Ep. Mark 3:13–19 The New Sinai: Jesus Appoints the Twelve

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, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house. - The New King James Version (Mk 3:13–19).

The New Sinai

Jesus climbs a mountain. The crowd stirs below. From the many who followed Him, He calls twelve names. This is no random act of leadership. This is covenant-making.

The scene immediately pulls our minds back to Exodus: “Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain” (Exod 19:3). Mountains in Scripture are where heaven and earth meet, where God’s voice thunders and His covenant is revealed. Mark isn’t describing geography — he’s describing theology.

Sinai vs. Galilee

At Sinai:

• The mountain shook with thunder and smoke (Exod 19:16–18).

• The people trembled at God’s voice (Exod 20:18–19).

• God gave the Law on tablets of stone (Exod 31:18).

At Galilee:

• A quiet hillside, no thunderclouds.

• But still holy ground: the Son of God naming a new people.

• Instead of stone tablets, He writes His covenant on human hearts (Jer 31:33; 2 Cor 3:3).

Sinai terrified; Galilee invited. The Law was given once in fire, now it comes in flesh.

Twelve Tribes. Twelve Apostles.

Moses came down from Sinai and appointed twelve tribes (Exod 24:4). Jesus comes down from the mountain with twelve apostles. It’s not symbolic fluff. The number matters.

When Judas fell, Acts 1 shows how quickly they replaced him with Matthias. Why? Because the covenant people had to be whole. Eleven apostles would be as unthinkable as eleven tribes. Jesus was forming the New Israel, not around a temple, but around Himself.

The Mediator

At Sinai, the people begged Moses: “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exod 20:19). Moses was the go-between.

But here, Jesus doesn’t stand between God and man to deliver a message. He is the message: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The writer of Hebrews puts it plainly: “He is the Mediator of a better covenant, established on better promises” (Heb 8:6).

Matthew and Luke Fill in the Details

• Luke 6:12 tells us Jesus prayed all night before choosing the Twelve. This was no casual selection. Like Moses on Sinai, He sought the Father’s will before making covenant.

  
  

• Matthew 10 records that immediately after naming them, He gave them authority to heal, cast out demons, and preach. The new tribes weren’t meant to camp at the mountain. They were sent into the world.

Names that Carry Thunder

Simon, renamed Peter — not yet rock-solid, but destined to be.James and John — the “Sons of Thunder.” Sinai once thundered with God’s voice; now human voices would carry that thunder into the nations.And Judas — a name forever shadowed with betrayal. Even here, at the dawn of the New Israel, the cross is already casting its shadow.

Application: The Call Still Stands

Jesus called “those He Himself wanted.” Fishermen, a tax man, a zealot, and a future traitor. No seminaries, no ordination boards, no polished résumés. But don’t confuse that with a license for ignorance. Three years under Jesus’ teaching was no free pass. He grilled them in Scripture, rebuked their errors, and sharpened them until they could preach the Kingdom without Him standing in the room.

Paul’s words to Timothy still ring: “Study to show yourself approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” That’s not optional. If you step into a pulpit without sweat and study, you’re not bold — you’re negligent.

Jesus’ pattern is clear:

• Be with Him — sit under His voice until His Word rewires your mind.

• Be sent — mission demands more than warm feelings; it demands truth rightly handled.

• Be empowered — not with charisma or cleverness, but with the Spirit who confirms truth with power.

The scandal of the New Sinai isn’t that God uses nobodies. It’s that He doesn’t leave them nobodies. He turns them into witnesses. And that’s what we’re missing today — not passion, not personality, but disciples willing to pay the price to know the Word and live it.

A Word About Study (Because We Need to Hear It)

The Western church often falls into two ditches.

On one side are those who idolize intellect — slicing Scripture apart with higher criticism until miracles disappear and the Bible is reduced to moral stories. Knowledge without submission.

On the other side are those who idolize ignorance — rejecting learning, context, and study in the name of “simple faith.” They substitute goosebumps for doctrine. Faith without depth.

Both sides miss the mark. Pride wrecks scholarship, and pride wrecks simplicity. God used the highly trained (Paul, Daniel) and the untrained (Peter, John), but never because of their résumés. It was always the surrendered heart that mattered.

Ignorance is not a spiritual gift. Arrogance is not scholarship. The church doesn’t need less learning or more learning — it needs learning humbled before Christ, and faith anchored in truth.

Digging a Little Deeper (Optional Read)

Names in Scripture aren’t just labels. They carry weight. Jacob’s sons were given names that carried prophetic meaning, and those names shaped the story of Israel’s tribes. The same is true of the apostles.

But here’s where it gets messy. The tribes in Genesis don’t line up neatly with the tribes listed in Revelation. Dan is dropped, Manasseh is added, and the order shifts. Why? Scholars argue, but the text doesn’t hand us a tidy answer. Maybe Dan’s association with idolatry (Judg 18:30–31) is part of the story. Maybe it’s a warning about unfaithfulness.

Maybe it’s something else altogether.

Now set that beside the Twelve Jesus calls. Even in the list, we feel the tension: Peter the denier. Thomas the doubter. Judas the betrayer. Why put those names in ink? Why not edit the embarrassing ones out? Unless the point is that God’s people have always been a mixed bag of faith and failure.

And here’s where it stings: if Judas stands among the Twelve, then hypocrisy can sit in the front row of Jesus’ church. If Dan vanishes from Revelation, then a whole tribe can forfeit its inheritance. These aren’t Sunday school decorations. They’re warnings.

But the story doesn’t end with gaps and betrayals. Revelation 21 describes the New Jerusalem. Its gates are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes. Its foundations are inscribed with the names of the twelve apostles. Old covenant and new covenant, welded together into one city of God. The tribes and the apostles don’t cancel each other out; they complete each other.

Still, the mystery remains. Judas isn’t on the foundation stones. Dan isn’t on the gates. Heaven remembers faithfulness, not mere association. The names carved into eternity are those who stayed true.

Maybe that’s the lesson buried in the lists: God’s people are chosen, flawed, pruned, and completed. Some names shine, some names fall, but the Kingdom endures.