“And Simon he surnamed Peter;”
These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter) — the name list of the twelve begins with Simon Peter, whose name-change is noted here rather than at the call scene (unlike John 1:42). The name Peter (Petros, rock) is not a commendation of Simon's character (which Mark will repeatedly show to be unreliable) but a vocational designation: Jesus is naming what Simon will become through the kingdom's formation rather than what he currently is. The parenthetical naming communicates that the appointment is not merely positional but transformative — Jesus names his disciples into their identities.
Church Fathers on Mark 3:16
After having forbidden the evil spirits to preach Him, He chose holy men, to cast out the unclean spirits, and to preach the Gospel.
Luke, however, says that He went up to pray, for after the shewing forth of miracles He prays, teaching us that we should give thanks, when we obtain any thing good, and refer it to Divine grace.
Or spiritually, Christ is the mount, from which living waters flow, and milk is procured for the health of infants; whence the spiritual feast of fat things is made known, and whatsoever is believed to be most highly good is established by the grace of that Mountain.
Read all 16 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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