Who is Mark

Who Is Mark

            On the first posting on the Gospel of Mark we looked at things that were needed to know as far as an introduction to the book of Mark, but we did not get to know the author of the book of Mark and that will be the purpose of this posting.

            There is no reason to believe that Mark is not the author of this Gospel even though his name does not appear in it, nor do the names of any of the Gospel writers appear in the other Gospels with the exception of seen Matthew’s name and John’s name appear in the course of the books, but not like a letter that say Paul wrote where he identifies himself at the beginning of his letters.  I suppose that the reason that this is not done in the Gospels is that the priority is of the Gospels is on the Lord Jesus Christ and so the Gospel writers do not want to take any of that away from Him.

            Now who is John Mark anyway, and where do we first run into him in the Scriptures.  I can say that some people that I have heard or read when talking about Mark believe that he is the young man that runs away while in the garden where Jesus is arrested as the only reference to that is actually in the Gospel of Mark.  Mark 14: 51  A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they *seized him. 52  But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked.”

            The first time we see Mark in the Scriptures is found in the twelfth chapter of the book of Acts.  Let me take just a moment to give a little background on the book of Acts that will help us understand where Mark fits into it.  At the beginning of the book of Acts Jesus is seen going up into heaven, but right before that He tells His disciples to preach the Gospel in Jerusalem, , and to the utter most parts of the world.  We can divide the book of Acts in several different ways, but the dividing point will be the same.  Let’s look at Acts 1:6-8 “6 ¶  So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7  He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8  but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.’”  The first part of Acts the apostles and others preached to those in Jerusalem, Judah, and Samaria, while the last part of acts the Gospel went throughout the known world and ended in Rome.  The Jews were the ones who received the Good News in the first part of the Gospel along with those in Samaria, while in the last part of the book it went mostly to the Gentiles.  The main preacher in the first part was Peter, while in the last part it is Paul. 

            We now come to the 12^th chapter of Acts and this is the dividing part of the book of Acts and we see that James, the brother of John, had just been killed and Peter was in prison and would be killed next, but we see that an angel came to let him out of jail.  While Peter was in prison there were a group of people praying for him to be let out and so after Peter is let out of jail by the angel he goes to where the people were gathered who were praying for him.  He knocks at the gate and the servant girl Rhoda hears his voice and does not let him in, but tells those who were praying for him that Peter was at the gate, and no one believed her.  (I think they were missing a little faith with their prayers).  Peter was at the house of Mary the mother of John Mark, and that is the first time we hear of Mark.

            At the end of the twelfth chapter we will see that there is a famine that is about to come to the world as told to the church by a prophet.  The church in Antioch decided to help the believers in Jerusalem so they sent Paul (Saul) and Barnabas to deliver help there and when they were going to return they brought Mark with them.  Why would they do this?  Let’s look at Colossians 4:10Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and also Barnabas’s cousin Mark (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him);” Mark and Barnabas were cousins.  We know from Acts chapter four that Barnabas was a Levite “36  Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement).”  Now we don’t know for sure but perhaps Mark was also a Levite, and Levites were those who helped out in the Temple of God.  We do know that Barnabas was a person who encouraged people so that too may be why he wanted Mark to go with them back to Antioch. 

            Next we see Mark going with Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary trip, but early on there is a problem with Mark as he deserts them:  “Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; but John left them and returned to Jerusalem.”  (Acts 13:13)  Mark becomes a deserter.  You may ask how God can use a person like this to write one of the Gospels.  I suppose the answer is that is all that He had to work with for aren’t we all like that, sinners in need of a Savior, people like Matthew, Luke, John, Paul, and Peter to name a few.

            Next time we see Mark is in Acts 15 and this is the beginning of the second missionary trip of Paul, but there is a problem for Barnabas wants to take Mark along, but Paul is not willing to do this because he deserted them the last time.  “36 ¶  After some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are." 37  Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also. 38  But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39  And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. 40  But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. 41  And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.”  (Acts 15:36-40)

            It is ten years before we hear from Mark again, two years before we hear of Barnabas again. 

            I have already quoted Colossians 4:10 earlier, but that is the next time we hear of Mark and there have been some changes in his life, for the text says “to welcome him if he comes.”  Paul tells those in Colossi to welcome Mark.  What happened to Mark? 

            Paul wrote Colossians from Rome when he was in prison, and Mark was with him in Rome and now he has become useful to Paul while he was in Rome.  We also see that Paul speaks of Mark in both letters that he wrote to Timothy, and the second letter to Timothy was Paul’s last letter, for soon after that he would be killed for the cause of Christ.  Let’s look at the portion from 2Timothy, “11  Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.”  (2Timothy 4:11)

            What we have here is a story of a restored deserter.  Mark is so very blessed to have spent time with the great apostle Paul while in Rome.  This was a great privilege for him to have done this, and now Mark is profitable to Paul.  John MacArthur says, “You’re not surprised by that, are you?  That the Lord would use people like that ?  Those are the only kind of people there are, recovering sinners, restored deserters, recovered defectors.”

            We still have not answered the question on how Marks life was changed, which made him useful for Paul.  The answer is that Mark spent a lot of time with Peter, for we know that Peter knew Mark from where he went after getting out of jail.  Some believe that it was probably Peter who led Mark to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Let’s look at 1Peter chapter five and verse thirteen, “She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark.”  The she is the church and Babylon is the city of Rome and both Peter and Mark are there, for Mark not only had the privilege of spending time with Paul, but with Peter also.  Now we can see where Mark gets his information for the Gospel of Mark, as it came from Peter.  Quoting John MacArthur again, “The source for Mark from a human viewpoint is Peter.  His gospel is based on Peter’s eyewitness accounts of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ which Peter rehearsed day after day, as he went out into the streets and the buildings of Rome and preached the gospel with Mark at his side.”

            What can we learn from this?  I think that we can learn that God can use sinners to accomplish His work here on earth.  We have to be willing to do the work that He has called us to do.  Mark the man is a great encourager to all those who have failed and yet did not give up, but got back on their feet and began again to serve the Lord.