The place of this statement is not fixed, nor the time, except that it appears in the narrative after the Sermon on the Mount and the raising of Jairus' daughter.
Mark tells how Jesus went "up into a mountain and calleth unto Him whom he would" (Mark III:13). He then "ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach" (Mark III:14). Then follow the names of the twelve apostles, the calling of four of whom Mark had already related (Mark I:16-20). At a somewhat later time he tells of the sending forth of the twelve apostles, but condenses the instructions to them into four verses (Mark VI:7-13).
Luke tells that Jesus, "having gone out into a mountain to pray, called unto Him His disciples, and of them He chose twelve, whom also He named apostles" (Luke VI:13, 14). The calling of Andrew, Peter, James and John, and of Levi (if he were one of the apostles) had already been given (Luke V:1-10, 27, 28). The instructions to the apostles appear later in his narrative and are condensed into three verses (Luke IX:1-6).
Luke alone of the four evangelists tells that, at a later date, Jesus "appointed other seventy also" to go before Him and preach (Luke X:1). To these seventy are given instructions similar to those given to the twelve in Matthew (Luke X:2-12).
John tells of the calling of Andrew, Peter and Philip (John I:40, 41, 43), but has no account of any special instructions given to the apostles.[28]
THE TEMPERATE LIFE
In rebuking the obduracy of the then generation of the Jews, Jesus illustrates His view of right living, viz: temperance in all things.
"For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous and a wine bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners" (Matt. XI:18, 19).
In the face of the example of asceticism set by John the Baptist, Jesus neither fasted Himself, nor did He enjoin fasting on His disciples (Matt. XI:18, 19; IX:14; Mark II:18; Luke V:33). While He objected to the charge of excess, He both ate meat and drank wine in moderation, and inculcated the same practice on His disciples. "And in the same house remain eating and drinking such things as they give" (Luke X:7). He must have been companionable in His every-day life, for He both entertained in His own house (Matt. IX:10; Mark II:15), and was a welcome guest at entertainments given in His honor. "And Levi made Him a great feast at His own house" (Luke V:29). "And it came to pass as He went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day" (Luke XIV:1). "And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there; and both Jesus was called and His disciples to the marriage" (John II:1, 2). "There they made Him a supper" (John XII:2).[29]
He could sympathize with the spirit of joy and cheer appropriate to such occasions, for when the wine failed at the wedding in Cana, He provided a fresh supply, better than the first (John II:3-10).