Mark 3:16-19 - Who Were the Twelve?

Mark 3:16-19
16 And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), 17 and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”); 18 and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot; 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.


Message: Who Were the Twelve?

Time: Mark's personal connection with Peter gave him the source material for this book. This book was composed probably between AD 57 and AD 59. It's a book that is on the move, leading to the cross. 39 times is the word 'immediately' used. Mark reveals Jesus as God's servant, reaching into the lives of people and effecting physical and circumstantial change.

What the Lord is Saying:

There is not much known about these 12 men that Jesus appointed. In the preceding verses he mentions the significance of calling them: so that they could be with him, they could hear and see Jesus preach and cast out demons and then so they could do the same after being trained by Jesus (3:13-15). It is interesting that Mark, the writer of this gospel, was not among the 12.

The 12 called had a diverse background as they were made up of fishermen, tax collectors, revolutionaries. But their lives were not important, but just the fact that they were called to accompany Jesus. It is interesting that we know very little about them and that the gospel writers recorded little about what they did alongside Jesus.

Simon -  or Simeon meaning "a hearer", the son of Jonas surnamed Peter or Cephas, the Rock-man; a fisherman, like his father on the Galilean lake, originally from Bethsaida, and later in a house at Capernaum; encouraged by his brother Andrew; after Jesus' Ascension he has a position of special prominence.

James - the son of Zebedee and Salome, from Bethsaida, commonly known as James “the Great,” the first of the Apostolic body to suffer martyrdom, and the only one of the Twelve whose death is actually recorded in the New Testament.

John - the brother of James, who never in his Gospel calls himself by this name, but sometimes “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, sometimes “the other disciple”. To him our Lord committed the care of His earthly mother. These brothers were surnamed by our Lord, Boanerges, i. e. “sons of thunder.”

Andrew - brother of St Peter, native of Bethsaida; three notices of him in the Gospels, (i) On the occasion of the feeding of the 5,000 it is he who points out the little lad with the five barley loaves and the two fishes; (ii) when certain Greeks desired to see Jesus, it was he in conjunction with Philip who introduced them to the Lord; (iii) together with Peter, James, and John he inquired privately of our Lord respecting His future coming.

Philip - native of Bethsaida; one of the first to be spoken "Follow Me.” It was to him the question was put “to prove him,” “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” Together with Andrew and townspeople he brought the inquiring Greeks to the Saviour; it was he who asked “Lord, shew us the Father, and it suffice us.”

Bartholomew - Bar-Tolmai, the “Song of Solomon of Tolmai,”; besides John, he is mentioned by other synoptic evangelists, his birth-place is Cana; has a simple, guileless character, and he was one of the seven, to whom our Lord shewed Himself by the lake of Gennesaret after His resurrection.

Matthew - or Levi, has a separate calling in Mark 2:14; a tax collector.

Thomas - Didymus (a twin), whose character was marked by a deep attachment to his Master and a readiness even to die with Him, but at the same time by a tendency to misgiving and despondency, which made him ever ready to take the darker view of things, and to distrust other evidence than that of sight.

James - James the Less, son of Alphaeus, a distinct person from James the Lord’s brother and author of the Epistle, which bears his name.

Thaddæus - Judas (Jude), a brother, or possibly a son of James, bishop of Jerusalem; surnamed Thaddæus and Lebbæus “a man of energy and courage.” He is the author of the Epistle which bears his name (Jude). Once only in the Gospels do we find any act or saying of his recorded, “Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?”

Simon - the Cananite, or Cananœan, in Greek Zelotes. A a native of Canaan, or of Cana, but comes from a Chaldee or Syriac word Kanean or Kaneniah, by which the Jewish sect or faction of “the Zealots” was designated. To this sect Simon had probably belonged before his call.

Judas Iscariot - sometimes called the son of Simon, more generally Iscariot, i. e. probably “a native of Kerioth” a little village in the tribe of Judah.

Promise: These men were diverse, but more importantly united.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for choosing these 12 men, as you have chosen me. Thank you that they are not all perfect and that the reality is one even betrayed you.