John Mark, called in the Acts of the Apostles "John, who was also called Mark," was a Jew of Jerusalem in the first century. His mother Mary possessed a spacious house in the holy city that served as a gathering place for the disciples; there the Apostle Peter sought refuge after the angel delivered him from the prison of Herod Agrippa. From this household of prayer John Mark was drawn into the service of the Gospel.
When Barnabas and Saul (Paul) had completed their ministry in Jerusalem, they took John Mark with them as their assistant. He accompanied them on the first missionary journey to Cyprus, where they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of Salamis, and he ministered to them as far as Perga in Pamphylia. There, for reasons the sacred text does not explain, John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. Later, when Paul and Barnabas prepared a second journey, Barnabas was determined to take John Mark again, but Paul refused, remembering that the young man had withdrawn from the work. The contention grew so sharp that the two apostles parted: Barnabas took Mark and sailed once more to Cyprus, while Paul chose Silas and continued elsewhere. Thus John Mark disappears from the narrative of Acts, yet the Church has never forgotten him.
Christian tradition has long regarded John Mark as identical with Mark the Evangelist, the cousin (or nephew) of Barnabas mentioned in the Pauline letters, and the "son" whom Peter greets from "Babylon" (Rome). Ancient writers such as Papias of Hierapolis testify that Mark became the interpreter of Peter and carefully wrote down what he remembered of the Lord's words and deeds, omitting nothing and inventing nothing. Later sources speak of him as one of the Seventy disciples, as bishop of Byblos, and, in the fuller identification with the Evangelist, as the first bishop of Alexandria who sealed his witness with martyrdom. The apocryphal Acts of Barnabas and the Encomium of Alexander the Monk recount his continued labors with Barnabas in Cyprus and his subsequent journey to Ephesus.
Whether as the youthful companion who faltered and was restored, or as the Evangelist who handed on Peter's preaching, John Mark stands as a model of second chances and of humble service to the apostolic word.
May Saint John Mark intercede for us, that we may persevere in the mission of the Gospel after every failure and cling faithfully to the teaching of the Apostles.
