Ordination - Matt 12:14-21; Mark 3:7-19; Luke 6:12-19

The Pharisees have hassled Jesus about the Sabbath day for several weeks now and their interactions are escalating to the point that the Pharisees are actively trying to kill Jesus, and Jesus is choosing to leave the city instead of saving himself through supernatural means. Mark tells us that Jesus “withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him,” and from all over nearby places, people flocked to him, “for he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues. And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known.” Luke tells us that when people touched him, “there went virtue out of him.” This is like when the woman with an issue of blood touched Jesus’ robe and he said “virtue has gone out of me.” I wonder what that means exactly, if it was spiritually draining to heal. Matthew makes an interesting statement, saying that Jesus healed and then charged those he healed to not tell anyone and quotes “Esaias the prophet” as prophesying of this action. At the end of Esaias’ prophecy he says, “And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.” I’m not exactly sure how many other people have caught this statement while reading the New Testament, but I find it very interesting that this phrase is printed on all of our money, and on so many of our government documents and buildings and statues. We are considered gentiles and that is basically our motto as a country, or at least it used to be.

Jesus heals the multitudes following him, the “he goeth up into a mountain,… and he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils.” These men who have followed him have been considered disciples up to this point, and while He did ask them to “follow me” it sounds like he’s making it a more official calling with priesthood ordination. Mark names them as “Simon he surnamed Peter; And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of Thunder: And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James and son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him.” That’s all 12 and we can see that there is a pretty substantial mix of different backgrounds and ethnicities, just like today, because the gospel is for everyone.