He went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted
and they came to him. He appointed twelve (whom he also named
apostles) that they might be with him and he might send them forth
to preach and to have authority to drive out demons:
And so he appointed the Twelve (Mk 3, 13-16a)
Why only twelve?
He could have appointed eleven thus avoiding the traitor or he could
have appointed more than 12 to complete the work faster.
In fact he had a great following and they were flocking to him.
Every Jew knew that there were twelve tribes in Israel.
These twelve corresponded to the twelve sons of Jacob.
From these twelve tribes only the great nation grew up in Egypt.
Redemption was gifted to this nation in Egypt.
They entered the land of Canaan as twelve tribes (a nation).
Land was divided and shared among the twelve tribes.
When Assyrians and Babylonians destroyed the land and the
people; they hoped that God would restore them again.
God would turn everything around and make them
a great nation once again.
So when Jesus called the twelve and gave them a special status
and a special commission, the crowd would have understood
the implication of his action.
His commission was not just a healing mission.
His commission was not just a spiritual renewal.
His commission was not just to teach/preach
IT WAS TO CREATE A NATION
with physical, spiritual, social wholeness etc.
It was a restoration movement.
It was gathering up of all people into a single nation.
And a nation (for a Jew) was made up of twelve tribes.
So, the twelve apostles were the heads of the twelve tribes
of new Israel (Kingdom of God).
Jesus' work was the work of restoration, of recreation,
of reformation of new Israel beginning with the twelve.
