GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 3:13
The First String
As a sophomore in high school, I tried out for the football team. After a few practice sessions, the coach began making selections for the first string. As he called out names, the players went to stand beside him. First, there were the upperclassmen who had played for him before. Then, to fill his roster, he selected those who could throw the ball with the greatest skill. Finally, he chose some large guys for linemen. Everyone else, me included, was relegated to the second string.
St. Mark said that after Jesus taught and ministered to a large crowd on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, “And he went up on the mountain, and he called to himself whom he wanted, and they came to him.” (3:13) In St. Luke’s account, Jesus went to the mountain to pray (Luke 6:12). Tradition indicates Mount Hattin, about five miles west of the Sea of Galilee, as the place where he went. Jesus had some important decisions to make. He had to have some way to make his message permanent if anything should happen to him, and he had to have some way of spreading his message. In an era before print or broadcast facilities, the way to communicate a message was through people who could go out and carry his message abroad.
Just as the football coach carefully watched the candidates practice, Jesus had carefully observed those around him. He had observed their devotion, their cooperation, their commitment, and he called “whom he wanted.” As the coach called out the names of students who became his first string, so Jesus called out some of his followers, “and they came to him.” This, of course, was the first test: their willingness to turn from their occupations—tax collecting, fishing, political activism, agriculture, or other trades—and take up another vocation.
The voice of Jesus still calls out those whom he wants, so…
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