Setting the Scene
Picture the hills above the Sea of Galilee before dawn, sometime around AD 28 to 30; nobody can fix the year more closely. Imagine the cold of the high ground, dew heavy on the scrub, and far below the lake lying grey and still. Somewhere on the slope a man has been praying through the whole night. Luke tells us so. As the sky pales behind the hills across the lake, he stands and begins to call names.
Picture the people gathered on the hillside below, a mixed crowd of followers who have come up from the fishing villages and the towns around the lake. Some are fishermen with cracked hands. One has collected taxes. One has been called a zealot. Nobody applied for what is about to happen. Jesus calls those he wants, and they come up to him.
The names are spoken one at a time. Simon comes first. And standing near him, as he has stood near him all his life, is his brother. Listen for the name.
The map
From the lakeside towns to the hills.
- The mountain Mark 3:13–19
- Capernaum Mark 1:21, 29; 2:13–14
- Bethsaida John 1:44
One question to start
1Level 1: Observation
Compare Matthew 10:2–4 with Mark 3:16–19. How is Andrew described in each, and where does his name come? What does Mark 3:14–15 say the Twelve were appointed to do?
Carry on with the whole session
Members see the whole session as the app shows it: the readings, the talk, the word studies, all three levels of question, the challenge and the prayer.