Today, Jesus calls a group of close friends especially elected by Him to continue His mission and shape His “new family”. In the beginning the designation Apostles included more friends than this circle of “the Twelve”, but later it was strictly restricted to them.

Mark states that He “instituted Twelve”: “institute” is the Old Testament terminology to indicate the appointment of priests. Furthermore, the elected ones are appointed one by one, just as it had happened with the Israel prophets: the apostolic ministry appears as a fusion between the priestly mission and the prophetic mission. The previous events had taken place by the seaside; now Jesus climbs to the “mountain”, which points to the place of His communion with God: a place “in the heights”.

—The disciples’ election is a prayer event: they are “engendered” in prayer, in the familiarity with the Father. Thus, the call of the Twelve has a profound theological sense: their election is born out of the dialogue between the Son and the Father.