Jesus uses ordinary people like you and me who are sinners saved by grace for his work in the world. That statement completely blows me away and that’s exactly what we see in this section of Mark today. Jesus now goes from the lake up to a mountainside and gets away from the crowds. He calls twelve men to himself and they answered his call and went up the mountain with him. These people were called in order to firstly be with Jesus and secondly to be sent out to preach.

They were to accompany Jesus, learn from him, shape their lives to be like him, and also help him in his travels and preach! The good news of Jesus is just that - good news. The region needed to hear it, the world needs to hear it, we need to hear it. The full extent of their mission won’t be completely revealed until Pentecost but for now, they are given the authority to preach and to cast out demons. They’ll declare that the kingdom has drawn near and show it by driving out what is evil. But who exactly are these men that Jesus appoints? Well, we already know that Peter, Andrew, James, and John were fishermen and we aren’t told the background or credentials of the rest of these people. So they are essentially a bunch of nobodies! They are a bunch of ordinary and imperfect humans and they are entrusted with this amazing task. I said it before and I’ll say it again - Jesus uses ordinary people like you and me who are sinners saved by grace for his work in the world. There’s no such thing not being qualified enough to be a disciple of Jesus.

Once they descend the mountain, the crowds gather again to see and hear Jesus but his family thought he was mad. More on that later in the week. MC

Questions

Prayer

Lord God, thank you that you use ordinary people like us for your mission. Keep us from doubting this but help us to be faithful to your call. Amen.