Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons

 But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea.  And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him.  So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him.  For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him.  And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, "You are the Son of God."  But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.

And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted.  And they came to Him.  Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:  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, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Cananite; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. 

- Mark 3:7-19a

Yesterday we read that Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him:  how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."   And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

 But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea.   And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him.  So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him.  For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him.  And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, "You are the Son of God."  But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.  In the swift progress of Christ's ministry that we see in the Gospel of Mark, He has already encountered open hostility from the Pharisees (see yesterday's reading, above).  Although they plot to destroy Him, it is not yet time for His death in Jerusalem.  Moreover, He is drawing so much attention that He must fulfill His ministry and preach in other places beyond Galilee.  People now follow Him from all parts of Israel, even Jews from Gentile territories.  Still in the midst of His ministry, it is not time for Him to be known and revealed as Christ, the Son of God.  The demons know and recognize Him, and recognize His power over them, but He forbids them to make Him known.  His revelation must come through His ministry, His work of preaching and healing.

And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted.  And they came to Him.  Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:  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, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Cananite; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.   As His fame has spread throughout the Jewish territories of Israel and her immediate regions, Christ's mission takes on a new step forward, a new evolution -- the appointment of twelve disciples to become also apostles, those who will be sent out to preach, to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons.  Note that in this list, Levi the tax collector (see Wednesday's reading) has become Matthew, signifying the great change and his new life with Christ.  There are several for whom it is noted here in Mark that Christ gave new names as well, such as Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter, and James and John Zebedee to whom He gave the name "Sons of Thunder."  In the lists of the twelve apostles, Judas Iscariot is always noted as the one who betrayed Him.

It is interesting that in every list of the choosing of the apostles, Judas Iscariot is listed as the one who betrayed Christ.  Although, of course, that betrayal would come much later and at the end of Christ's ministry, this is nevertheless the way in which the choosing of Judas among the others is noted.  We have to pause to wonder why.  Was he unknown to Christ?  Isn't Christ the knower-of-hearts, who knows what is inside of people?  Jesus Himself will remark upon this, saying, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" (John 6:70).  The question opens up as to when Jesus understood this would happen.  But nevertheless it highlights our own free will.  Perhaps Judas had tendencies one way and another, as indeed all of us do.  Peter himself, the leader who would so often speak for all of the apostles, would betray Christ three times at His arrest, even in front of a servant girl (see this reading from Luke).  Perhaps Christ understood all along the tendencies of Judas, which John indicates included being a thief (John 12:6).  From this information, we might assume in him a love of money.  But in the choosing of Judas as an apostle we must see also that Christ knew the possibilities for good in Judas as well.  This conclusion simply draws us even further into the understanding of the freedom that we have as human beings to choose what we love and what we do not love.  We can make decisions -- even despite our own impulses -- for one choice or another.  In the choice of Judas as apostle, we see one who would betray Jesus, even as Jesus put His trust in him.  And in that understanding we are faced with the stark nature of our freedom.  It is a kind of blinding light in which we understand how we can make choices that set our lives upon one plane or another, one path or another, toward one end or another.  Judas could have remained with the twelve, even repentant, even doubtful, and on that path to have found his own salvation among them.  But his own choice would lead to despair; his inability to trust in Christ who tried to save him at every possible juncture, even at His arrest (Luke 22:48), would mean there wasn't another path except trusting in his own limited resources and those who could not or would not help him at all (Matthew 27:3-4).  In the choosing of Judas, perhaps we see the true paradigm of God's relationship to us:  God loves and seeks the return of that love, and we are free to turn from it.  But in turning away, we only find a path that ultimately leads nowhere, to nothing, a dead end in which we find negativity, destruction, hopelessness.  It simply adds to the poignancy of God's saving mission.  The earliest teaching work known to the Church is a work attributed to the apostles, called the Didache.  It speaks of the way of life and the way of death.  It indicates that our choices are just that stark.  This is an understanding that entails the direction we're headed, the end destination of a particular pathway, what the fullness or continuum of that choice would lead to.  Christ offers us, at every turn, repentance, as a way to get back on the path of life.  Let us understand that in choosing Judas, whatever Jesus knew or understood of his eventual betrayal, Christ put His love and trust in a human being in order to seek to save.  We all will encounter betrayal in our lives, and therefore should not feel alone when our love and trust is betrayed by those in whom we also have invested our faith.  That tells us is about the world in which we live and our place in it.  We may put our trust in fallible human beings, and we may be let down.  But the One who went to death through betrayal, and then to Resurrection for all of us, has been through it all first, and has transcended all.  His story supersedes all of it, and for us as well.   He has a way for us to choose, a rootedness in His life and His way and the endpoint of His path which is life itself, the Resurrection that follows death.  When we are betrayed by the freedom claimed by those in whom we trusted, we may yet root ourselves in the love that is steadfast and doesn't fail, and this is what our lesson from the Gospels says to us today.    We may also make note that Judas was a disciple and apostle chosen by Christ.   Our faith in Him may continue even when we are let down by nominal members and representatives of the Church.    Let us trust in the One who is here for all of us, before us, and trust ourselves to Him.