Show Don't Tell: Mark 3:13-19

Instead of saying "Jesus appointed the twelve apostles," climb the mountain with them. Jesus goes up on a mountainside and calls to him those he wants—not those who volunteered, but those he chose. They come to him. He appoints twelve that they might be with him—relationship first—and that he might send them out to preach and have authority to drive out demons. Here are the names: Simon (whom he named Peter—the Rock), James son of Zebedee and his brother John (whom he named Boanerges—Sons of Thunder), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Fishermen, a tax collector, a revolutionary—an impossible team. Jesus doesn't pick the polished or powerful. He picks the available and transforms them.