When Jesus called the Apostles, they were ordinary men with ordinary lives who all wanted something. The four fishermen wanted taxes to change and the tax collector Mathew led a comfortable life, but was lonely. There were two zealots in the group, and their mission was to kill the Romans. When they became Apostles, they gave up their friends, family, work and lives to help Jesus on his mission. At first they may have returned to their villages quite often. Jesus called the fishermen in 1:14:
“Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.”
He called Mathew in 2:13. Their official calling was in group is in 3:13, this was the start of their mission. At this point he gave the Apostles three instructions. Firstly to preach, second to drive out daemons and lastly to be with Jesus.
At many points during Jesus’ mission, the Apostles fail him. This proves that they are human beings and are not perfect. One example is in 4:35 in ‘The Calming of the Storm’. This is the first time they fail Jesus in Mark’s Gospel. The Son of God is sleeping in the boat downstairs but the disciples still panic and run down to wake him.
The Apostles show humility by doing what Jesus said without questioning it. They didn’t want special treatment or anything in return. Two of the Apostles failed Jesus when they did not show humility, this was in Mark 10:35 when James and John asked for special treatment in heaven. Service was shown by carrying through instructions and completing miracles successfully, they were showing service to Jesus by carrying through with their vocation. A vocation is when you are called to do something in life, such as the Apostles were.
The Apostles were from northern Israel which, at the time of Jesus, was very violent. Although Israel was a very small country, it was full of dangers such as robbers and animals. The climate in which they were walking was unhealthily hot in the day and freezing cold in the night. The only carried very basic equipment with them, a cloth tent, fire equipment, dagger and a belt. Although they had little money they didn’t go hungry because according to Jewish law, every farmer must leave a patch of food in their field for the hungry and the poor. They also killed and cooked animals to eat. During the daytime the disciples offered people medical care, healings, miracles and cures. In return for this they were offered food and a place to stay. Although it could be argued that the Apostles never actually cured anybody and it was all down to the ‘placebo’ effect, but this is only the liberal view and not what the church believes.
Jesus died in X:X of Mark’s gospel. Judas was traditionally said to have betrayed Jesus but some say that it was a plan with Jesus, or he did not mean Jesus to die. The resurrection, according to the church, was when Jesus rose from the dead. Another view is that the disciples wanted to see Jesus so much that they actually did. This theory is probably wrong because over 50 people during the weeks following the resurrection saw him.
Mary Magdalene was from the town of Magdala, which had a bad reputation. This is where the traditionally conceived view of Mary being a prostitute originated. Although the church has now rejected this idea, most still have this idea. Mary, in fact, was so important in Jesus’ life that it could be argued she was also an Apostle. Mary was present at both the resurrection and crucifixion. At the resurrection the angel told her to tell the others, this would officially make her an Apostle, even if she was not counted in the final twelve.
At the end of Mark, in chapter 16, Jesus goes, leaving the Apostles to run things for themselves. Acts chapters one and two describe the events which followed. Pentecost was one of these main events; this is when the Apostles received the Holy Spirit different forms and it helped them to spread the word of Jesus. Christians at this time called themselves ‘Followers of the way’ and this is when they started to split from the Jewish religion. It was a dangerous and hard life of persecution. In 64AD the persecution reached its highest point when Nero set fire to Rome. This is the year in which Mark’s Gospel was written. During the next 100 years, the number of Apostles increased dramatically and the church started to form itself into the church we know today.
