Meeting Mark
Dear Emm-Dev FriendsA belated and blessed new year to you! At the end of last year I indicated that EmmDevs would resume at the end of January, but the week (that's what it felt like) of January flew past so quickly that I struggled to find my feet for the start of devotions. But here we are, and I am looking forward to another year of EmmDevs and I pray you'll find them helpful.
I thought it would be good to begin with a series of devotions working through Mark's Gospel.
I'm calling them "Moments with Mark"
| The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark1:1) |
Who wrote Mark's gospel?
Scholarly consensus holds that the Gospel of Mark was written by John Mark and that it was the earliest of the four gospels. Matthew and Luke are believed to have used Mark as a primary source when composing their own accounts.
But what do we know about John Mark?
From the clues we glean from the gospels, Acts, early church history and scholarly we can infer that:
- John Mark lived in Jerusalem with his mother and she provided the venue for the last supper.
- He is the young boy who followed Jesus and the disciples to Gethsemane and ran away when the soldiers came and they grabbed his garment and he ran away naked (Mark14:51-52)
- His mom continued to offer their home as a meeting place for the early church in Jerusalem
- He had an uncle named Barnabas who was an important figure in the early church.
- When Paul and Barnabas went on their first missionary trip and Barnabas invited his nephew John Mark.
- John Mark didn't cope with the pressures of the trip and abandoned them.
- When the second trip came up, Barnabas wanted to bring John Mark again, but Paul refused, causing Paul and Barnabas to part ways.
- Eventually John Mark became Peter's young assistant
- Paul and Barnabas reconciled and Paul and John Mark reconciled and Paul recognised his worth.
- John Mark wrote the gospel of Mark based on sermons Peter preached.
The Word "Gospel" means "Good News".
It's a word the church used to describe the salvation Jesus brought to the world and the gospel is best preached.
It is fitting that the author of the first Gospel, was someone who made mistakes and yet was redeemed and restored.
It is also fitting that the gospel was shaped by sermons preached by Peter.
So, let's take time to give thanks that God saves and rescues us, even if we have made mistakes.
Let's also give thanks for the faithful preaching of God's Word that still transforms lives.
