John Mark

[WhiteDove]

Peter Wade sent this along today thought I'd pass it on as well........

"Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions--if he comes to you, welcome him)" (Colossians 4:10b).

In other parts of the Bible he is called John Mark, and was the person who wrote the Gospel according to Mark. He was perhaps only a child when Jesus walked on the earth and the common view about his Gospel was that he spent a lot of time with Peter and obtained much information from him about the activities of Jesus. That's one viewpoint. I accept the viewpoint that God gave Mark the words to write and he did not need Peter's help. However, "if he comes to you, welcome him". The interesting thing about John Mark is that he went on the first missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas recorded in Acts 13 and 14. We don't know what part he played but "they had John [Mark] to assist them" (Acts 13:5).

Now in Acts 15 we read of the humanity of the ministers of God, because Paul and Barnabas had an argument. Preachers are just as human as anybody else. "And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.' Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus" (Acts 15:37-39). It appears that on that first missionary journey John Mark only went part of the way and then he quit and went back to Jerusalem. Have you ever started something and you've quit? "Quitters never win and winners never quit"—the motto of my athletic club, which is very true. But sometimes we do quit doing things, don't we? Sometimes we just feel that we can't continue with that. Well, John Mark quit. It doesn't tell us why he quit, just that he did. When they were getting ready to go out on the second missionary journey Paul made it clear there was no way he wanted a quitter on his team and he wouldn't take him. And Barnabas said if my cousin John Mark doesn't go, I'm not going either. That's the kind of situation. And so they had an argument and John Mark went with Barnabas to Cyprus.

We don't read a lot more about him after this until we come here to Colossians and we find that he gets a mention. He's now one of the stayers. So even though there's been a relationship problem, now Paul and Mark get on well, and Mark sends his greetings to the Christians at Colossae. Paul commends him again in his second letter to Timothy, after Paul is released for a little while and then gets put back into prison again for the final time. Paul writes to Timothy, "Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry" (II Timothy 4:11). So Mark goes from being a quitter to being "very useful [very helpful, profitable] to me for ministry". And that really tells us something. There's somebody in the Bible just like you and there's someone just like me, and we can learn from their victories and we can learn from their failures too. John Mark quit but he came back. John Mark failed but he was not a failure. Does that encourage you?

Some of you perhaps at times have decided that your faith in God doesn't work. It's a lot of trouble. You might be tempted to quit your faith for a little while. You might be tempted to throw it all away. What's the good? I read my Bible every day. I've done this and that and it's not working. People, you may quit for a time but the Bible says that "if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself" (II Timothy 2:13). That's good isn't it? You may fail but you're not a failure. You may quit and say I've had enough for awhile but God says He remains faithful. He loves you just the same as he loved you before. So can you learn something from John Mark? Yes, you certainly can. There are times when we quit but what we have to do is to pick up the pieces and get going again.

[Thomas Loy Bumgarner]

WD, good message to remember.

[brideofjc]

Thank you, White Dove! You have no idea just how much I needed it this morning!

Let the Praise arise to the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, who REIGNS forever and ever!

[PurpleDays]

Excellent. Sometimes we need to "take a breather" so that we can come back refreshed and ready for the adventure.

PurpleDays

[lindyhopper]

I may be wrong, but I think this post was directed for people more like me... so I'll reply.

"Quitters never win and winners never quit"

Tell that to a smoker.

Changing this story in the Bible into a "Mark was a quitter, too" teaching seems a bit negative or extreme. I read it as they had a disagreement and split ways, then they apparently made up. Good on em'. I guess it reaches some people.

I see doing what I did as quitting something that was not the best for me... like smoking or drugs or a bad job. Then I started something new. Everytime you change direction doesn't need to be viewed as quitting one way and going another. It is just a change. "Change is good" is the motto of my coin collecting club. (I was going to say my transgendered support group, but I thought coin collecting was more exceptable 'round here. Before you start praying for me, I'm not apart of either group.)

If I'm a quitter, then I am the exception to the Athletic club motto, cause I am a winner too. I gained alot from the change I made in my life. I have grown a lot as a person. I have done a lot. I am happy. I am satisfied. I am living a life that is more than abundant, without having a lot of money! Go figure. I can even say I am a loving caring individual.

"Quitters never win, winners never quit" is a great motto at the gym to loose that big butt, but can be just another devise of control in other situations.

What I want to know is, when Paul says "bring Mark, he is useful to me in the ministry" ... does Mark come? Cause that could really make or break this teaching.

[WhiteDove]

Lindy

The post was not directed at anyone as I stated it was passed on to me I enjoyed it so I in turn passed it on as well. For those who enjoyed it good, for those who don't that's ok as well.

I see you quoted part of what Peter said which was in full.

"Quitters never win and winners never quit"—the motto of my athletic club, which is very true. But sometimes we do quit doing things, don't we?

I think the point was not that the phrase works in every situation in life, quite the contrary if you had quoted what followed as well you would see that in the context of the gym that may hold true but as he mentioned we do sometimes quit. I don't believe one can import that into a different situation such as that of a smoker and conclude that because it does not work there as well ,that somehow it does not work at all. In the context of the gym I'd say it is a fair statement if you quit exercising you don't win ,you don't reach your goal. Now in a marriage for instance one may quit and they may go on to as you mentioned have success in a career, they may make money , help others and so forth, but they also in turn don't win, they don't win the love of the spouse they quit on, they don't win the goal of completing the vows they committed themselves to, they don't win their family unit as one, and so on. In each case "winning" would be relative to the primary goal, in the record the goal was to assist Paul in the gospel, in that case he did not win . He may have went back to Jerusalem and made money, started a business, made lots of friends, the record does not say, as secondary goals he may of had success, but he also lost the success of the original goal which was to assist Paul. in that sense he lost.

Changing this story in the Bible into a "Mark was a quitter, too" teaching seems a bit negative or extreme. I read it as they had a disagreement and split ways, then they apparently made up. Good on em'.

In the record John Mark did quit ,he went part way on the first journey ,and then returned home. It does not say they had a disagreement and he split ways, it says he withdrew., he went back home It seems logical that one would not take along someone to help that had previously not worked out, someone that had left them high and dry so to speak, someone that had left them short of the needed manpower to complete the job. It does not say why he quit, but I believe that had it been for good reason Paul would have taken that into consideration and not have felt so strongly about not taking him.

It's kinda like if you were supposed to pick me up from work , and just blew me off for no good reason. I'd feel differently than if you had, say for instance had a heart attack and couldn't because you were in the hospital. Next time I needed a ride depending on which case it was would affect my trusting you for a ride.

[Twinky]

Interesting, this, isn't it, why someone would not continue. He joined them in Acts 12:25, they went to Antioch, Paul and Barnabas are sent to Cyprus and John Mark goes with them; they get expelled from there and go to Iconium where Paul gets stoned; then off to various other places including Pamphylia (Acts 14:24).

John Mark might have thought he had a good reason. Perhaps a family member was ill or in other need and he felt he needed to go to that person's aid. Perhaps he had become ill. Perhaps he was fearful. He does not seem to have made a big impact between Act 12:25 and 14:24 since only Paul and Barnabas are mentioned.

NIV and NASB say he "deserted" them. A strong word.

Perhaps, even, Paul was partly to blame. It was a learning curve for him, too, and he must have been an immensely strong-willed person and perhaps quite difficult to live with at times. Maybe JM felt oppressed or taken for granted or overridden. Since this is in About the Way, we all know what it is like to feel oppressed by leadership.

But I agree it must have been something pretty significant. I don't think Paul was playing the MOGFODAT card.

As previously mentioned, the significant thing seems to be that he got over whatever had held him back before. Problem dealt with or fear overcome. He went on to become a useful member of the outreach team. And Paul got over his (let's call it) disappointment with JM. JM and Paul "made it up" and got on with life preaching and teaching the gospel.

I don't know that JM could be called a "quitter". He departed but there is nothing to say that he did not continue preaching and teaching in other locations, and indeed he probably did, because he was welcomed back as a fellow laborer and not reviled and never heard of again.

It's nice to look at the make-up not just the break-up.