John Calvin on Mark 1:38-43

Mark1:38. For on this account I came out. Luke 4:43. For on this account am I sent. These words deserve our attention: for they contain a declaration of his earnest desire to fulfill his office. But it will perhaps be asked, is it better that the ministers of the Gospel should run here and there, to give only a slight and partial taste of it in each place, or that they should remain, and instruct perfectly the hearers whom they have once obtained? I reply. The design of Christ, which is here mentioned, was agreeable to the injunction and call of the Father, and was founded on the best reasons. For it was necessary that Christ should travel, within a short period, throughout Judea, to awaken the minds of men, on all sides, as if by the sound of a trumpet, to hear the Gospel. But on this subject we must treat more fully under another passage.

MARK 3:13-19; LUKE 6:12-19

Mark 3:13-19

Luke 4:12-19

13. And he went up into a mountain, and called to him whom he would: and they came to him. 14. And he appointed twelve to be with him, and send them forth to preach, 15. And to have powers of healing diseases, and of casting out devils. 16. And to Simon he gave the name Peter. 17. And James th son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James: and he gave them the names of Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder. 18. And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James (son) of Alpheus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Canaanite, 19. And Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

12. And it happened in those days, he went out into a mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. 13. And when it was day, he called his disciples, and chose twelve from among them, whom he also called Apostles: 14. Simon, whom he also called Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, 15. Matthew and Thomas, James (son) of Alpheus, and Simon, who is called Zelotes, 16. And Judas (brother) of James, and Judas Iscariot, who also was the traitor. 17. And going down with them, he stood in a plain, and a multitude of his disciples, and a very great multitude of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18. Who had come to hear him, and to be healed from their diseases, and those who were tormented by unclean spirits were healed. 19. And the whole multitude sought to touch him, for virtue went out of him, and healed all.