Mark 3:16-21 - They went to take charge of Him

3:16-19

We are then given the names of the twelve. Simon is named first, and henceforth is called Peter in Mark’s gospel. James and John were known as the “sons of thunder”, Boanerges. This nickname may have been descriptive of their dispositions.  The rest are just named, with few extras. Judas is noted as being the one who betrayed Jesus. The Greek word for betray literally means “handed over”. Iscariot means “the man from Kerioth”, which means he came from a different region than the others. Thaddeus is the same as “Judas son of James”. Simon the Zealot, Zealot may have indicated that he supported the Zealots, a party that was zealous for overturning Roman rule. Later he became zealous for the preaching of the gospel. 

3:20,21

In the final part of the chapter we encounter two more examples of opposition to Jesus. One from his family, and the other from the teachers of the Law. In both cases Jesus turns the tables on His opponents. The two examples are interwoven, and things begin with Jesus entering a house. As usual a large crowd gathers, and the disciples weren’t even to eat. His family heard about it and thought everything was getting out of hand, that Jesus was getting out of hand.mThey went to “take charge of Him”, thinking that things were going too far. Just consider how ridiculous it is to think we can “take charge” of the Son of God! Yet that is what we all too often try to do.