Cana where water was made wine. He is also known as the Zealot, and the
reference to Cana may actually be a reference to his affiliation as a Zealot. The
Zealots were religious extremists who desired the overthrow of Rome.
12.
Judas Iscariot is possibly the
Apostle of greatest notoriety. Judas Iscariot was the only apostle NOT from
Galilee. His surname is given as Iscariot (Mk 3:19), which probably
means “the man from the place called Karioth.”[7]
He was apparently the only one of the 12 from Judea.
Thus ends our brief evaluation
of the men who became the 12 Apostles. Walter Wessel in the Expositors Bible Commentary
states, “Four were fishermen. One a hated tax
collector, another a member of a radical and violent political party. Of six of
them we know practically nothing. All were laymen. There was not a preacher or
an expert in the Scriptures in the lot. Yet it was with these men that Jesus
established his church and disseminated his Good News to the end of the earth.”[8]
All but one died a martyr’s death.
Another commentator writes, “It was amazing that Simon the Zealot and Levi the tax
collector were part of the same family of followers of Jesus. They were miles
apart in their political convictions (Barbieri, Mark, p. 85). As a tax collector, Levi was accustomed to Roman rule
and in fact profited from it while the Zealots wanted nothing to do with the
Romans.”[9]
A word about Disciples vs.
Apostles. Disciples are not all Apostles.
A disciple could be a woman, such as Mary who sat at the feet of Christ
while Martha served. All the Apostles
were disciples. Luke 6:13 puts it this
way, “And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of
them, whom He also named as apostles.”
So now, having examined the men
let me remind you of the earlier questions. Why do we even have the lists in
the first place? What benefit is it to us to know who those men were? Did you
notice how confusing the information was? I suspect that some of you are still
a bit confused, but I won’t reiterate the list. I even put together a
spreadsheet to try and keep track of the names, the order, and other
information. Even after a number of weeks of reviewing many commentaries, it is
very apparent that these men are NOT well known and I will not claim to have
more than the smallest bit of knowledge about them.
One thing which was pointed out
in more than one commentary, the fact of the 4 lists having such variety in
order and what name was chosen to be put in the list points to the veracity of
the accounts. If this was a scripted or polished list – wouldn’t they all have
had the exact same order and specificity? Only if this was a list comprised
late. Instead, the variation points out the very truth of the accounts!
Instead what we have are 3
individual writers, seeking to present to us the names of the men who were
chief among Christ’s followers, and who became apostles. Why? Because they were
largely unknown! Though we may get them confused, one with another, we know
them, at least in name. And that is the very point. We know something about
Peter, James, and John. We know Andrew was Peters’ brother. But tell me – what
was Andrews’ ministry? Do we have a book of Andrew? What kind of man was he?
Or Philip? We far too often
confuse him with the Evangelist of Acts – but that Philip was a deacon. You see
how plain and ordinary these men were? These lists of unknown men who were foundation
stones of the Church! Listen to how Paul puts it:
For you see your
calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the
foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the
weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are
despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the
things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.[10]
We know so little about these men, because
they were magnifying God first. Look at the first portion of the text we are
expositing. And He went up on the mountain and
called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. 14 Then He appointed 12, that they might be with Him and that He
might send them out to preach, 15 and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons. The reason Christ chose these men
had nothing to do with their credentials. He called to himself those He Himself
wanted. This is a very emphatic statement. In Christ’s High priestly prayer we
read, “I have manifested Your name to the men
whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me.[11]
This is how Christ leads out in this great prayer for the Apostles, and towards
the end, for us who believe in their witness. They were men of no value humanly
speaking. This is why we read of the authority given them to heal and cast out
demons. These men were nobodies so that God would get the glory.
In verse 15
we read that they were to have power to heal and cast out demons. Some of you may have the word authority
here instead of power. That is a much better translation choice for today.
Power is a word often associated with the ability to do something of my own
strength. We live in a very paganized world today – video games and Dungeons
& Dragons have so warped the minds of our youth that many of them cannot
even think outside of that world. Several years ago at a friends’ home I ran
across this in a vivid way. A young man who was trying to talk to us of
Spiritual matters. He was spiritually minded, but just not at all Biblically
minded.
I heard him say certain things that were to
me, red flags. “So when I see these unholy spirits” he said, “I ask God for
power to overcome them?” My response was
to tell him that is exactly the wrong thing to do. No! We do not treat God like our genie in the
bottle, or a good luck charm that we hold up to ward off the devil. He is not to be conjured up, to be used by
someone claiming against Him with magic words. Another time, because we were
extremely focused on the words of a certain passage he began to say, “So I pray
the words of God against them and...” I cried out , “NO! You call on God's Word, not ‘words of God’ as
though these were the words of power or magic.
We do not in our own strength stand.
The authority
to heal and cast out demons is not a power which they held – but rather a fact
that points to God. He gives authority and takes it away. An example of this is
Acts 5:12 where we read that ‘through the hands of the
Apostles many signs and wonders were done.’
But let me
remind you that before it is written of the authority to heal and cast out
demons, Christ chose these men that they might be with
him and that He might send them out to preach. The authority to heal was
only to support or validate the ministry of preaching and teaching to which
they would be sent. (Heb. 2:4)
The power of the message was tied to
the relationship he had with Christ. And folks – that is still the truth today.
If I, or any other man step into this pulpit without an active vital communion
with the living Lord – whatever is spoken will be at best empty words. If my
message has no unction it may be because I have not the closeness to the Lord I
ought to have. And the same goes for each of us.
Recall for a moment how disciples and
Apostles were different. All Apostles are disciples – learners or students of
the Rabbi. Yet the Apostles did not take in only – they were also to give. That
is the difference. And while Apostles are a special class – the 12 being the
foundation stones, there is a very real sense that we as believers are also
sent ones – ambassadors if you will (2 Cor. 5:20) And though our message is not
authenticated by signs and wonders – It has the veracity of the very Word of
God behind it – as long as we ourselves hold fast the word of truth (1 Cor.
15:2, Heb. 10:23)
And listen to the richness of the
analogy. Christ is the cornerstone. The Apostles are the foundations stones. We
are the living stones Peter tells us in 1 Pet. 2:5. We are building a spiritual
house.
Of all the Apostles, the one we know
the most about, Paul – is not even named in the 4 different lists. These days
the Apostle Paul has fallen out of favor, primarily due to the dislike of
Pauline theology and the new perspective on Paul. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says of Paul
that he was perhaps the greatest mind that lived in New Testament times.
Indeed, some call him one of the 100 most influential men of the whole world.
For all this, note how Paul puts himself
down – he only boasts in his learning, in order to give a defense of his
apostleship. Yet he places a greater stock in his children. Listen to how he
puts it writing to the Corinthians:
Am I not
an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not
my work in the Lord? 2 If I am
not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my
apostleship in the Lord.[12]
In Philippian’s we read, “But what things were gain to
me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the
excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which
is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness
which is from God by faith; 10 that
I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His
sufferings, being conformed to His death[13]”
Even the great apostle himself
makes his relationship to Christ his only hope! His great learning with
Gamaliel – nothing but garbage. Whatever he might have once thought to boast in
– worthless. Because it is not the man – but the relationship the man has to
the Lord which marks him and makes him a living stone in the spiritual house.
One last thing – why didn’t John
include a list? It was clearly important to the early church, and yet John
completely omits this significant grouping of men. I can’t be authoritative in
this, but consider when he wrote his gospel account. In the mid 90’s of the 1st
century – long after the other gospels and Acts were written – and long after
the majority of the apostles, including Peter & Paul were martyred. I think
John knew that their blood became to some extent a seal of their testimony so
they no longer needed to be listed. We read in the Revelation of a great war in
heaven between Michael and his angels and the devil and his demons. In this
context John writes, “And they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love
their lives to the death.[14]”
Even in the angelic world – it is the blood of our dear Savior and the Word of
God which prevails.
The thesis of this message is
that Jesus deliberately chose very ordinary, even
petty men – to do very extraordinary things and he continues to use plain men
and women for His glory. That includes you and I. We have a calling each
and every one of us. The so-called great commission isn’t a missionary call –
it’s the call of everyone who is a blood bought believer. Go – Make disciples – teaching them whatever
he commanded us.
These men gave of their lives by
the strength of the Lord. Their relationship to Him gave them the strength to
press on toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ. We have their
foundation – that is to say the very New Testament itself to stand upon as He
uses us to build his Church. In Him we become part of the Church standing
against Satan himself! The gates of hell will not prevail!
Church tradition gives us a
little to read on how these men died. Listen to how they each loved not their
life to the death: [Read the martyrdoms]
He is coming again folks – who have
you taught?
Amen.
[3] Patmos was used by the Romans as a place to banish
criminals, who were forced to work at hard labor in the mines and quarries of
the island. (Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, and R. K. Harrison, Thomas
Nelson Publishers, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville,
TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1995).)
[7] Karioth (Kerioth) is identified
either with Kerioth Hezron (Josh 15:25), twelve miles south of Hebron, or with
Kerioth in Moab (Jer 48:24) Walter W. Wessel, “Mark,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, ed. Frank E.
Gaebelein, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984), 643.
[9] Rodney L. Cooper, Mark, vol. 2, Holman New Testament
Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 52.
