This is a devotional with my thoughts added to verses from the Bible. I highly encourage you to dig into the word with your own thoughts. The Daily Devotion series is one way to do this. However, I know that sometimes we want to read other people’s ideas about Bible passages, so I am starting the Everyday series. I hope and pray that these posts will draw you nearer to Jesus.
DAY 1–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 3:13-19 Twelve Apostles
Then Jesus went up on a hillside and called to himself those whom he had decided on, and they approached him. He appointed the Twelve, whom he called apostles, to accompany him, to be sent out to preach, and to have the authority to drive out demons. He appointed the Twelve: Simon (whom he named Peter), Zebedee’s sons James and his brother John (whom he named Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
We know that Jesus had more than twelve close followers since later He would send out seventy other delegates. Even seventy would have been a small representation of the many people who believed that Jesus was the Messiah. However, Jesus chose twelve special disciples to represent Him officially and to travel with Him. John and Peter had already been disciples before this, but evidently this was something new and different.
The definition of apostles is right here in this passage. Their first duty was to accompany Jesus. In other words, the apostles were to be with Him full-time. They had no other job than to be with Jesus and go where He directed. Second, they were being sent out to preach as an extension of Jesus’ ministry. Their new job was to spread Jesus’ teaching to others. Third, the twelve apostles were to be given special authority to drive out demons. The apostles could now force fallen angels to leave. Thus, their only job from now on was to serve Jesus. They were authorized to communicate for Him. In this position, they would have satanic opponents, so they were given special power and authority, second only to Jesus. These twelve men were still thinking in worldly terms, so they would not have appreciated the awesome authority that they were being given. They were not just official representatives of a rising earthly king. They were not just second-in-command even to a world ruler. They were being given the position of personal representatives of the King of all creation. Jesus knew the authority that He was bestowing upon them, and we have to wonder at the kind of trust that was being put in twelve fallen, sinful humans. Even more amazing is that God also puts that kind of trust in you and me! We can only pray that He will make us worthy of that trust.
Who were these men?
We know quite a bit about some of these men, but others are just names in a list to us because of the scarcity of information provided in the Bible. We know the most about the first four men on the list. First in the list is Simon Peter. He was the son of Jona (Matthew 16:17). Andrew was his younger brother. His hometown was Bethsaida, but he was residing in Capernaum when he was called to follow Jesus. Peter is actually his Greek nickname. The name that Jesus would have originally bestowed upon Simon was Cephas (John 1:42). Paul refers to Peter by this Hebrew version of the name. (1 Corinthians 15:5). Both names mean “rock.” Next in the list are James and John. Until Jesus’ final days, we always see James and John as a pair, so it is fitting that they are listed together here. Their father’s name was Zebedee. Their mother was Salome, who supported Jesus’ ministry (Mark 16:1). Like Peter, the two also received a nickname, but theirs was for the two of them together. They were called the “sons of thunder.” Some believe the nickname is because of their tempers, yet others think that a divinely given nickname would not refer to an old sinful trait, but to a more desirable characteristic, such as their energetic natures. It was quite common in Jewish culture to give a nickname that begins with “son of.” For example, Barnabas, was a nickname that meant “son of encouragement” (Acts 4:36). One possible reason that James and John are always mentioned together could be because it is likely that John was quite young, maybe in his early teens. He would have been paired with a more mature companion because of his youth and inexperience. This is supported by the fact that when John is not paired with James, he is almost always with Peter. James was the first apostle to become a martyr for Christ (Acts 12:2). John was the unkillable disciple who died of old age. (There is a tradition that the Roman emperor tried to execute John by throwing him in boiling oil. When that did not damage John at all, he was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation.) The two brothers were business partners with Simon Peter before they were called to follow Jesus (Luke 5:10). For some reason, Mark separates Andrew from his brother Simon. Maybe, that was so that he could be listed next to Philip, who was from the same hometown. Andrew was with John the Baptist when Jesus was pointed out as the Lamb of God. He and John followed Jesus to His lodging and spent the day with Him. Andrew is the person who first brought Jesus to Simon’s attention (John 1:37-42).
There are not as many details about the next eight men in the list. Philip was a native of Bethsaida, like Andrew and Peter (John 1:44). Although we are not given much background information on Philip, John features him in several Bible passages. Philip was the person who brought Nathanael to Jesus and uttered the famous words “Come and See” (John 1:45-46). He is also featured in the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:5-7). Philip and Andrew bring the Greeks to see Jesus (John 12:21-22), and Philip famously asks Jesus to show them the Father (John 14:8-9). The next apostle to be listed is Bartholomew, who was also known as Nathanael. Philip and Nathanael/Bartholomew are always listed together. Nathanael is famous for his comment that nothing good could come from Nazareth (John 1:46). After Bartholomew is Matthew, the son of Alphaeus. Matthew’s other name is Levi (Mark 2:14). We have quite a bit of background information on Matthew. He was a tax collector in Capernaum when Jesus called him to service (Matthew 9:9). Later, he threw a party for Jesus causing the Pharisees to criticize Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners (Luke 5:29). He is credited with writing the gospel of Matthew. From his former occupation and his later authorship, we know that he was well educated and well-versed in the scriptures. Whether his knowledge of the scriptures came before or after he was called to be a disciple is unknown. The next disciple on the list is Thomas. He was also known by the Greek version of Thomas, which is Didymus (John 11:16). For some reason, he has the nickname of “the twin.” Like Philip, most of the details that we know about Thomas are from the gospel of John. Unfortunately, he is mostly remembered for being “doubting Thomas” who would not believe in Jesus’ resurrection until he touched his side (John 20:25). Extra-biblically, Thomas is also famous in India as having been the apostle to first bring Christianity to that part of the world. After Thomas is James, the son of Alphaeus, also called Little James to distinguish him from James, the son of Zebedee. Some have thought that Matthew, Thomas, and Little James might be brothers because both Matthew and James are the sons of Alphaeus and Thomas is sandwiched right between them, but this is speculation. No one is even sure if the Alphaeus who is the father of Matthew is the same one who is the father of Little James. However, it is clear that James’ mother was named Mary, and he had a brother named Joses, who was also a follower of Jesus (Mark 15:40). It is thought that Little James is the same person as Clopas (John 19:25). The next apostle in the list also has several names listed, but little other information. His name is Thaddeus. He is also known as Lebbaeus (Matthew 10:3), Judas the brother of James (Luke 6:16), and Judas, not Iscariot (John 14:22). Little else is known about this man of many names. The eleventh name on the list is Simon the Cananean. That term Cananean does not mean that he was from Canaan. It refers to him belonging to a Jewish sect called Kanean, known more widely today as the Zealots. Nothing else is known of him, but the fact that he had been a member of the notorious Zealots, who were extreme Jewish patriots and trained assassins tells us a lot. The last disciple in all of the lists of apostles is Judas Iscariot. Whenever his name is mentioned, there is the added label that he betrayed Jesus. Iscariot refers to his hometown of Kerioth, which was south of Judea. In other words, Judas was the only disciple who was not from Galilee. He was the treasurer of the group, and John says that he embezzled from the money that was donated (John 12:5-6). After betraying Jesus, he hung himself. Evidently, the rope broke and his body fell to the ground in a gory mess (Acts 1:18-19).
In some ways, we know very little about these men, but we also know a great deal. We know that they were not special when they were called. If anything, they were the bottom of the barrel. However, (with the exception of Judas Iscariot) they had one qualification that overcame any lack of education or skill–they loved Jesus and were willing to follow Him wherever He led. We know that they made mistakes, and they abandoned their master in His darkest hours. We also know that they were forgiven and became the Spirit-filled men who changed the world with their faithful witness. Their lives teach us that we also can be Spirit-filled servants of Jesus even though we are nothing special when we are first called.
Who is Jesus?
What is even more interesting than what we learn about the disciples is what this passage tells us about Jesus. First of all, Jesus is not a control-freak. He delegates authority. He gives fallible humans jobs that He or an angel could do with much more precision and skill. He trusts us to be His representatives and has patience with our failures. In addition, we can have faith that Jesus will give us the tools and training necessary to serve Him, as He did the twelve disciples. Finally, we can see that although God loves us all equally, He does not treat us identically. He gives each person jobs (and nicknames) according to our abilities and faith.
Who are we?
Although Jesus has not given us the job of apostle, He has given us the job of witness. We need to use our abilities to serve Him in whatever capacity that He asks of us, and we need to trust Him that He will provide everything that we need to successfully complete the tasks that He has set before us. He took twelve fallible humans and made them into effective witnesses of His love. He can transform us into effective witnesses also.
DAY 2–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 3:20-21 Jesus is Insane!
Then he went home. Such a large crowd gathered again that Jesus and his disciples couldn’t even eat. When his family heard about it, they went to restrain him, because they kept saying, “He’s out of his mind!”
The original manuscripts have some differences in these verses, which has resulted in differing English translations. One translation will say that Jesus went home while another translation does not mention home. If the original text truly said that Jesus went home, it was probably not Nazareth because Nazareth had shown a lack of faith and rejected Him. In these verses, there is a large crowd, which is not the picture that other scriptures paint of Jesus’ experience in Nazareth. Instead, home was probably Peter’s house in Capernaum. In fact, it could be that “home” does not refer to a specific residence, but instead is a way of saying that Jesus was in the general area of Capernaum.
One detail that all the manuscripts agree on was that Jesus and His disciples were so busy dealing with the crowds that they did not even have a chance to eat. They were probably growing thinner and thinner. The manuscripts differ as to whether it was friends or family who were trying to restrain Jesus, but either way, watching someone you love becoming emaciated because of His work would be good cause for friends and family to worry. However, the actions of these friends/family show that they were not looking upon Jesus as the Anointed Messenger of God. They were viewing Jesus as an ordinary man that they could order around. We may scorn them for their attitude, but too many of us treat God in this way today. We act like we can tell God what to do or ignore Him at will. God is our Creator, yet we act like we know more than He does about how a situation should be handled. This presumption is because it is so difficult for us to trust anyone, except ourselves. We must pray for faith to believe that God knows best even when circumstances appear suspect to us.
The justification for trying to restrain Jesus was that He was crazy. It is strange that in both modern society and the society of Jesus’ day, someone who neglects physical needs while performing work for God is frequently viewed as mentally imbalanced while someone burning the candle at both ends for fun is viewed as living life to the fullest. We admire ambition so that when workers neglect to eat and sleep in order to earn money and get ahead, we cheer them on. However, a person who spends large amounts of time ministering to others and speaking about Jesus is a fanatic.
While there may be situations where we must go without food or rest as Jesus did, it is also important to be balanced. God has given us advice about taking care of the body that He has provided for us because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. However, there could be times when, in service to God, we will lack adequate rest, proper diet, or exercise. Whenever we need to temporarily ignore the needs of our body in order to complete a mission that God has given us, it is imperative that we take time after the job is finished to relax and take care of our physical needs. In other words, exhausting our mental and physical resources should not become a way of life. Instead, we need to balance our physical, spiritual, and mental activities for maximum health. Then we will be able to serve God with even more energy and enthusiasm than if we have become rundown and sickly from abusing our spiritual, emotional, and physical health.
The charge of insanity did not arise from a vacuum. Jesus’ enemies accused Him time and again of either being crazy or having a devil. Unfortunately, Jesus’ friends and family believed these charges. This is a lesson to all believers to carefully reflect before taking accusations seriously. We must walk a fine line between believing any negative story that arises and not listening to the warnings that tell us that there is corruption in a church leader. This requires a lot of discernment that can only come from God. Unfortunately, there are predators who hide among God’s true followers. Paul calls them wolves among the flock (Acts 20:29). We must protect the weak from these predators. On the other hand, Satan will attack honest workers for Jesus with rumors and inuendoes in order to reduce their effectiveness or stop them completely. Never dismiss an accusation of abuse out of hand. Investigate. Find out the truth, and act accordingly. On the other hand, never repeat unsubstantiated rumors and gossip. You could be the devil’s messenger without realizing it, just as well-meaning friends and family were serving Satan when they tried to stop Jesus’ mission.
Thankfully, Jesus continued onward in His journey to heal the breach between God and man. Even when friends and family tried to halt His work, Jesus continued to move forward towards the cross. Some of Jesus’ harshest words were for allies who tried to interfere. When Peter denied that Jesus would need to die, Jesus called Peter “Satan” (Matthew 16:21-23). When Jesus’ mother and brothers came to interfere, Jesus said that his true family were those who believed in Him and supported Him (Matthew 12:48-50). Jesus loves us too much to let us try to manipulate Him. He is not a weak-willed parent who spoils the child and gives him/her whatever he/she wants regardless of whether it is good for him/her. Instead, He will tell us directly when we are overstepping the boundaries and acting with presumption if that is the kind of approach that is needed. The question is whether we will listen when He speaks. Our prayer should always be for God to search our hearts and tell us when we are straying into presumption.
DAY 3–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 3:22-27 A Divided House
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, He has Beelzebub, and He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons. And He called them and said to them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rises up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. No one can enter into a strong one’s house and plunder his goods, except he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.
In chapter 3, Mark lists various accusations that were made against Jesus. Jesus’ sincerity and behavior made it impossible to simply say that He was lying or trying to deceive the crowd for gain. In contrast to the Sadducees and Pharisees, Jesus had no fancy home to rest in. Instead, He traveled from place-to-place ministering to others. Jesus made no political moves, either to oppose Rome like the Zealots, or to receive personal favors from Rome like the high priests had done. Jesus gave unselfishly to all who approached Him rather than profiting from the gullible masses, like some modern-day conmen. Earlier in the chapter, Mark already described how Jesus was even skipping meals in order to meet other people’s needs. These are not the actions of someone trying to dupe people.
The enemies of Jesus had to find some other accusation instead of the usual motives of fraud or hunger for power. First, they tried saying that Jesus was crazy. That lie fooled a few people from His past who could not accept that the poor carpenter’s son was the Anointed One of prophecy, but most people ignored this charge since Jesus was so obviously sane.
Now, the scribes tried a new allegation. They claimed that Jesus was from the devil and was leading the people away from God. Jesus’ opponents felt that this charge was perfect because it could be used to explain the supernatural aspects of Jesus’ ministry. The healing of so many people could not be treated as fakery. They were unable to deny the miracles that accompanied Jesus’ ministry, but they could draw suspicion towards the source of Jesus’ power. We may question how the scribes and Pharisees could overlook the powerful signs that Jesus had performed, but the human mind has a gigantic capacity for self-deception. Jesus had broken many of the numerous restrictions imposed by the religious leaders, and by example, He had led others to think it was righteous to break senseless Pharisaical rules. In the minds of the religious leaders, opposing them was the equivalent of warring with God. Jesus seems to have ignored the charge of insanity, but He addressed this lie about being aligned with Satan in the strongest terms.
To counteract the accusation that He was demon-possessed, Jesus used logic. He was not only casting out demons but also healing people and speaking of the Father’s love. How could He be doing this through Satan’s power? Contrary to being in league with the devil, Jesus was actively working against His supposed ally. The actions that Jesus performed directly attacked Satan’s power and purposes. It made no sense to say that Satan was empowering Jesus to act against Satan. The people could see by this logic that the pure message and miracles of Jesus were untainted by evil and thus, could not have their source in evil. It was foolishness to even suggest that Jesus was in league with Satan. The only ones who would believe this charge were the people who had already made the decision to refuse Jesus as the Messiah. They were just searching for justification for their refusal to accept truth.
The fallacy with the logic of the religious leaders was the idea that evil will produce good. The Bible tells us to judge whether someone is from God by two criteria: the scriptures and their fruits. The first principle is that even if someone seems good, if that person is contradicting the Bible, he or she is not speaking for God (Isaiah 8:20). However, speaking words from the Bible is not enough. Even Satan has quoted scripture (Luke 4:10). The second method of judgment is to look at the fruit of the person (Matthew 7:15-20). When the Bible speaks of fruit, it is referring to the fruit of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). When a person arrogantly spouts scripture, the fruit of the Spirit is not present. Cautiously evaluate the message being delivered for error. For the same reason, do not trust someone who makes a habit of bearing false witness (lying, gossiping, playing fast and loose with the truth) or breaking any other commandment of God. In God’s kingdom, the end does not justify the means. How a person accomplishes his or her purpose is just as important as the final result. Jesus could confidently claim to be working against Satan because the fruit of His life was love and the words of His mouth were true to the scriptures.
Jesus’ final argument is one of the most beautiful pictures of His mission painted in the Bible although at first it seems strange and rather barbaric. He spoke of going into someone’s house and taking what was there as if Jesus Himself were a thief or a bully grabbing what he wants from others by force. However, that picture all changes when we realize that Jesus was plundering us. This world was Satan’s house, his playground, with prisoners that he tortured and bound, but Jesus entered Satan’s home and overpowered Him. Satan had arranged the social structure of this world to build up his own power base, but Jesus walked into the devil’s house and negated Satan’s power so that the prisoners kept imprisoned there could go free. How did Jesus dominate Satan? He used self-giving love. Love is stronger than force. Jesus overpowered the owner of the house by proving that the Son of God was more worthy. The beauty of this parable is revealed when we realize that the goods that were taken do not refer to power or wealth. We are the treasure that Jesus plundered from Satan’s house. In God’s eyes, we are the only thing of value that Satan has.
Many people stay under Satan’s dominion because they treasure money, power, security (false), forbidden pleasures, or because of simple familiarity. Some people cannot envision another way of life. Satan has taught most of us to undervalue our worth and overvalue our judgment. He tempts us with the fool’s gold of material goods and physical satiation. People do not realize that they, themselves, are the only treasure in Satan’s dominion. They look in the mirror and see only tarnished goods, but God sees beneath the outer corruption to the inner potential. How can we become the treasure that God perceives in us? We must deny ourselves and follow Jesus. In the process of being disciples of Jesus, we will shine and become more and more valuable, not for the services we do for God, but for who we become as we walk with Him. The robe of Christ’s righteousness does not just cover us on the outside but permeates to the cellular level. We remain ourselves while becoming the glorious treasures that we should have been, except for Satan’s taint.