Mark 3:7-19a
Dear RTB’ers,
The naming of the twelve apostles. When we’ve read through the Bible using The Chronological Study Bible Jesus’ naming of His twelve apostles is reported sequentially in Mark and Luke (Lk. 6:13-16), then later for Matthew (Mt. 10:2-4). The three gospels agree on eleven of the names – Peter and Andrew, James and John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew (Levi), Simon the Zealot, James the son of Alphaeus, and Judas Iscariot. For the twelfth apostle Matthew and Mark have Thaddeaus, while Luke has Judas the son of James. Luke also has the same eleven names listed in Acts 1:13. Finally, John’s gospel does not list all twelve, but he has Nathaniel instead of Bartholomew (John 1:45-49) listed in Jesus’ initial calling of His disciples. Incidentally, Judas Iscariot appears to be the only apostle who is not from Galilee. According to my Study Bible, he is likely from Kerioth-hezron, a town in the hill country of Judea, south of Jerusalem.
Blessings!
See also: February 2 (2021) / Matt. 12:15-21; Mark 3:7-19; Luke 6:12-19
So, identifying all the Apostles may well be interesting, and a deep dive into each one’s history might prove very enriching, but what else might we need to see here? What does it mean to truly be with Jesus or to be sent out by Him? Does that apply only to the named Apostles? Or is there something there for us, too? Or how about the great crowd following Jesus or the unclean spirits who fall down before Him? Are we likewise coming to Jesus for healing? Or is He merely interesting?
Thank you, John, for that comment. Your points are well taken – there is much more that could have been said. Just two days ago I had posted that for many of our readings there is much that we could say, but that we often “have to choose what to comment on.” For me this reading was such a case.