Day 16: Called to Be With Him (Mark 3:13–19)
By Sindhu Nadarajan · Monday, October 5, 2026
Setting the scene
After the crowds by the sea, Jesus goes up the mountain, the place of encounter and covenant in Scripture. There he summons those whom he wanted, and they come. The call rests entirely on his choosing, not on their merit.
The mystery of the number twelve
Twelve recalls the twelve tribes: Jesus is gathering and fulfilling Israel, forming a new people. St. Augustine sees more. Twelve is three times four: the Trinity (three) announced to the four corners of the earth (four). From day one, the Church was built to reach the whole world.
Why Judas?
Mark ends the list plainly: "Judas Iscariot who betrayed him." Against the Donatists, who insisted the Church be made up only of the pure, St. Augustine taught that the Church on earth is a corpus permixtum, a mixed body of wheat and weeds until the harvest. Jesus endured Judas, teaching the Church to endure sin in its midst without fracturing. Judas ate the same bread as Peter and John at the Last Supper; the difference lay in the heart. The eleven received life, Judas received judgment. Holy gifts are not soiled by an unworthy recipient.
Three purposes of the call
Jesus called them to be with him, to preach, and to drive out demons. Drawing on St. Augustine's themes, these form one movement:
To be with him: the root. Being comes before doing; we cannot give what we have not received. Grace, not effort, makes us holy, and nearness to Christ guards us against pride and exhaustion.
To preach: the fruit. A heart filled with Christ overflows into speech that, as St. Augustine puts it in On Christian Doctrine, instructs, delights, and moves.
To drive out demons: the battle. Truth provokes darkness. In St. Augustine's The City of God, history is the struggle between love of God and love of self. Authority over evil is given as mercy, to free others so they too can be with him.
If you take away any one of these three, the structural integrity of Christian life collapses. If you preach and fight demons without being with him, you burn out or fall into pride. If you try to be with him but never preach or fight darkness, you bury your talent in the dirt.
Ponder
Do I still live as though I must earn Christ's wanting me?
How do I respond to sin in the Church and in myself: with despair, judgment, or patient hope?
Which of the three (being with him, proclaiming, or confronting darkness) is most neglected in my life now?
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, you want me. Draw me first to be with you, fill me to speak your truth, and give me courage and authority against darkness in your name. Amen.
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