He went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve [whom he also named apostles] that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons: 16 [he appointed the twelve:] Simon, whom he named Peter; 17 James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder; 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, 19 and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
20 He came home. Again [the] crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. 21 When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” 22 The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”
Jesus going up the mountain to appoint the Twelve disciples was reminiscent of Moses going up the mountain when God was forming Israel into a nation (Ex. 19:3-6). The early Christian community would have recognized that in the OT the Israelites could not go up the mountain to God, but Jesus, the Son of Man, took the disciples up the mountain where it was believed God could be found. Based on his initiative, Jesus appointed Twelve disciples to follow him, to be his constant companions, and to share in his ministry of preaching (v. 14) and performing exorcisms (v. 15). The ministry of preaching and healing was fulfilled later (Mk. 6:7). The Twelve formed the nucleus of the new people of God being established by Jesus to restore all of God’s people. They were symbolic of the twelve tribes of Israel (Gen. 49:28; cf. Mt. 19:28). The symbolism of the Twelve was very significant to the early Church which was comprised mainly of Jewish converts, and the early Jerusalem community quickly found a replacement for Judas (Acts 1:15-26).
Jesus’ relatives heard about the many disciples who were following him and went to forcefully remove him (v. 21) since they did not have faith in him at this point and wanted people to stop saying bad things about him and the family. The Scribes accused Jesus of being possessed by an evil spirit. They could have come that conclusion because they considered some of the things he preached as being contrary to the Torah, the Law of God (Mk. 3:1-5).
Almighty God, you told us to go make disciples of all nations, to call sinners to repentance and to cure those who are afflicted in body and soul. With that commission comes the grace to obey your call no matter when or in what station of life we find ourselves. May we too be accused of being possessed because of our zeal for your Son. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Faculty of the University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition. Expanded Edition, Four Courts / Scepter, 2008.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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