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Testament: "And they had John as
their helper."
The New Testarnent was written
in the Greek language. The Greek
in Acts 13:5 is, "They had John
huperetes."
The consensus of New
Testament scholarship takes this
word to mean a helper or assistant
in the sense of looking after materi–
al needs as a kind of secretary.
In the 15 years that had passed
since the crucifixion, Mark had had
time to mature. But could he cope
with the rigors of the journey and
the interplay between two powerful
personalities?
Events proved he could not. The
book called the Acts of the Apos–
tles simply states: "Now Paul and
his company [including Barnabas]
set sail from Paphos, and carne to
Perga in Pamphylia. And John left
them and returned to J erusalem"
(Acts 13: 13). No reason is given in
the account. But Paul clearly was
distressed.
After that first tour was con–
cluded, an important ministerial
conference took place in A.D. 49 in
Jerusalem. Paul then returned to
Antioch. lt was now time to
embark on a second extensive evan–
gelistic .tour. Barnabas sought to
persuade Paul to take Mark along
again. But the leading apostle to
the Greek world was firm. "But
Paul thought best not to take with
them one who had withdrawn from
them in Pamphylia and had not
gone with them to the work" (Acts
15:38).
A sharp contention followed
between Paul and Barnabas. Here
their paths diverged. Paul took
Silas with him and Barnabas took
his younger cousin, John Mark, to
Cyprus.
lt
is not our purpose to try
to sort out all the rights and
wrongs. We will view the scenario
from Mark's point of view.
First and foremost Mark showed
himself clearly deficient in charac–
ter to have abandoned the two apos–
tles in midtour. They needed his
services. He had all the qualifica–
tions for a fine assistant-. Probably
the two apostles now had to busy
themselves with organizational de–
tails and other duties Mark normal–
ly would have handled. The tour
was hurt.
Perhaps we can also recognize
sorne extenuating circumstances. A
September 1984
change of leadership had taken
place. When the tour began Barna–
has' name is mentioned
first
three
separate times (Acts 13:1-2, 7).
But by the time they are ready to
set sail from Cyprus, Paul is clearly
the leader (Acts 13: 13). Realisti–
cally, such things do not happen
without possible hurt feelings .
Even Jesus' apostles were human.
John Mark may have been the
man in the middle. Only one who
has been an assistant to several fair–
ly powerful personalities can fully
empathize with the difficulties
inherent in this situation. Misun–
derstandings inevitably occur at
such close quarters. People with
different upbringings are often
required by circumstances to be
together day after day, week after
week. Humanly it is not easy even
with conversion.
Luke does not chronicle Mark's
activities between the time of his
return to Jerusalem and his sai ling
to Cyprus with Barnabas. Perhaps
he had assisted Peter in the mean–
time. Jerusalem was the center of
the early church. And there are
indications that the family home
was a regular meeting place for
leading church personalities.
Mark now vanishes from the
record- to reemerge toward the
end of Paul's life.
Restored to Paul ' s Favor
Paul's letter to the church mem–
bers in Colossae in Asia Minor was
written in the early sixties during
his first imprisonment. By this time
Mark is back in Paul's good
graces.
Paul is moved to write of Mark:
" ... and Mark the cousin of Bar–
nabas (concerning whom you have
received instructions- if he comes
to you, receive him), and Jesus who
is called Justus. These [Mark and
Jesus] are the only men of the cir–
cumcision arnong my fellow work–
ers for the kingdom of God, and
they [these two] have been a com–
fort tome" (Col. 4:10-11) .
This statement is not without
significance. Every church has its
headquarters. Those wbo were
privileged to have lived and
worked at the center of church
activities in Jerusalem had special
insight in the way things were to
be done. Of all Paul's companions,
only two, including Mark, could
help the aged apostle in this spe–
cial way.
Paul also wrote a personal letter
to Philemon while he was under
house arrest at Rome during his
first imprisonment. Again he
mentions Mark. "Epaphras, my
fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus,
sends greetings to you, and so do
Mark,
Aristarchus, Demas, and
Luke,
my fellow workers" (Phi–
lem. 23-24).
Obviously Mark, the gospel writ–
er, knew Luke, the gospel writer.
Both had traveled with Paul from
time to time. There was ample
opportunity to exchange accounts,
traditions, happenings, even pre–
liminary writings. It would be un–
imaginable that these two never
discussed the all-important events
of Jesus' ministry.
A few years later, in A .D. 68,
Paul knows he is soon to be exe–
cuted by decree of Emperor Nero.
He must make provision for mat–
ters that would follow upon his
death. During his second and final
Roman imprisonment, Paul writes
his second letter to the young evan–
gelist Timothy.
In relaying his concluding
instructions, Paul writes: "Do your
best to come to me soon. For
Demas, in love with this present
world, has deserted me and gone to
Thessalonica.... Luke alone is
with me. Get Mark and bring him
with you; for
he is very usefu/
in
serving me"
(JI
Tim. 4:9-11).
Since Paul's writing to Phile–
mon, Demas has left the work of
God. He is no longer a fellow work–
er. But Mark, by contrast, has
grown in usefulness and service.
Peter and Mark
There is both biblical and later lit–
erary evidence for Peter's special
relationship with John Mark. We
already know that Peter immedi–
ately went to Mark's family home
following his miraculous escape
from prison during the early years
of the church. He knew that the
leading members of the Jerusalem
church would be there.
Much later Peter writes his first
general letter to those converts liv–
ing in the northern part of Asia
Minor. He ends the Jetter by pass–
ing on various individual greetings
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