After the two Sabbath confrontations w/ the Pharisees earlier in chapter 6, Jesus spent the entire night on a mountain in prayer to the Father before He chose the Twelve. The magnitude of Jesus next two acts - appointing of the twelve apostles and the Sermon on the Mount - is really underscored that He spent the entire night in prayer. I probably would have went to bed early so I'd be rested for the big day!
In 6:13 and 17, Jesus presumably had a fairly large following of disciples, but from the larger group, He chose the Twelve. And "whom He also names as apostles." In Greek, apostle means "one sent out." Mark 3:14 clearly gives the purpose for Jesus' selection of the Twelve: ... so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach; this is consistent with Luke's account here.
Picture in your mind what is happening here: Jesus goes up to the mountain to pray. He called His disciples to Him and chose Twelve. Then He and the Twelve come down from the mountain. And "there was a large crowd of His disciples and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon." It is interesting to note the intimacy level of each group. From the most intimate to the least:
- Jesus and the Father. (ratio of 1:1)
- Jesus and the Twelve. (1:12)
- Jesus and the large crowd of disciples. (1:Many)
- Jesus and the throng of people. (1:Lots More)
A criticism I've heard of pastors is that sometimes people or groups of people feel neglected: "He's never called me on the phone or visited me at home." "He spends so much time with this group, but not with that group." Perhaps sometimes these criticism have some basis, and I'm not even going to argue from a practical standpoint if a pastor can give each of his congregants equal time and attention. But observing Jesus' example, He clearly spent more time with some disciples than with others. Even within the Twelve, we see that He spent more time w/ Peter, James and John (ratio of 1:3).
My desire is to follow Jesus' ministry model. As a disciple, I seek to spend time w/ my discipler and for him to send me out to teach. Likewise, as a discipler, I want to spend time with my disciples and send them out to teach. (Although, I may be discipled by someone and I may disciple some people, Jesus is the true discipler of us all.)
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