Daily Office Lectionary for Today
Mark 3:7-19
A Great Crowd Follows Jesus
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
The Twelve Apostles
13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: 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, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. (ESV)
As well as Psalm 31 and Psalm 35, which support David in his travails, all three readings in today’s Daily Office Lectionary are great stories. Continuing to flee from King Saul, David makes his way to Nob, where he takes the bread of the presence, then on to Gath. From First Samuel, it’s all part of David’s grand story about the goodness of David, especially contrasted to Saul, who proves to be insanely murderous.
At Acts 13, Paul and companions sail from Paphos to Perga, then travel on to Pisidian Antioch, where Paul teaches about Jesus to his fellow Israelites and to “those who fear God” (φοβούμενοι τὸν θεόν fearers of God or “God-fearers” were Gentiles who worshiped in the synagogue).
A couple of significant things happen in the gospel reading from Mark chapter 3. One is the Markan theme about nobody from start to finish realizing that Jesus is the Son of God. In Mark’s story, the exceptions are Jesus himself in the beginning, and at the end the Roman centurion in charge of the crucifixion. But also the demons whom Jesus casts out, which happens in today’s reading. The others who know, of course, are Mark the Evangelist; but especially Mark’s audience, who are meant to see clearly who Jesus is, thinking how dim those around him were not to have recognized him, and be inspired to proclaim him to others. We could also notice that the strange, even mysterious, "Markan Secret" shows up at Mk 3:12.
The other significant thing that happens in today’s reading from Mark is that Jesus appoints the twelve apostles. From gospel to gospel The Twelve are slightly different, are not the same in each gospel.
Tom+