And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
In these verses, we have, I. The choice Christ made of the twelve apostles to be his constant followers and attendants, and to be sent abroad as there was occasion, to preach the gospel. Observe, 1. The introduction to this call or promotion of disciples; He goes up into a mountain, and his errand thither was to pray.
Commenting on Mark 3:13-21
And the Scribes which came down from Jerusalem,.... Or, "but the Scribes", &c. who had an aversion to Christ, and a different opinion of him: these were they, who having heard much of the doctrine and miracles of Christ, came down from Jerusalem, which lay in the upper, and higher part of the land of Israel, into Galilee, a low country, to make their observations...
Verse 21. When his friends. Greek, "They who were of him." Not the apostles, but his relatives, his friends, who were in the place of his nativity. Heard of it. Heard of his conduct; his preaching; his appointing the apostles; his drawing such a multitude to his preaching. This shows, that by "his friends" were not meant the apostles, but those at a distance who heard of his conduct.