Mark 3:13–19 (NKJV): 13 And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. 14 Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, 15 and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: 16 Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder”; 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; 19 and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house.

Can we just sit on the peripheral for a moment. Notice what Jesus does in choosing His disciples and sending them out? As was Jesus’ mission to preach, He commands His own disciples to do the same, and then gave them power to heal and cast out demons. It is more than obvious then that He is commanding us to follow Him even in the specifics of the mission.

It is in the seventeenth chapter of John’s gospel that we find Jesus saying to the Father “if those that you have given me, I have lost none”. We know therefore that the Father is the one who gave these disciples to Jesus, but here in Mark it tells us that “He called to Himself those He Himself wanted”. I suppose there may be those who believe that Jesus the Son of God was some sort of puppet for the Father’s use. After all, He does say that His food is to do the will of Him who sent Him (John 4:34). But to think that Jesus was somehow deficient in divinity and incapable of choosing His own disciples would be an error. In His process of choosing the twelve, He had already accumulated many and even though He would send out another seventy later, He is here prayerfully choosing the close twelve that He would personally disciple for three and a half years. You also know that some didn’t make the cut, so to speak, but that would have nothing to do with their ability, potential, or charisma. They were simply not chosen for that role. How much better would the church be today if men would wait on the Lord and not force themselves into roles they were never called to, and not be jealous over their brothers call?