St. Mark, Evangelist (Remembrance Day April 25)

“Hearken: Behold there went out a sower to sow. And it came to pass as he sowed, some fell by the wayside and the birds of the air came and devoured it. And some fell on stony ground....and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it...And other fell on good ground and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth some thirtyfold, some sixty and some a hundred. He that has ears to hear, let him hear.” Mark 4:3-9

We are sometimes reluctant to believe that our lives can ever amount to anything at all in the Kingdom of God; even more reluctant to believe that the grace of God is able to take our vessel of wood or clay and turn it into “a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and fit for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.” (I Timothy 2:20-21) We tend to ascribe spiritual greatness, holiness, zeal, and boldness to those “other” saints (both ancient and current) who seem to be so much better fitted to work the works of God. But truth be told, both the scriptures and history more often portray these “great” Christians in their weaknesses, doubts, short-sightedness, and lack of faith. Each of them could truthfully find their lives mirrored in the parable of the sower told early in the ministry of Jesus. How often had the word touched their hearts only to be stolen away by sin and unbelief; how often had it appeared to have sprung up in joy only to whither far short of maturity; how often had it come up afresh in another good start only to be choked out by a thousand competing interests, cares or even fears. But then came that day when, by the grace of God, it fell on “good ground” -- ground ready for the seed, ground tended and watered and protected -- and it sprang up bearing fruit in an amazing abundance. Those that experience this “new life” are as amazed as anyone that it could ever have come to pass and they are so filled with the glory of that moment that everything else is lost in its intensity. Such a man was Mark, the Evangelist.

There is some difficulty in tracing his story until we recognize that he goes by the names John, Mark, Marcus and John Mark in the scriptures of the New Testament. We pick up the thread of his lineage and calling in Acts 12:11-12 where it records the miraculous deliverance of Peter from Herod’s prison and his return “to the house of Mary, the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.” Mary, here mentioned, was related to Barnabas, the companion of Paul and thus Mark is referred to in Colossians 4:10 as “sister’s son to Barnabas”. Most commentators understand this to mean Mark was a cousin to Barnabas. Mary offered up her home as a place for the church in Jerusalem to gather, and her son Mark to the gospel calling. In Acts 12: 24-25 as it records that as the word of God multiplied, Barnabas and Paul left on what would be called “The First Missionary Journey” taking “John, whose surname was Mark” with them. Their first mission field was Cyprus , Barnabas’ homeland (Acts 4:36). John Mark is identified in Acts 13:5 as being their helper or assistant. Luke uses this word in Luke 1:1 to describe those who besides the eyewitnesses upon which he depended for his gospel, were “servants” of the word. This carries the notion of writing down the events of the gospel or paying careful attention to them. This function served Mark well in his later work as evangelist.

Briefly, the thread in Acts plays out in this manner. The missionary team traveled the island of Cyprus from east to west until they came to Paphos (Acts 13:13-14). After they left the island sailing northward to Perga in Pamphylia, “John left them to return to Jerusalem.” The reason for leaving is not given, but when Paul and Barnabas were about to begin a second missionary journey through the regions that they had formerly preached and ministered in, it records in Acts 15:36-41 that Paul did not want to take Mark again, having judged his first decision to leave them as “desertion”. Paul felt so strongly about this that he and Barnabas were forced to split over the issue, Paul taking Silas through Syria and Asia Minor, and Barnabas taking Mark westward into Cyprus. At that point Mark drops out of the account in Acts as its focus shifts to Paul’s work. Were that the only scriptural record we had we might be left thinking that Mark had been a hindrance to the work of the gospel rather than a help. This is not the case however. Not only was Mark reconciled to Paul much later during Paul’s first imprisonment at Rome (Colossians 4:10, Philemon 23-24), but in Paul’s own words in II Timothy 4:11 his opinion and relationship to Mark was clearly expressed. “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.”

We must flesh out the rest of what we know about Mark from other writings. Eusebius quotes Papius in his Ecclesiastical History (Book 3, Chapter 39:15 cf. “And John the Presbyter also said this, Mark being the interpreter of Peter whatsoever he recorded he wrote with great accuracy but not however, in the order in which it was spoken or done by our Lord, for he neither heard nor followed our Lord , but as before said, he was in company with Peter, who gave him such instruction as was necessary, but not to give a history of our Lord’s discourses; wherefore Mark has not erred in anything by writing some things as he has recorded them; for he was carefully attentive to one thing, not to pass by anything that he heard, or to state anything falsely in these accounts.” This function as “servant of the word” first with Paul, then with Peter in Rome, is implied in Peter’s own words in I Peter 5:13 where, writing from “Babylon” (i.e. Rome) he refers to Mark as “his son”. Eusebius quotes Clement of Rome in Book 6, Chapter 14:5 c.f. to further show that Mark wrote his gospel based on Peter’s proclamation of the word in Rome. The rest of his history is not easily authenticated, although tradition does state that he later preached in Alexandria, Egypt and started a church at that location, and that he was martyred there by being dragged along the stone streets by a team of horses until dead.

Anything else that we wish to learn; about Mark must come from the gospel that he wrote and entrusted to the Church at Rome. It was the third of the synoptic gospels to be written and like the other gospels has a key word that dots its geography like signposts marking the way to the final destination. Mark’s key word is “immediately”, or in the King James “straightaway” and he uses it almost 40 times in his brief account. And from the “beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1) these signposts lead us on with a sense of urgency to the death and resurrection of the Lord. Although the gospel is the shortest of the four New Testament accounts, it devotes nearly 40% of its account to the last week of Jesus’ ministry culminating in His death, resurrection, and ascension. Mark ends his account with the words “And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.” In his gospel and in his life we are fortunate to behold that great miracle of the grace of God when the word is finally sown into fertile soil and it springs up in an abundant fruitfulness that encompassed the entire Roman Empire. May we not doubt that the same power of God is working in and through us even now.