Friday in the Second Week of Ordinary Time, January 21, 2022

I think I’m doing better, not coughing as much.  The COVID test came back negative so this is probably “only” pneumonia.  I’m being good taking my prescriptions.  I really appreciate your prayers!

Mark 3:13-19

Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. He appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles, that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons: He appointed the Twelve: Simon, whom he named Peter; James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.

“Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him.”  This can be better translated: “Jesus ascended the mountain and summoned those whom he was desiring and they departed to him.”  The sense is that the Lord told his disciples to stay at the foot of the mountain while he mounted it by himself alone.  We learn from Luke 6:12 that “he went out into a mountain to pray: and he passed the whole night in the prayer of God”, and that in the morning of the next day he called his Apostles to him.  The calling of the Apostles from the midst of the disciples is presented to us as a ritual.  The Lord goes upon a height and prays.  In the morning, as the sun is rising, he calls out the names of those “whom he was desiring”.  From the mountain, he calls out each name, perhaps saying, “James, son of Zebedee, come up here, etc.”  each Apostle would have begun the climb of this broad and tall mountain (the upper reaches of which would have soared over seven thousand feet above the ground).  The climb would have made arduous work and taken some time.  It would have been much easier and faster if the Lord had descended the mountain and then summoned the Apostles by name.  But the ritual is impressive.  We can imagine the Lord’s voice, though perhaps not seeing him, echoing out from the summit, calling each name, pausing before calling the next, the summoned disciple then beginning the long climb.  And this is more than a calling up, as though the Lord wanted this disciple for a particular reason.  The Greek, “whom he was desiring” is in the imperfect tense.  Each of the called men was one whom he wanted as his own.  “They departed to him.”  The Greek verb here means more than that they “went” to him, but implies that they departed from someone or something in order to be with someone or something else.  These men are giving up their lives down below in order to be with Jesus in the heights in response to his specific summoning of them.

“He appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles.”  The Greek word translated here as “appointed” actually means “to do” or “to make” and is used in the Septuagint to translated the Hebrew ah-sah’, which is used to describe God’s creation of the universe in Genesis 1.  Thus, the Lord “made” them to be twelve, or “caused them to be” twelve.  He creates a unity here of these men struggling up the mountain to him.  They have him alone as their goal and as their Master.  We note their labor in coming to him, leaving all else behind, and in so doing see the exercise of their free will.  They want to be with him.  They are willing to leave all behind.  They are willing to make the climb.  By this time they have been with him at least a year and they have made their decision.  This is no impulse of theirs.  “Whom he also named Apostles”.  The Greek apostolos means “one who is sent”, “envoy”, or “ambassador”.  It is unclear whether the Lord told them that they were his “ambassadors” at that time.  This is an official position at a ruler’s court and would have been held only by the most trusted and competent people at a ruler’s disposal.  Their word is his word.  They are entrusted with missions in which they are to act on the ruler’s behalf.  This is something much more than a “disciple”, a “student”.  Humanly, we can see this action as a deliberate response by the Lord to the very recent accusation by the Pharisees that his “disciples” had broken the Sabbath Law.  The Lord had shown his rejection of their self-assumed place as Israel’s leaders and now invests twelve of his closest disciples with his authority.  The Lord further distinguishes himself from the Pharisees, who each had their own disciples, but did not dare call them their “envoys” or “ambassadors”.  Yet, the Lord does not act out of spite.  It while be a while yet before he sends them out on their first mission.  They have much to learn first.