| “And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem … and took with them John, whose surname was Mark” (Acts 12:25). |
| “They preached the word of God … and they had also John to their minister” (Acts 13:5). |
| “And John departing from them returned to Jerusalem” (Acts 13:13). |
| Probably all of us are quite familiar with the gospel of Mark, but have you ever considered the life of the man whom the Spirit of God used to write that gospel? His name was John Mark, and he is mentioned first of all in Acts 12:12, for there was a prayer meeting in his mother’s home in the middle of the night! They were praying for Peter to be let out of prison, and the Lord answered their prayers that very night. Later in the same chapter, in our first verse for today, we find John Mark going with Barnabas and Saul from Jerusalem to Antioch. Mark was a nephew to Barnabas (see Colossians 4:10), and as a young man, it would seem that he wanted to do something for the Lord. |
| Sometime later, when Barnabas and Saul went out on their first missionary journey, they took John Mark with them, and he acted as a servant for them. In those days they did not stay in hotels and have restaurants handy, so they probably had to arrange much of their own accommodation, meals, etc. But then, when they came to a place called Perga, John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. The Word of God does not tell us why he left, but it is quite possible that he found the traveling and hardships a bit hard to bear, and was not willing to carry on. |
| Sometimes, as young people, we can be like John Mark. Perhaps we really want to serve the Lord, but we are not ready to face the cost involved. We are not ready for the hardships involved, or the persecution that comes about when we face the world. Then it is easy to turn back. |
| But that does not need to be the end of our service for the Lord! The Lord was patient with John Mark, and when Paul did not want to take him on a second missionary journey, Barnabas took him to Cyprus again. Later, Paul referred to him in Colossians 4:10, asking the brethren to receive him if he came. He refers to Mark and others as being “fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me” (Colossians 4:11). Since Paul was a prisoner in Rome when he wrote this epistle, it would seem that Mark was there with him, and encouraged him. |
| Later still, when Paul was again a prisoner in Rome, he could say to Timothy, “Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11). Mark was not ready for ministry back in Acts, but he matured spiritually, and later the Lord used him. |
| If we turn back early in our life from some difficulties in serving the Lord, let us not be discouraged. Remember John Mark, the failing servant, who later matured spiritually, and was used of the Lord. Finally, he was called to write the gospel of Mark, a book that pictures to us the Lord Jesus as the perfect Servant. |
