Photo by Ravi N Jha on Unsplash
Who did Jesus call? Those he desired. He took his best buddies to a high mountain and called them out to something great and adventurous, dangerous, and intimate. He called them to be his closest followers and friends. He called a band of buddies.
Later, we would call them "sent ones (apostles)"
Here, they are "the called who came."
He called them to him to send them out.
And then, they would come back.
And then, sent out again.
He gave some of them new names --- two of them, teasing names ... "Sons of Thunder!"
I wonder what those guys were like.
And one ... was a betrayer.
There is at least one in every crowd ... even in a band of buddies.
"And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him." - Mark 3:13-19 (ESV)