Saturday, September 29, 2012

Crowds and Apostles (Mark 3:7-19; Luke 6:12-16)


Crowds still followed Jesus after he challenged the Pharisees about the Sabbath.  People still came to him for healing and deliverance from evil spirits.  Jesus still tells the evil spirits to not say who he is.  At this point, Jesus is publicly declaring divinity to people he encounters, including the Pharisees.  So, hushing the evil spirits seems to have a different purpose other than telling people about Jesus before Jesus knew they were ready.  It probably has to do with the manner the evil spirits would talk.

Jesus goes up a mountain where he spends a night in prayer.  In the morning, selects twelve disciples to be apostles.  They include the four fishermen from Galilee, Matthew (Levi) the tax collector, and seven others not previously mentioned. The more famous include Thomas (probably "doubting Thomas"), Phillip (probably of Acts 8), and of course, Judas Iscariot.

After selecting Apostles, he sees the crowd and climbs partway up a mountain.  This may be the same mountain where he went pray about selecting Apostles.  

This time, he goes up to speak to a crowd of disciples.  What he says will become known as the Sermon on the Mount.

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