Mark 3:13

Mark 3:13 says, And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.  Jesus once again went up to the mountain to escape the crowd, and He called to go with Him those that He would.  Fortunately, Jesus calls everyone to come apart from the world with Him, though not all respond, and unfortunately some who claim to do so are not sincere in accepting Jesus's invitation.  Verse fourteen adds, And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,  Verse fifteen continues, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:  There on the mountain, Jesus ordained the twelve disciples, who were to both be with Him during His ministry and to go out and preach the gospel and heal the sick, especially those who were spiritually sick, and to cast out devils.  We as Christians are called apart from the world to be in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but we are also called for a purpose, and that is to spread the gospel to everyone that God gives us an opportunity to witness to.  We may too often want to be called apart from the world instead of going out into the world to share the gospel.  The world is never going to be improved by accepting the gospel if Christians withdraw from it more and more.  Even if the world is full of devils, we as Christians should not be afraid to go out into the world.  Verse sixteen states, And Simon he surnamed Peter;  Verse seventeen adds, And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: Verse eighteen continues, And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,  Veres nineteen concludes, And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.  The disciples are then named, with a little more information given about some of them.  We are told Simon was surnamed Peter, though Mark didn’t give us the reason why.  We know of the later works of some more than others, but they were all equally called and commissioned, even Judas Iscariot.  Some people would say that Judas had no choice but to betray Jesus, but I believe that he was called just as sincerely as the other disciples, but he allowed his own desires to keep him from fully committing to Jesus, just as many people today profess to following Jesus, but never totally put Him above their own selfish desires.  Jesus still calls those whom He would to Himself, and that is everyone, though not all accept His call.