“And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach…” (Mark 3:14)
Seven words form the foundation of Christ’s discipleship process for His band of twelve followers. So that they would be with Him.
A few fishermen. A couple little brothers. A tax collector. A revolutionary (zealot). A skeptic. And a traitor. These would be the men whom Christ would use to transform the world.
But first, they needed transformation themselves.
How would Christ accomplish their transformation?
They would be with Him.
And over the succeeding chapters, Mark emphasizes the various ways in which Christ trained them while they were with Him:
- He demonstrated to them the supremacy of His kingdom over Satan’s kingdom (and His truth over the Pharisee’s legalism, 3:21-27).
- He revealed the priority of His fellowship with them over physical bonds of relationship by calling them His brothers (3:34).
- He taught them personally, revealing truth hidden from the crowds of unbelievers (4:10-13).
- He slept while they fretted — and then He calmed the storm (4:38-41).
- He allowed the disciples to accompany Him in the boat, while he denied that same opportunity to the healed demoniac (whom Christ had given another task, 5:18-20).
- He healed the woman in the crowd to demonstrate, in part, the supremacy of His knowledge to the disciples (5:31-34).
- He took a select few of the disciples to see His authority over death (5:37ff).
- He sent them out to preach, even giving them authority over the demons (6:7ff).
- He gave them an impossible feeding task (6:37 — “you give them something to eat!”), and then made them participants in the miracle, even leaving each of them with a large object lesson at the end (6:41-43)!
- He left them alone in a precarious position, so they would learn to trust Him and not fear (6:45, 50).
In summation, He taught them truth with His Words, He gave them opportunities to minister for and serve Him, and He designed circumstances that would test their faith and demonstrate His authority, sufficiency and glory. This was the means by which Jesus Christ transformed ordinary men into useful servants.
John would say that Jesus came to His own as a revelation of His glory (Jn. 1:11-14). All these events were revelations of God’s glory.
This was the work of the One whose name is Immanuel — “God with us.”
And this is the ongoing work of that same Immanuel today. He is not only with us, but He is in us in the person of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7), never to leave us alone (Heb. 13:5), to work that same transforming process in us.
The way He was with the disciples is the same way He is with us today: He teaches us truth through His Word, the Scriptures; He offers opportunities to serve Him (to teach us dependence upon Him); and He designs a variety of changing circumstances in our lives to demonstrate His authority, sufficiency and glory.
He was with them; He is with us, too. They were transformed, as we too are being transformed.
To ponder: what are the circumstances in your life where you are tempted to deny His presence? What form of reliance is He attempting to teach your in that situation (humility? dependence? trust? freedom from fear/worry? confession?…)? In what ways does that transforming work make you a more capable servant of Christ?
Words of Grace 