Have you ever felt like that you couldn’t do anything correctly? That you were your own worse enemy? That you kept bumbling and stumbling every opportunity presented to you?
If so, you’re in a great company. Let’s look at a young man who went from missing the mark to making his mark. His name was John Mark, all puns intended. But we’ll just call him Mark.
Piecing together the evidence from the and Acts, it seems that Mark lived in Jerusalem and his mother Mary was a supporter of Jesus of Nazareth. (Incidentally, Mary is the Greek version of Mariam, Moses’s big sister and prophetess. That’s why there are so many Mary’s in the New Testament.) It also very probable that when Jesus held his famous Last Supper, he did so in the upper room of Mary’s house in Jerusalem. Mark may even have helped set up for the Last Supper and perhaps eavesdropped as Jesus explained that he would soon be betrayed by a friend. When Jesus and the disciples left, Mark seems to have followed from a distance, following them to the Garden of Gethsemane. Like the disciples, Mark could have fallen asleep during Jesus’s agonizing prayer. Or maybe he was the only human being to have heard Jesus’s desperate prayer for comfort or guidance. Then things got bad. The religious leaders showed up with the SWAT team and for a few moments it looked like that they were going to round up all the usual suspects. One of the soldiers saw Mark, reached for him, and grabbed his robe. Mark not wanting to be hauled away, slipped out of his robe, and “barely” got away. On a night of high drama, Mark was in the embarrassing situation of trying to get home without being seen – by anybody.
In Acts 12, we read that when Peter was imprisoned by King Herod Agrippa I, Mary held a prayer meeting at her house. When Peter was miraculously freed by an angel, he ran to Mary’s house to tell the good news. The very last verse in the chapter reads, “When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission to Jerusalem, they returned, taking John Mark with them.” (Acts 12:25 NLT). Mark had arrived. No longer would he be in his mom’s shadow. He was about to make his mark. He had the honor of being part of Paul’s first mission trip as they went to the island of Cyprus (Acts 13:1-5). That would look good on anybody’s resume.
But then unlucky number 13 comes into play, twice. Acts 13:13 states that “Paul and his companions then left Paphos by ship for Pamphylia, landing at the port town of Perga. There John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem.” In 8 verses, Mark went from a member of a groundbreaking mission team to being a deserter. It was one thing to land at nearby Cyprus, but when they traveled on to Turkey, Mark got cold feet and ran. Once again, he was making an embarrassing journey back to his home in Jerusalem. He was the kid who could follow Jesus and Paul, but when things got thick, he would bail out.
I’m sure back in Jerusalem, his mother Mary came to Mark, whispering words of wisdom, – no, not let it be, – but try again. Likewise, I’m sure that his cousin, Barnabas, the encourager, also encouraged Mark to try again. But one person disagreed, the Apostle Paul. For the second mission trip, Luke writes that “Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark. But Paul disagreed strongly, since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in their work. Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus. Paul chose Silas, and as he left, the believers entrusted him to the Lord’s gracious care.” (Acts 15:37-40 NLT).
Mark’s resume and job history were not looking good at this point: he was streaking when Jesus was being tried, sailing back home when Paul was preaching, and splitting up the renown mission team. Streaking, sailing, and splitting. That’s rough. Talking about missing the mark.
Paul was the Apostle of Grace. But he thought that John Mark was a disgrace. He adopted Timothy as his adopted son, even though Timothy wrestled with fear and timidity being a young man. Barnabas must have mentored Mark in a similar way, behind the scenes in one of the many untold stories in Acts. And apparently, Mark crossed paths with Peter again and heard his firsthand accounts of the apostles.
At the end of Acts, we find the Apostle Paul under house arrest in Rome, awaiting his first trial before Emperor Nero. There he writes several letters to local churches. In Colossians 4:10, the Apostle Paul writes “Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, sends you his greetings, and so does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin. As you were instructed before, make Mark welcome if he comes your way.” At the end of his personal letter to Philemon and family, Paul writes, “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. So do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my co-workers.”
Several years later, Paul is imprisoned again. The Christian faith is outlawed. Paul will be executed after his second trial. In his last letter to Timothy, Paul writes, “Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you when you come, for he will be helpful to me in my ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:11). Mark met Paul one more time. All had been forgiven. Mark had finally caught up with Timothy as part of the second generation of Christian leaders.
The executions of Peter and Paul must have had a powerful impact on Mark. The first generation of Christian eyewitnesses were dying out through old age and persecution. Meanwhile, the Romans were assembling a massive army to retake to Judea and the capital Jerusalem that had recently revolted against Roman authority.
Mark was no longer the young man filled with fear. He was now the mature leader, realistically facing the bleak future. What could he do? What should he do? Mark took up the pen and composed a book, The Good News by John Mark. Based on what he learned from Peter and a few of his own experiences, he told the story of Jesus of Nazareth, who had warned that his generation would not pass away until Jerusalem had been destroyed. The Gospel according to Saint Mark is interesting. Originally written in Aramaic, it got translated into a very rough Greek. Along the way, the last page got lost or purposely destroyed, and some scribe thought he would help God out by composing a few verses to end the story. Thus, we have the infamous snake-handling verses. Other scholars, not least of which is NT Wright, believe that there is also a missing first page, which explains the choppy beginning. While not perfect and scarred by missing pages and a bad translation, Mark broke new ground with his gospel.
A Jewish-Christian took 90% of Mark’s Gospel and along with some new material that he learned from the surviving disciple Matthew and wrote The Gospel according to Matthew for the Jewish community. A few years later, Paul’s old friend and personal physician, Dr. Luke used 50% of Mark’s Gospel to write what he considered to be the ultimate gospel for the Greek community. Matthew and Luke may have written better gospels, but it was Mark who had prepared the way. Mark had finally made his mark on Christian history and scripture. The boy who had been written off to tell the good news of Jesus Christ was now the man who was the first to have written the good news of Jesus Christ.
As you look on your Christian life, are there some Mary’s and Barnabas’s, people who love you and encourage you, but you also feel like that you’re always in their shadow?
Are there some Apostle Paul’s, people who have written you off, because you failed in a big-time manner?
Are there some Timothy’s, people that you feel are your rivals for attention, people whom you are competing with?
Or do you know a Mark who needs encouragement to try again? Is there a Mark who you have prematurely written off?
Let us always remember that no matter how many times we may miss the mark, with the support of others and God’s amazing grace, we can still make our mark.
The Keith Church Blog 