1He entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there whose hand was withered. 2They watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him. 3He said to the man whose hand was withered, “Stand up.” 4He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do harm? To save a life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored as healthy as the other. 6The Pharisees went out, and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
7Jesus withdrew to the sea with his disciples; and a great multitude followed him from Galilee, from Judea, 8from Jerusalem, from Idumaea, beyond the Jordan, and those from around Tyre and Sidon. A great multitude, hearing what great things he did, came to him. 9He spoke to his disciples that a little boat should stay near him because of the crowd, so that they wouldn’t press on him. 10For he had healed many, so that as many as had diseases pressed on him that they might touch him. 11The unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, fell down before him and cried, “You are the Son of God!” 12He sternly warned them that they should not make him known.
13He went up into the mountain and called to himself those whom he wanted, and they went to him. 14He appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach 15and to have authority to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: 16Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17James the son of Zebedee; and John, the brother of James, (whom he called Boanerges, which means, Sons of Thunder); 18Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James, the son of Alphaeus; Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot; 19and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
Then he came into a house. 20The multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him; for they said, “He is insane.” 22The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons.”
23He summoned them and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he can’t stand, but has an end. 27But no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder unless he first binds the strong man; then he will plunder his house.
28“Most certainly I tell you, all sins of the descendants of man will be forgiven, including their blasphemies with which they may blaspheme; 29but whoever may blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.” 30—because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
31His mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling him. 32A multitude was sitting around him, and they told him, “Behold, your mother, your brothers, and your sisters are outside looking for you.”
33He answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34Looking around at those who sat around him, he said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers! 35For whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, and mother.”
Can-Do Andrew
13 He went up into the mountain and called to himself those whom he wanted, and they went to him. 14 He appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach
If you are a Christfollower, have you ever thought about the fact that you, too, have been called by God? These verses show Jesus calling His first twelve disciples here on earth. It’s interesting to read through the list, and, oddly, Judas Iscariot is tacked on to the end. We don’t really know the order in which the disciples were called, but Mark places Judas here at the end. I bring up Judas’ calling because it’s astonishing to realize that Jesus called Judas, knowing that in the end he would betray Him. I’m not saying that the Jesus who was human knew this, but the Jesus who was God in the flesh knew all about it and knew what would happen. It’s just kind of amazing that Jesus would call him anyway.
If you are a Christian, He called you to be His disciple at some point. Oh yes, you and I have a different role than those original disciples, but we still have a role to play. As we live that out, we can be inquisitive like Matthew or a doubter like Thomas. We might even be like Peter and be a hothead, determined for Jesus to do things the way that we want Him to do them. But you are a disciple. It makes me think about which disciple I would like to be like. I'll settle in on Andrew. Why Andrew?
We do know that Andrew introduced Peter to Jesus, and Andrew was the “can-do” disciple. Why do I call him the “can-do” disciple? On one occasion, Jesus directed his disciples to purchase food for 5,000 men with their families who had gathered to hear him. Phillip stated the obvious, “7 Philip answered him, 'Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may receive a little.” The only other person who spoke up was Andrew. He states an absurdity, but it has an element of miraculous expectation. He says, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish”. He knew that Jesus could do something with that. He quickly discounted this, saying, “But what are these among so many?” The point is, though, that Andrew pointed out the thing that Jesus could work with. Jesus asks us to bring whatever we have or can get and present it to Him, so He can do whatever He desires, no matter how crazy or supernatural it might be. Bring what you have to Him today. Lay it at His feet, and see what great things God can do!