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Making Good in the Ministry 
 
Books by 
 PROF, j9, T. ROBERTSON 
 
 Critical Notes to Broadus' Harmony of the Gospels, 
 
 Eighth Edition. 
 Life and Letters of John A. Broadus. Popular 
 
 Edition. 
 Teaching of Jesus Concerning God the Father. 
 
 Teaching of Jesus Series. 
 The Student's Chronological New Testament. 
 Syllabus for New Testament Study. Fourth Edition. 
 Keywords in the Teaching of Jesus. 
 Epochs in the Life of Jesus. Popular Edition. 
 A Short Grammar of the Greek New Testament. 
 
 Fourth Edition. 
 Epochs in the Life of Paul. Popular Edition. 
 Commentary on Matthew. Bible for Home and 
 
 School. 
 John the Loyal : A Study of the Ministry of John 
 
 the Baptist. Popular Edition. 
 The Glory of the Ministry: Paul's Exultation in 
 
 Preaching. Third Edition. 
 A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the 
 
 Light of Historical Research. Second Edition. 
 Practical and Social Aspects of Christianity : The 
 
 Wisdom of James. Second Edition. 
 Studies in the New Testament. Many Editions, 
 The Divinity of Christ in the Gospel of John. Second 
 
 Edition. 
 Paul's Joy in Christ s Studies in Philippians. 
 The Pharisees and Jesus. The Stone (Princeton) 
 
 Lectures for 19 15-16. In press. 
 Young America, or Patriotic Citizenship. In press. 
 Making Good in the Ministry : A Sketch of John 
 
 Mark. 
 
Making Good in fte 
 Ministry 
 
 A Sketch of John Mark 
 
 By 
 
 PROF. A. T.'ROBERTSON, M.A., D.D., LL.D. 
 
 Professor of New Testament Interpretation, 
 
 Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 
 
 Louisville, Ky. 
 
 SEP 21 1918 
 
 US' 
 
 «* For he is useful to me for ministering " 
 
 New York Chicago 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 London and Edinburgh 
 
Copyright, 191 8, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. 
 London : 2 1 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh : 75 Princes Street 
 
To 
 MY STUDENTS 
 
Preface 
 
 WITH May, 1918, I complete thirty 
 years as a teacher of young preach- 
 ers. About four thousand during 
 this period have been my pupils besides hun- 
 dreds of young women. They are scattered 
 all over the world as workers for Christ and 
 some have gone on before. My own life will 
 count for much or little in proportion as 
 these men and women do well the work that 
 God has placed in their hands. I love them 
 with my whole heart and this, my twentieth 
 book, alas, deals directly with the failure or 
 success of one's life-work as illustrated by 
 John Mark. My very heart has gone into 
 this book and with it a message to all 
 workers for Christ, young and old, all over 
 the world of whatever creed. John Mark has 
 a message for us all. It is not easy to-day 
 to make a success of one's ministry. It 
 never was easy. It never will be easy. 
 Ministerial fidelity makes success possible. 
 There is something sweeter than success. It 
 
 is to deserve it. 
 
 A. T. R. 
 
 Louisville^ Ky» 
 
 1 
 
Contents 
 
 I. The Home Atmosphere 
 
 II. The Call of Opportunity 
 
 III. Taking a Humble Place 
 
 IV. Flickering in a Crisis . 
 
 V. Thrown Out of Work 
 
 VI. Turned Down by Paul 
 
 VII. Given a New Chance by Barnabas 
 
 VIII. Peter's Son and Interpreter 
 
 IX. Mark's Wondrous Gospel . 
 
 X. Winning Paul's Praise 
 
 II 
 
 31 
 
 43 
 
 53 
 
 69 
 
 83 
 
 95 
 
 109 
 
 127 
 
 155 
 
I 
 
 THE HOME ATMOSPHERE 
 
 ^^He came to the house of Mary the mother of John 
 whose surname was Mark ; where many were 
 gathered together and were praying.^* 
 
 — Acts 12; 12. 
 
THE HOME ATMOSPHERE 
 
 I. The Home that Makes Preachers. 
 
 IT is in the home that, as a rule, preach- 
 ers are made or unmade. Instance 
 Scotland where in the palace of the 
 laird or in the thatch-roofed cottage of the 
 cottar the mother wishes no higher crown for 
 her boy than that he be " a good minister of 
 Christ Jesus'* and live to "speak a gude 
 word for Jesus." In many so-called Christian 
 homes to-day it would be considered a posi- 
 tive misfortune if the sons heeded the call of 
 God to become preacher, missionary, or 
 Y. M. C. A. worker or if the girls likewise 
 responded to the voice of duty which is 
 the voice of God. It must be confessed that 
 some homes are a positive hindrance to the 
 young lives that throb in response to the 
 clamoring calls of to-day, who, like Joan of 
 Arc, hear voices calling them out and on to 
 China, to India, to Brazil. The Student 
 13 
 
14 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 Volunteer Movement has brought definite 
 decision to thousands who had hitherto 
 dodged the great question of a life calling 
 and had drifted on with smothered conscience. 
 The Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. summer 
 conferences have likewise proved to be the 
 hour of destiny for many more who had not 
 found their Bethel at home, in church, or in 
 college. But the home has the first chance 
 at the boy. He can never quite get over 
 the nesting-place and ought not to have 
 to forget it. The difficulty in finding work- 
 ers for various forms of Christian activity 
 to-day is at bottom the problem of the 
 home. 
 
 2. A City Home. 
 
 John Mark lived in the city and not in the 
 country. To-day nearly all the recruits for 
 active Christian service come from the coun- 
 try homes. Young men in the city can hear 
 the call of country, but not so readily the call 
 of God. City youths have to respond under 
 a universal draft law, but they showed up 
 well under the volunteer system in compari- 
 son with the country young men. But the 
 din of the city drowns the still small voice of 
 
THE HOME ATMOSPHEEE 15 
 
 God. The clamor of the market crowds out 
 the appeal of the Spirit. The clink of gold 
 clutches at the heart that ought to be sensi- 
 tive to the presence of the Man Christ Jesus. 
 So we look to the hills for the preachers, for 
 nature there allows some opportunity for 
 the things of the spirit to have a hearing. 
 At least it did before the telephone, the 
 automobile, the interurban car, and the 
 parcel post came to the country. What 
 these material comforts will yet do to the 
 spiritual life in the country home and the 
 country church remains to be seen. Already 
 the country church is in dire peril, we are 
 told. 
 
 But Christ can dwell in hearts that live in 
 city homes and young preachers can come 
 out of this city atmosphere. In the first cen- 
 tury A. D. it was, as a rule, dangerous to live 
 in the country. People who toiled in the 
 country lived in villages and towns as in 
 China now. The city ruled the ancient 
 world as it is coming to do in America. We 
 must not admit that city homes have no ob- 
 ligations to God in the matter of ministerial 
 supply. The balance of population will soon 
 be in favor of the city in the United States. 
 
16 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 It is hard to turn the heart to the service of 
 Christ in an atmosphere dominated by the 
 moving picture shows or by the mad rush 
 for money, place, or power. But Christ won 
 a hearing even in Jerusalem, held, as it was, 
 in the grip of tradition, where scribe and 
 priest shut the door in the face of those who 
 wished to learn and threw away the key to 
 knowledge. But they crucified Christ in the 
 end. The first thing to note about John 
 Mark is that he lived in the city. 
 
 3. A Home of Some Wealth. 
 
 The city, alas, has homes and homes. The 
 tenement house is almost a hell unless Christ 
 has come into the heart of the owner and 
 He makes it a model tenement hall. Even 
 the palatial apartment houses are not very 
 homelike and the great hotels have no home 
 atmosphere at all. Better far a cottage with 
 Christ than a palace without Him, grand and 
 cheerless and chill. But Christ will enter 
 the palace if the owner gives Him the key 
 to his heart and makes room for Him there, 
 Mary's house was a home of wealth. Mark 
 was a cousin^ of Barnabas (Col. 4 : 10). Bar- 
 
 ^ So dveipto^ is to be rendered, not " sister's son." 
 
THE HOME ATMOSPHEBE 17 
 
 nabas was a man of means and of great gen- 
 erosity (Acts 4:36f.). As he was a Levite 
 and from Cyprus, the family of Mark prob- 
 ably came from that island. The house of 
 Mary had a gate and a passageway leading 
 to the inner court, *' the door of the gate," ^ 
 somewhat like a Scotch " close." The door 
 was next to the street (Luke 13 : 25). There 
 was a gateway or passageway to the house 
 of Simon the Tanner in Joppa (Acts 10: 17). 
 In New Orleans to-day the old French houses 
 have an inner court which is entered by an 
 outside gate. The house of Mary was large 
 enough for a considerable company, " many " 
 (Acts 12 : 12), to be gathered. The presence 
 of the slave-girl or doorkeeper is another in- 
 dication of a well-to-do home as in the house 
 of Caiaphas (John 18 : 16). " Mary's house," 
 therefore, had been a place of importance in 
 the social life of Jerusalem before she became 
 a Christian. She then made it a center of 
 Christian activity as Martha and Mary had 
 made their Bethany home, likewise a home 
 of ease and some affluence, the home of Jesus 
 
 ^Acts 12: 13 TTjv dopav TOO 7:uXu)vo<^, In Matthew 
 26:71 Tov TcoXwva is "the porch." The fact of a 
 " porch " shows that it was a house of some size. 
 
18 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 (Luke lo : 38-42). There was thus " a church 
 in Mary^s house " in Jerusalem as in that of 
 Prisca and Aquila in Rome (Rom. 16 : 5) and 
 of Philemon (Philemon 2) and of Nymphas 
 in Colossae (Col. 4:15). The house was spa- 
 cious and gave the Christians a place to meet 
 when they could no longer assemble in temple 
 or synagogue in Jerusalem as was now the 
 case. Peter himself was just out of prison 
 and fear gripped again the community of 
 believers in the city. It is thought by some 
 that " the upper room " (Acts 1:13) where 
 the disciples met for prayer when they were 
 waiting for the promise of the Father was 
 in Mary's house. Some even hold^ that it 
 was in Mary's house that Jesus observed the 
 last passover meal and instituted the supper 
 (Mark 14:12-25). But it is at least clear 
 that John Mark lived in a home of compara- 
 tive ease and of good social standing. 
 
 4. A Home Where Christ is King. 
 
 This is what matters most. Wealth, cul- 
 ture, social leadership, power, all should be 
 laid at the feet of Jesus. Mary had taken 
 
 ' Cf. Edersheim, " Life and Times of Jesus the Mes- 
 siah," Vol. II, p. 485. 
 
THE HOME ATMOSPHEEE 19 
 
 her stand uncompromisingly for Christ her 
 Lord. She had thus broken away from the 
 strong Jewish environment of her Levite 
 kinspeople. She was helped, to be sure, by 
 Barnabas, her kinsman, and, being probably 
 a Hellenistic Jew, she was not quite so closed 
 to new ideas as the average Palestinian Jew. 
 The tyranny of one's social class is merciless, 
 as many a woman discovers who cuts through 
 it all and comes out into actual and active 
 service for Christ. She is termed peculiar 
 and unfashionable and runs the risk of the 
 social taboo. But Mary threw her beautiful 
 home wide open to Christ instead of to the 
 world. There are such homes to-day in our 
 modern cities, homes of great wealth, the 
 highest culture, the truest aristocracy, the 
 most genuine piety. Such a home is not 
 made without a fight against worldliness 
 with all its insidious allurements. Jesus as- 
 tonished the disciples exceedingly by saying : 
 ** It is easier for a camel to go through a 
 needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter the 
 Kingdom of God" (Mark 10:25). "Then 
 who can be saved ? " they asked, feeling that 
 it was easier for the rich than for the poor. 
 Jesus meant to state a natural impossibility : 
 
20 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 "With men it is impossible, but not with 
 God: for all things are possible with God" 
 (Mark 10:27). Thank God both rich and 
 poor can enter the Kingdom of God and on 
 precisely the same terms, full surrender and 
 simple trust. Service flags and Red Cross 
 flags hang in the windows of many homes 
 to-day because of loyalty to our country. 
 Christ is King. Let Him be Lord of our 
 homes and of all the home life, openly and 
 aboveboard, so that all the world may know 
 where our loyalty lies. 
 
 5. The Widowed Mother. 
 
 " Evidently a widow," Ramsay * says, since 
 there is no mention of the husband and 
 father and since it is " the house of Mary." 
 She was "another Mary, another of those 
 women whose praise was in the early 
 church." ^ The other " Marys " were the 
 mother of Jesus, the wife of Cleopas, the 
 mother of James and Joses, Mary Magdalene, 
 and Mary of Bethany. The name was com- 
 mon with the Jews because of Miriam, the 
 
 ' " Pictures of the Apostolic Church," 19 10, p. 109. 
 ^ Rackham, " The Acts of the Apostles," 1 909, 
 p. 178. 
 
THE HOME ATMOSPHERE 21 
 
 sister of Moses. Luke pictures this Mary 
 from the standpoint of the later development 
 as ** the mother of John whose surname was 
 Mark.*' She came to live in the reflected 
 glory of her noble son after he rose to use- 
 fulness and fame. This was as she wished 
 it to be, as any true mother would have it. 
 But at this stage of the history Mark was 
 simply Mary's son with his future before him 
 with all its problems, hopes, and fears. Mary 
 is the queen of this home and her spirit 
 reigned within its walls. She created the 
 atmosphere which all breathed who entered 
 her home. It was the aroma of a lofty soul 
 who lived with Christ and loved to bless all 
 around her with the grace and charm of her 
 rich character. Mary was a leader in the 
 church by force of Christian character and 
 the dynamic of love that made her unwilling 
 to be a negative quantity in the life of the 
 Jerusalem church. She had initiative and 
 resource and courage. She was not afraid 
 to open her home to the disciples at the very 
 time when their leader, Simon Peter, was in 
 prison and when James, the brother of John, 
 had been beheaded by Herod Agrippa to 
 please the Jews (Acts 12:1 f.). Her courage 
 
22 MAKING G(X)D IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 was contagious, as we can easily see, and 
 steadied some of the wavering ones. 
 
 6. The Gathering for Prayer. 
 
 Prayer had been going on without ceas- 
 ing since the arrest of Peter (Acts 12:5). 
 Agrippa was simply waiting till the passover 
 feast was over and the crowd was gone to 
 have Peter put to death, strangely like the 
 plan of the Sanhedrin about Jesus before 
 Judas came to the rescue (Luke 22 : 6). The 
 disciples knew the peril of Peter with the fate 
 of James before their very eyes. Prison 
 doors had opened before for Peter and John 
 (Acts 5:19) and once before they had prayed 
 to God for boldness to defy the ecclesiastical 
 authorities and God had heard their cry 
 (Acts 4:23-31). But this time it was the 
 hand of the state that was stretched forth 
 against them and the Christians, though now 
 many thousands strong in Jerusalem, were 
 still in a great minority. They seemed to 
 have prayed night and day.^ The exigency 
 was great. Perhaps the disciples came and 
 
 ^ Luke's words in 12:5 (^/^revaJ? yivofxivrj) seem to 
 mean that, though ** earnestly " is the translation. Luke 
 uses i^reviffzepov of the prayer of Christ in the Garden 
 of Gethsemane (Luke 22 : 44). 
 
THE HOME ATMOSPHERE 23 
 
 went, but the praying went on. The church's 
 leaders seem to have been absent this night, 
 for ** James and the brethren " (12 : 17) had a 
 message sent them. Whether it just hap- 
 pened so or the leaders were assembled else- 
 where for caution we do not know. But a 
 great crowd (probably mostly Hellenistic 
 Christians) were on hand this night. " The 
 supplication of a righteous man availeth much 
 in its working" (Jas. 5 : 16). In prayer these 
 disciples turned " to that alliance which is 
 indeed invincible " (Chrysostom, Horn, 26). 
 *' It is an early instance of the Christian 
 custom of spending the whole night in watch- 
 ing and prayer" (Rackham, *' Commentary," 
 p. 178). Jesus had set the example. Paul 
 held an all night service at Troas (Acts 20 : 7- 
 12). And there was real praying going on, 
 we may be sure, prayer for the deliverance of 
 Simon Peter from prison, prayer for this 
 specific blessing. 
 
 7. Peter's Visit. 
 
 Here was the hand of God beyond a doubt. 
 On the same night on which Agrippa had 
 planned to bring Peter forth and kill him to 
 add to the pleasure of the Jews (12:3, 6) God 
 
24 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 interposed and answered the prayer of the 
 church for Peter (12 : 5) by sending an angel 
 or messenger/ for the word is used both ways. 
 But there is no way to get rid of the super- 
 natural interposition of God in direct answer 
 to the prayers of the disciples. It is a graphic 
 story, the dazed stupor of Peter as he is led 
 out, freed from his chains, past the first guard 
 and then the second, through the iron gate 
 that opened of its own accord, and out on the 
 street at last, free. The angel was gone and 
 Peter ** came to himself '* ^ and recognized the 
 hand of God and his own danger. God had 
 delivered him " out of the hand of Herod, and 
 from all the expectations of the people of the 
 Jews" (12 : 11), but Peter had no notion of 
 sitting still and waiting till Herod arrested 
 him again, for he was bound to learn of his 
 escape as he did. So he " considered " ^ the 
 thing and came to the house of Mary. It was 
 probably after 3 A. M. (Furneaux, "Acts," 
 p. 182), but he was, like the other disciples, 
 a frequent visitor at this hospitable home and 
 
 ^ ayyeXoi; Kopioo (l 2 : 7). 
 
 "^ h iauT(p y£v6iJ.svo<s (12: ii), like Luke's phrase 
 about the Prodigal Son ei^ iaurou IXdwv (Luke 15:17). 
 
 ^ (Tuvid6v (cf. 14:6), looking at it together or as a 
 whole. 
 
THE HOME ATMOSPHEBB 25 
 
 he was sure of a welcome and of refuge for 
 the moment. Possibly '* some special tie ex- 
 isted between him and this family" (Fur- 
 neaux, ibid). He calls Mark ** his son " 
 (i Pet. 5 : 13), and he may have been the 
 means of winning the young man to Christ. 
 The disciples could hear his knocking and 
 the maid ^ went to answer ^ the knock at this 
 strange hour of the night, though all were 
 awake and at prayer. Rhoda (Rose) knew 
 Peter's voice, because he was a frequent 
 guest at the house, and knew that the com- 
 pany was keeping all night vigil for his re- 
 lease. Her conduct is drawn to the life as, 
 through excess of joy, she left Peter standing 
 on the outside and still in peril while she ran 
 back and told the anxious group that Peter 
 stood there before the gate (12 : 14). It was 
 a moment when overwrought nerves snap. 
 When Jesus appeared to the disciples in the 
 upper room on the night of the Resurrection 
 Day, they disbelieved for joy (Luke 24 : 41). 
 
 ^nai8i(jKr}. Portress or slave-girl. ** Domestic slaves 
 were at that time treated generally as humble members of 
 the family in pagan, much more in Christian, house- 
 holds " (Ramsay, ** Pictures of the Apostolic Church," 
 p. 109). 
 
 Suggests listening before opening. 
 
26 MAKING GOOD m THE MINISTRY 
 
 Human nature at high tension does not work 
 by rule. So now, with the answer to their 
 prayer at the gate, they turn on the poor girl 
 and say, **Thou art mad.'* Her confident 
 reiteration brought the interpretation that it 
 was *' his angel " (12 : 15), whether his ghost 
 or his guardian angel, as some held to be 
 true, is not clear. But Peter (the ghost!) 
 kept on knocking ^ till finally the whole com- 
 pany (*' they ") hurried down the courtyard, 
 as a protection to each other, and bravely 
 opened the door and faced Simon Peter him- 
 self to their utter amazement. Their prayer 
 was answered as they had really expected it 
 to be, but it was all so sudden and it was too 
 good to be true. Our faith is weak at best 
 and has its own little rules for the Lord to 
 work by. Peter, almost in terror, beckoned 
 to the excited throng to be still, told his story, 
 bade them tell "James and the brethren," 
 and " went to another place" (12 : 17) before 
 he could be found by Herod Agrippa. He 
 may have gone on to Antioch or to Rome. 
 James, the Lord's brother, is already the 
 leader in Jerusalem. 
 
 ^ iTrifievev npobo)v (12:15). Imperfect tense and 
 supplementary participle. 
 
THE HOME ATMOSPHEEE 27 
 
 8. And Young John Mark. 
 
 He was an interested spectator of the 
 events of this night. Ramsay^ thinks that 
 Rhoda told Luke this vivid story, for she 
 alone knew all the details. Perhaps so, but 
 John Mark could have also told Luke.^ 
 There was evidently much talk after Peter 
 was gone and all the items were rehearsed, 
 one by one. We do not know the age 
 of John Mark at this time, but he was 
 probably in the early twenties. Some think 
 he was the man "bearing a pitcher of 
 water" (Luke 22:10) who was to guide 
 Peter and John to the house for the pass- 
 over meal : " Follow him into the house 
 whereinto he goeth." He is also held by 
 some to be the " certain young man " of Mark 
 I4:5if. who followed Jesus into the Gar- 
 den of Gethsemane and fled naked when the 
 officers tried to arrest him. Papias, however, 
 is quoted by Eusebius as saying of Mark that 
 "he neither heard the Lord nor followed 
 him." But almost certainly he was a Chris- 
 tian by the time of this incident in Acts 12. 
 
 * " Pictures of the Apostolic Church," p. no. 
 ^ So Knowling, ** Expositor's Greek Testament, Acts," 
 p. 276. 
 
28 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 Holdsworth ^ thinks that Mark was one of the 
 six brethren that accompanied Peter from 
 Joppa to Caesarea (Acts lo : 23). " Eusebius 
 tells that St. Mark was sent to Egypt in the first 
 year of the Emperor Claudius, which would 
 be in A. D. 41, and both Eusebius and Jerome 
 tell us that he took his Gospel with him. St. 
 Chrysostom tells us that he wrote his Gospel 
 in Egypt." HoldsWorth is here arguing for 
 the view that Mark wrote three editions of his 
 Gospel, one in Caesarea for the household of 
 Cornelius (cf. Acts 10 : 34-43, where the same 
 broad outline is given as in Mark^s Gospel), 
 one in Egypt, and one in Rome (our Mark). 
 This is an interesting hypothesis, but it can- 
 not be called a fact. We are only concerned 
 with it here for the light that it throws on the 
 activities of John Mark at this period. In 
 that case we should think 0I him as at least 
 thirty. It is quite possible that he had al- 
 ready been Peter's interpreter in his work at 
 Joppa and Caesarea. If so, this bond makes 
 it plainer still why he went at once to Mary's 
 
 '"Gospel Origins," 191 3, p. 115. Ramsay ("St. 
 Paul the Traveller and Roman Citizen,** p. 51) makes 
 the persecution of James and Peter by Herod Agrippa in 
 the early part of a. d. 44. 
 
THE HOME ATMOSPHERE 29 
 
 house. But, at any rate, this youth is already 
 in touch with the leaders of the Jerusalem 
 church. He is kin to Barnabas, is a protege 
 of Simon Peter, and in his mother's circle of 
 friends, who flock to her home as a sort of 
 Christian salon^ he comes to know the chief 
 spirits of the time. It is impossible to over- 
 estimate the influence for good of the presence 
 in the home of the noble men and women 
 whom the children there meet. Gladstone 
 brought the great souls of his day to Ha- 
 warden Casde so that his children might 
 come in touch with them. John Mark had 
 this influence on his early life and it left its 
 impress upon him. Like Saul (Paul) he had 
 both a Jewish and a Roman name. There is 
 no doubt at all that this "John Mark" of 
 Acts 12 : 12 is the ** John'' of 13 : 5, 13 and 
 the "Mark" of i Peter 5 : 13 and Colossians 
 4:10; 2 Timothy 4:11. It is possible that 
 Mark may have been a regular " synagogue- 
 minister," ^ like the man in Luke 4 : 20, before 
 his conversion, though the same word in Acts 
 13:5 used of Mark may have a more general 
 application. If this were true, it would indi- 
 cate that Mark was a man familiar with re- 
 ^ Technical use of uTcrjpiTrjf, 
 
30 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 ligious work, with the rolls of Scripture, and 
 something of a practical linguist as we know 
 that he was later. He knew well both the 
 Aramaic and the current Greek (Koine) and 
 spoke both fluently so that he could act as 
 interpreter or dragoman for a speaker like 
 Peter. We do not know that he had as yet 
 seriously considered becoming a preacher 
 like Peter or Barnabas, but the question must 
 have been forced upon his attention in this 
 atmosphere. Who can tell what were his 
 mother's prayers about her son ? Who can 
 tell what thoughts throb in a young man's 
 mind and heart? Perhaps Barnabas and 
 Peter had already asked Mark what his life- 
 choice would be. Was God calling him into 
 the ministry for Jesus ? If that happens to a 
 man, it usually occurs to others as well as to 
 the man himself. 
 
II 
 
 THE CALL OF OPPORTUNITY 
 
 •' Taking with them John whose surname-was Mark" 
 
 — Acts 12: 25. 
 
II 
 
 THE CALL OF OPPORTUNITY 
 
 WE do not always know when oppor- 
 tunity knocks at our door. Many 
 of the great decisions of life are 
 made without our meaning to make them. 
 We take a step and then another and we are 
 off upon the great adventure of life. 
 
 I. An Incidental Trip. 
 
 It is clear that Mark went along without 
 meaning as yet to commit himself on the 
 great question of his life-calling. "Barna- 
 bas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when 
 they had fulfilled their ministration, taking 
 with ^ them John whose surname was Mark" 
 
 ^ (Tuv7:apaXaj36vT£^. Taking along together with (two 
 prepositions). This very word with both prepositions 
 occurs again in connection with Mark in Acts 15:37^' 
 Paul uses it also (Gal. 2:1) about taking Titus with 
 him to Jerusalem. The word shows that Mark was "an 
 unofficial companion " (Ramsay, " St. Paul the Travel- 
 ler," p. 177). 
 
 33 
 
34 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 (Acts 12 : 25). Barnabas and Saul may have 
 stopped at the home of Mary during their 
 stay in Jerusalem. Peter and the apostles 
 were apparently away. The absence of 
 Peter, Mark's "chosen friend and teacher," 
 made Mark more open to the influence of his 
 cousin Barnabas and to the personality of 
 Saul, a protege of Barnabas, whom he had 
 brought from Tarsus to Antioch to help him 
 in the work there (Acts 11:25 f .). Probably 
 both men had been considering Mark's use- 
 ful gifts for the campaign among the Gentiles 
 which they may already have been planning 
 (Rackham, p. 183). " He had a good 
 knowledge of Greek together with the faculty 
 of composition. Moreover he was thoroughly 
 acquainted with the teaching of Peter and the 
 oral traditions of the church of Jerusalem " 
 (Jbid.). If he had already had some experi- 
 ence with Peter as interpreter, so much the 
 better. ** But he had been living among the 
 narrow prejudices of the Jerusalem church, 
 and the sequel suggests that the relation- 
 ship with Barnabas rather than his sympathy 
 with Saul's views led him to accompany him " 
 (Furneaux, *'Acts," pp. 189 f.). So, perhaps 
 without great stirrings of heart, Mark con- 
 
THE CALL OF OPPOETUNITY 36 
 
 sented to go to Antioch. It wels a pleasant 
 enough journey and there was a chance of 
 being of service. So he agreed to go. 
 **This incidental notice of John Mark may 
 well emphasize the fact that he was taken 
 with Paul and Barnabas as a supernumerary, 
 and to mark his secondary character as com- 
 pared with them" (Knowling, "Commentary," 
 p. 281). But Mary may well have had flut- 
 tering of heart as her son started out upon 
 what proved to be a great expedition. Rack- 
 ham (" Commentary," p. 183) thinks that 
 the Roman '^praenomen" Marcus was given 
 John at this juncture with a view to its giving 
 him some help in his travels, " like most Jews 
 who travelled in the Graeco-Roman world." 
 But of that we do not know. At any rate 
 Mark was willing to go with Barnabas and 
 Saul to Antioch.* 
 
 2. With Two Great Men. 
 
 It may be that Mark was not quite aware 
 of the spiritual greatness of the two men who 
 invited him to be their companion to Antioch. 
 He ought to have appreciated Barnabas, his 
 
 * The reading " to " (e^'f) Jerusalem is manifestly er- 
 roneous even though supported by ^ B, 
 
36 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 kinsman, though sometimes ties of blood 
 make it harder to appraise one so near to us. 
 Saul had not yet come to the full stature of 
 his manhood in Christ, but his great gifts 
 were long ago made manifest in the persecu- 
 tion of the Jews which he had led. The fact 
 that Barnabas had championed Saul's cause 
 and believed his story, when the other leaders 
 in Jerusalem were both sceptical and afraid 
 (Acts 9 : 26 f.), and had himself brought Saul 
 from Tarsus to Antioch to help him in his 
 work, would predispose Mark to look on 
 Saul with admiration. ** The personality of 
 Saul may have kindled the young man's 
 enthusiasm" (Furneaux, "Acts," p. 189). 
 There is nothing that appeals to a young 
 man more strongly than a really great man. 
 Hero worship comes natural to youth. Usu- 
 ally they know the quality of their heroes 
 pretty well. Ramsay^ notes the "curiously 
 incidental way" in which "John Mark is 
 brought before the reader's notice here" 
 in order " to emphasize the secondary char- 
 acter of John Mark " " as a supernumerary 
 and subordinate." " The silence is singularly 
 expressive and therefore calculated " on 
 *"St. Paul the Traveller and Roman Citizen," p. 71. 
 
THE CALL OF OPPOETUNITY 37 
 
 Luke's part. But there was no effort on the 
 part of Barnabas and Saul to depreciate Mark 
 or to make him feel uncomfortable. They 
 probably had high hopes for his future. At 
 any rate, after delivering their alms from 
 Antioch, " they took back in exchange some 
 living gold — they took with them John 
 Mark" (Rackham, "Acts," p. 183). Great 
 preachers are constantly on the lookout for 
 other men with the divine spark of consecra- 
 tion that lifts a man out of the ordinary and 
 that makes possible the highest usefulness. 
 Did John Mark possess the holy fire that 
 would kindle a flame in other lives, among 
 Greeks as well as among Jews ? He had prob- 
 ably served his apprenticeship with Simon 
 Peter among the Jews and the Romans. Now 
 he was to have his chance with the Greeks. 
 
 3. In a Greek Church. 
 
 In Antioch Mark would be able to see for 
 himself what the Holy Spirit was doing with 
 and for the Greeks. He knew the story of 
 the work in Jerusalem from Pentecost on. 
 He may have seen the Roman Pentecost at 
 Caesarea in the house of Cornelius. At 
 Antioch he witnessed the outpouring of the 
 
38 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 Holy Spirit upon the Greek church " as they 
 ministered to the Lord and fasted" (Acts 
 13:2). There were prophets and teachers in 
 that church, as there ought to be in every 
 church, men with the prophetic message and 
 the teaching gift. Indeed, each preacher 
 ought to combine these two functions in 
 varying degrees. Christianity cannot well 
 make progress without both gifts whether 
 found in one man or in two. The prophet 
 is needed first to set on fire the soul with 
 holy passion, but the teacher must follow 
 with instruction to keep the fire burning else 
 it may burn out. No mention is made of 
 Mark's attitude toward the great event in 
 Antioch when the Holy Spirit made a dis- 
 tinct call for Barnabas and Saul to be set 
 apart " for the work whereunto I have called 
 them" (13:2). This was not a call to be- 
 come missionaries in the sense of preaching 
 to Gentiles, for this was a Gentile church in 
 Antioch and both men had already entered 
 upon that work. But it was a call to go on 
 a great world campaign to win Gentiles to 
 Christ. At Caesarea and at Antioch the im- 
 pulse had come from God and the work had 
 not yet spread far and no formal program 
 
THE CALL OF OPPOETUNITY 39 
 
 for further expansion had been proposed. 
 Mark probably knew of the way that the 
 Pharisaic Christians in Jerusalem had tried 
 to discredit Peter's work in Caesarea (Acts 
 ii:i-i8) and the skillful defense made by 
 Peter with their reluctant acquiescence. But 
 now a new crisis was sprung. The church 
 at Antioch was called upon by the Holy 
 Spirit, or at least the prophets and teachers 
 were, to approve the new and epochal cam- 
 paign among the Gentiles. They were not 
 asked to pay for it, but to pray for it. This 
 they did with great heartiness, for they were 
 Greeks themselves, and that is more than 
 the church at Jerusalem would have done 
 with so many Pharisaic Christians in the 
 membership and with the apostles scattered 
 over the world. It was a stirring time. Jeru- 
 salem had tarried too long and had lost 
 her primacy in the kingdom. The twelve 
 aposdes were still preaching to Jews, save 
 Peter's experience at Caesarea. The Great 
 Commission was now to be carried out by 
 two men not in the college of the twelve, 
 but both apostles (missionaries) in the real 
 sense of the word and both specifically called 
 to this great enterprise. John Mark was in- 
 
40 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 evitably moved by what he saw and heard at 
 Antioch. 
 
 4. Barnabas' Leadership. 
 
 This is made plain by the call of the Holy 
 Spirit. Barnabas is named before Saul as 
 the head of the expedition. In the list of 
 prophets and teachers named in the church 
 in Antioch (Acts 13 : i) Barnabas heads the 
 list and Saul comes last. It will hardly do 
 to say that Luke is staging his persons for 
 dramatic effect. Saul could well recall the 
 words of Jesus to him in Jerusalem: "De- 
 part: for I will send thee forth far hence 
 unto the Gentiles " (Acts 22 : 21). But Jesus 
 had not said to Saul that he was to be the 
 great apostle of the ages to the Gentiles. 
 That belonged to the future and Saul had 
 gladly cooperated with Barnabas in Antioch 
 and was apparently glad enough to work 
 under him in the new arrangement. Barna- 
 bas had been sent to Antioch by the Jeru- 
 salem church (Acts 11 : 22), but he had con- 
 served the independence of the Antiochian 
 church while preserving the utmost amity by 
 taking alms to the relief of the Jerusalem 
 poor (ii:29f.) at the time of the famine; 
 
THE CALL OF OPPOETUNITY 41 
 
 John Mark probably took his cousin's leader- 
 ship as a matter of course as did the whole 
 church at Antioch. Saul was still just the 
 co-worker of Barnabas. 
 
 5. To Go On or to Go Back. 
 
 John Mark had not been named by the 
 Holy Spirit in the call, but only Barnabas 
 and Saul. The farewell meeting was evi- 
 dendy held in honor of Barnabas and Saul 
 and, after fasting and prayer, hands were 
 laid upon them, not in the technical sense of 
 ** ordination " to the ministry or for the be- 
 stowal of the Holy Spirit. Both had already 
 received the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 
 9 : 1 7 ; 1 1 : 24) and both had long been active 
 ministers. It was a sort of dedicatory service 
 in view of the new and solemn enterprise to 
 which they were called by the Holy Spirit. 
 Certainly Saul, in view of the events con- 
 nected with his conversion and the message 
 of Jesus through Ananias (Acts 9:6, 15 f. ; 
 22 : 14 f.) was only too willing to enter this 
 open door. He had not been idle at Tarsus, 
 but here at last was his real life-work. The 
 duty of Barnabas was clear and his work at 
 Antioch with the Greeks had the seal of 
 
42 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 God's blessing (Acts 1 1 ; 24-26) and the Holy 
 Spirit's present call was explicit. He was 
 under orders and he was ready to go. What 
 was John Mark to do? A narrow and sensi- 
 tive man might have shown irritation or even 
 resentment at not being named in the call of 
 the Holy Spirit. He was only "an extra 
 hand " (Ramsay, " St. Paul the Traveller," 
 p. 71) taken on the responsibility of Barnabas 
 and Saul. One step at a time is the way 
 that God leads us. Mark had come to An- 
 tioch with Barnabas and Saul. Now they 
 were clearly led on and out into a world 
 campaign for Christ upon a quest full of ad- 
 venture and uncertainty. The very novelty 
 of it all would appeal to a young man like 
 Mark. Barnabas and Saul wanted him to go 
 on with them and explained how they needed 
 him and could make his journey useful as well 
 as agreeable. So he agreed to go on with 
 them. Perhaps he sent back a message to 
 his mother Mary about this further step and 
 asked for her approval and for her prayers. 
 The party were sent forth by the Holy Spirit 
 and with the best wishes of the Greek church in 
 Antioch (Acts 13:3 f.)now become the center of 
 one of the great world movements of all time. 
 
Ill 
 
 TAKING A HUMBLE PLACE 
 
 "And they had also John as their attendant." 
 
 — Acts 13:5. 
 
in 
 
 TAKING A HUMBLE PLACE 
 
 PRECISELY what John Mark's place in 
 the company was we do not know, 
 but certainly it was a subordinate one. 
 Here was a call from man and not to a very 
 high place. Was it also the call of God and 
 was it worth while ? Very few young min- 
 isters are placed at once upon a pinnacle 
 and, if they are, they often become dizzy and 
 sometimes fall. In the ministry, as in busi- 
 ness callings, it matters far more what one 
 does with his position than what the 
 place is. It is far better to do a big work 
 in a little place than a little work in a big 
 place. It is not even certain what John 
 had to do. 
 
 I. The Synagogue Minister ? 
 
 The word^ here translated '* attendant" is 
 
 * onrjpiTTjv. Literally an under-rower with other 
 rowers above one in the boat. 
 
 45 
 
46 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 sometimes used for the official chazzan or 
 synagogue minister as in Luke 4 : 20. The 
 Greek idiom quite allows this translation. 
 *• The clause is in close connection with the 
 mention of synagogues ; the omission of the 
 article is common in the case of official 
 titles ; and, if it was a predicate, the natural 
 order of the Greek words would be different " 
 (Furneaux, '* Acts,'* p. 197). This is all true 
 and makes out at least a plausible argument 
 for this translation. The word is used also 
 for " officers " who were sent to arrest Jesus 
 (John 7 : 32, 45). The chazzan in the syna- 
 gogue in Luke 4 : 20 handed the Lord Jesus 
 the roll like a modern beadle or sexton. If 
 this view be taken, we have another item 
 about Mark that links him closely with 
 Judaism. He would, as a regular synagogue 
 minister, be very handy in the preaching 
 services which were always held in the syna- 
 gogues if allowed by the Jewish authorities. 
 This was Paul's constant practice, as we 
 know, except in a few cases as at Lystra 
 (Acts 14 : 15). There were excellent reasons 
 for this conduct even though Paul was the 
 apostle to the Gentiles. He still felt that the 
 Gospel came to the Jew first (Rom. 2 : 10) 
 
TAKING A HUMBLE PLACE 47 
 
 and, being a Jewish rabbi himself, the heathen 
 in the public places would be prejudiced 
 against him as toward all Jews (cf. the case 
 of Alexander at Ephesus, Acts 19 : 34). Be- 
 sides, as a rabbi, he would have access to the 
 synagogues and there would also meet the 
 many God-fearing Gentiles (Acts 17:17) who 
 had turned to Judaism for some relief from 
 the myths and licentiousness of current 
 heathenism or from the still worse emperor 
 cult. ** Hence the synagogue attracted nu- 
 merous proselytes, and a preacher of the 
 Gospel found in it a bridge over which to 
 pass to pagan circles " (Furneaux, " Acts," 
 p. 197). 
 
 2. The Baptizer ? 
 
 We know that Peter *' commanded them to 
 be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ" 
 (Acts ID : 48) when Cornelius and his house- 
 hold were converted. John Mark, as we 
 have seen, may have been one of the six 
 with Peter who attended to this baptizing. 
 Paul usually had others to do the baptizing 
 for him to keep down small jealousies on 
 that point (i Cor. i : 14-17). Blass (Acts, 171 
 loco) explains " attendant " or *' minister " as 
 
48 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 " for baptizing '* (velut ad baptizanduni). The 
 prophets sometimes had servants or attend- 
 ants as Elisha to Elijah (i Kings 19:21) 
 and Gehazi to Elisha (2 Kings 4: 12). It is 
 hardly likely that John Mark came along 
 to do simply personal service to Barnabas 
 and Saul. We may be sure that there was 
 baptizing to be done in most of the places 
 where Barnabas and Saul preached. 
 
 3. The Dragoman ? 
 
 "But the word may express the fact that 
 John Mark was able to set the apostles 
 more free for their work of evangelizing'' 
 (Knowling, "Acts," p. 285). He may have 
 made "arrangements for board, lodging, 
 and travelling" (Furneaux, "Acts," p. 197). 
 Evangelists to-day sometimes have advance 
 agents, advertising or publicity men, singers, 
 personal workers, Bible class leaders, and 
 what not, a regular company. It is to-day 
 often "Smith and party," "Jones and party." 
 There is no reason to refuse to admit some 
 business organization in this new enterprise. 
 Whether they started out with money or not, 
 the time came when Paul made his own sup- 
 port and that of his friends by working at 
 
TAKING A HUMBLE PLACE 49 
 
 his trade. There were no boards to care for 
 the new missionaries. There is no evidence 
 that the church at Antioch contemplated 
 financial responsibility for the campaign. 
 They evidently did not mean to underwrite 
 the expenses of the mission band for whom 
 they so fervently prayed, for Paul later ex- 
 pressly says that in the beginning the Phi- 
 lippians alone had a share with him in the 
 mission enterprise (Phil. 4 : 15). That crown 
 belongs to Philippi, not to Antioch. But 
 there were business details of various kinds 
 that demanded attention and Mark was ready 
 for them. 
 
 4. The Assistant Preacher ? 
 
 " As an assistant — in what ? * Also/ as I 
 think, recalls most naturally 'preached the 
 word ' ; and the answer would be that he 
 assisted them in the declaration of the word " 
 (Hackett, "Acts," p. 151). Hackett recog- 
 nizes that he stands almost alone in this 
 view. And yet it would be hard to deny 
 that John Mark would be allowed to preach 
 the Gospel as occasion offered. There may 
 have been overflow meetings or crowds in 
 front of the synagogues or after-meetings or 
 
50 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 meetings in the homes as at his mother's 
 home in Jerusalem where he could well exer- 
 cise his gifts as a preacher of the Gospel. 
 It may be fairly asked why John Mark's 
 position has to be precisely defined ; why, in 
 fact, there may not be an element of truth in 
 all these points of view which are not at all 
 contradictory. He was ready for any service 
 that was required to help on the work, a man 
 of all work for the party. One of the most 
 needed tasks was to instruct the catechu- 
 mens. Mark was one who **had not the 
 same gift of preaching to the unconverted, 
 but who had an excellent memory, and a full 
 knowledge of all those great events which 
 were being told among them ; and he (Paul) 
 turned over the 'catechumens' to this * attend- 
 ant ' or * minister.' Mark would take the in- 
 quirers aside, and in some quiet place he 
 would begin to tell the story of the Gospel in 
 detail. He would meet them again and 
 again for as long as they were in the place " 
 (Moulton, " From Egyptian Rubbish Heaps," 
 1916, p. 93). 
 
 5. If Less Honor, Less Responsibility. 
 There was this to be said from Mark's 
 
TAKING A HUMBLE PLACE 51 
 
 standpoint. He was in no sense the head, 
 or even a head, of the party. Somebody has 
 to do the humbler tasks in Christian work. 
 An army of generals and captains would not 
 be very formidable. It is the man in the 
 trenches who does the chief work after all if 
 he executes it well. The sequel, however, 
 makes it clear that the responsibility for this 
 enterprise rested rather lightly on Mark's 
 shoulders. He may not have found it as 
 congenial as he had hoped. The little foxes 
 eat away the vines. There is a dull drag that 
 comes in humdrum work that tries the spirit. 
 Many a young preacher balks at the petty 
 details of scholarly pursuits and refuses to 
 pay the price for great attainments by the 
 slavish drudgery of prolonged application to 
 real research. The dust and grime of the 
 mine drive away the charm of the gold and 
 the diamond. 
 
 6. Willing to Start at This Level. 
 
 But it must not be forgotten that John Mark 
 did set out on this great tour as the mere 
 ** attendant " of Barnabas and Saul. That is 
 all to his credit and is worth noting. It 
 is a long way from flagman on a train to 
 
52 MAKENTG GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 president of the railroad and yet men have 
 traversed that path. The bell-boy may 
 some day be the bank president. The student 
 will become the professor. The tyro will be- 
 come the expert. The boy in the pew will 
 become the peerless preacher. The people 
 at Nazareth could not get over their astonish- 
 ment that "the carpenter" (Mark 6:3), as 
 they knew Jesus, could be the rabbi whose 
 fame was now upon the lips of all, or even 
 the Messiah of promise as some dared to 
 affirm. He was great first as carpenter be- 
 fore He came to be great as teacher and 
 Master of men's hearts and lives. All young 
 preachers have to start somewhere. Broadus 
 used to say that the only way to preach is to 
 preach. One may learn all the theory of 
 swimming and yet drown because he does 
 not know how to swim. The door for the 
 preacher to enter is the one that is open, not 
 those that are closed. 
 
IV 
 
 FLICKERING IN A CRISIS 
 
 *^ Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, 
 and came to Perga in Pamphylia : and John de- 
 parted from them and returned to Jerusalem.'' 
 
 —Acts 13: 13. 
 
IV 
 
 FLICKERING IN A CRISIS 
 
 I. Deserting Paul and Barnabas at Perga. 
 
 MARK is kept distinctly in the back- 
 ground by Luke, for Paul is his 
 hero in Acts 13 to 28. What did 
 Mark think of the new situation that de- 
 veloped at Paphos and what was his subse- 
 quent conduct ? We seldom act from single 
 motives. One may be at the moment the 
 strongest on the occasion for action, the last 
 straw on the camel's back as we say, like the 
 rebuke of Judas Iscariot by Christ at the 
 feast in Bethany, but, once the spark is 
 lighted, the other fagots add fuel to the 
 flame. At Perga in Pamphylia John Mark 
 (John, his Jewish name, Luke calls him here 
 and in 13:5; but Mark, his Roman name, in 
 15-39. and both in 12 : 12, 25 ; 15 137), sud- 
 denly left the party and went back, not to 
 Antioch, but to Jerusalem. Luke proffers no 
 55 
 
56 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 explanation of any kind, but shows later (15 : 
 37-39) that Paul strongly resented what he con- 
 sidered Mark's desertion of the work in a cri- 
 sis. Luke makes a colorless report of Mark's 
 conduct at this stage : " John departed from 
 them and returned to Jerusalem." There 
 was a sharp cleavage ^ and a return ^ home. 
 But in 15 : 38 Paul, as we shall see, practically 
 accused Mark of apostasy^ from the work 
 which he had undertaken. Mark may not 
 have foreseen the serious results that were to 
 follow this act of his. There was probably 
 some petulance and heat on his part, a 
 " flare-up " when he left. He was clearly 
 unwilling to go on and was not offering his 
 resignation in order to be asked to withdraw 
 it and stay with the party. It is always a 
 serious question for a pastor to offer his 
 resignation. He is not always able to see 
 all sides of the problem. People are not 
 always frank and sincere with him, Some 
 will urge him to stay who really wish him to 
 go. Some will say nothing who secretly 
 
 * d.7:o^(opTJ(Ta<^ d.Tc' aOraJv. These words accent the 
 separation. 
 
 ^ vTtiazpecl'^v the same word employed in 12:25 of 
 the return from Jerusalem to Antioch. 
 
FLICKEEING IN A CEISIS 57 
 
 hope that he will go. A noisy minority may 
 override the will of the majority. But a pas- 
 tor can stay too long as he can go too soon. 
 It is easy to be too sensitive and then not to 
 be sensitive enough. Many a young minis- 
 ter injures his whole ministerial career by not 
 making good in his first pastorate and finds 
 it hard to get another pastorate. Once out 
 he has difficulty in getting in again. Mark 
 takes an almost fatal step and quits all of a 
 sudden and goes home as a returned mis- 
 sionary. He is in an embarrassing position at 
 once. Many a young minister has found the 
 work at college or at seminary surprisingly 
 hard and has suddenly thrown up his scho- 
 lastic training. He dodges Perga for a 
 short-cut into the ministry. Mark never for- 
 got Perga. It haunted him through the 
 years. What made him quit at Perga? 
 Paul and Barnabas were also at Perga and 
 went on. Why did Mark turn back ? They 
 all faced the same difficulties, the same ob- 
 stacles. There are two ways to treat obstacles 
 in one's path, to turn back or to climb over 
 them. Napoleon said, "There shall be no 
 Alps," and went over the top into Italy. 
 Mark turned back. 
 
68 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 2. Irritation at Paul's Preeminence. 
 
 At Paphos ** Saul, who is also called Paul '* 
 (Acts 13:9), took the lead and sternly re- 
 buked Elymas Barjesus, the Jewish sorcerer, 
 and broke his power over Sergius Paulus, 
 the proconsul. The result was tremendous. 
 Elymas was smitten with blindness and " he 
 went about seeking some one to lead him by 
 the hand" (13 : 11) and the proconsul "be- 
 lieved, being astonished at the teaching of the 
 Lord " (13 : 12). But now also " Paul and his 
 company set sail from Paphos "(13:13). It 
 is significant that from now on Luke usually 
 has " Paul " instead of " Saul " and that this 
 forward step on Paul's part takes place in 
 connection with a man named "Paulus." 
 These two " Pauls " faced each other in the 
 court at Paphos and the preacher won the 
 proconsul, the first man in rank in Cyprus. 
 ** St. Paul generally accepted a scene before 
 the authorities as bringing his work in a city 
 to an end " (Rackham, " Acts," p. 203). At 
 any rate Paul is now the leader,^ though Bar- 
 nabas had been specifically named as head of 
 
 * ol Tzepi UdbXov. This ancient Greek idiom neatly sets 
 forth Paul (** those around Paul '*) as the center of the 
 party. Cf. Robertson, ** Grammar of the Greek New 
 Testament in the Light of Historical Research," p. 620. 
 
FLICKEEING IN A CEISIS 69 
 
 the expedition in the call of the Holy Spirit 
 (13:2). "The young cousin felt a jealousy 
 to which the generous Barnabas was him- 
 self superior" (Furneaux, "Acts," p. 203). 
 Clearly Barnabas exhibited no chagrin at the 
 new power that Paul displayed and rejoiced 
 in his prowess. It is good when an older 
 minister can rejoice at the achievements of 
 the more gifted younger man whom he has 
 helped to get a start. "In nothing is the 
 greatness of Barnabas more manifest than in 
 his recognition of the superiority of Paul and 
 acceptance of a secondary position for him- 
 self " (Furneaux, ihid^j. But Mark probably 
 felt resentment on Barnabas' account and 
 may have showed it. These litde jealousies 
 appeared among the twelve apostles during 
 Christ's ministry and ministers to-day are 
 subject to them like other men. The occasions 
 for them test one's caliber. This spirit is 
 sometimes a defect of a great man, though 
 usually the sign of a weak one. 
 
 3. The Change of Plan. 
 
 Findlay (Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, 
 art. Paul) suggests that the repetition of the 
 phrase " the work " (13 : 2 ; 14 : 26 ; 15 : 38) 
 
60 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 in Luke's narrative shows that the whole cam- 
 paign had been mapped out before leaving 
 Antioch. At any rate there was a change of 
 leaders. Cyprus was the old home of Barna- 
 bas and the visit there was probably his sug- 
 gestion. What is now Paul's plan ? Rack- 
 ham (" Acts," p. 205) thinks that Paul really 
 wanted to go to Ephesus as he sought to go 
 in the second journey (Acts 16 : 6) and hoped 
 to find a ship at Perga for Ephesus. Ramsay 
 (*• St. Paul the Traveller and Roman Citizen," 
 pp. 89 f.) holds that Pamphylia was to be the 
 sphere of work among a people somewhat 
 like those in Cilicia, Syria, and Cyprus 
 where Paul had already labored. Ramsay 
 suggests that Paul contracted the malaria at 
 Perga from the mosquitoes on the Cestrus 
 River and hence made a radical change of 
 plan to go on and up through the dangerous 
 mountain passes to Antioch in Pisidia where 
 he could recover from the malaria on the ele- 
 vated plateau (3,600 feet above sea level). 
 He appeals to Galatians 4 : 13 f. as proof of 
 this view which is on the basis of the South 
 Galatian theory that Paul in Galatians is 
 writing to the churches in Pisidia and Lycao- 
 nia established during this first tour. Ram- 
 
FLICKEEING IN A CEISIS 61 
 
 say holds that the sickness referred to by 
 Paul in Galatians 4 : 13 f. as the occasion of 
 his preaching in Galatia began in Perga. He 
 also interprets *' the splinter ^ in the flesh " 
 (2 Cor. I2:7f.) as the recurring attacks of 
 malaria (the sudden chills or spasms) which 
 humiliated him before the heathen who in- 
 terpreted these spells as punishments from 
 the gods. At any rate a change of plan seems 
 to have been made at Perga. If Paul decided 
 to go to Antioch in Pisidia for his health Mark 
 may have interpreted it " as an abandonment 
 of the work" (Knowling, "Acts," p. 289). 
 This would be a possible retort to Paul's charge 
 that Mark had deserted the work. Certainly 
 a division of opinion arose and Mark refused 
 to go further along the new path. He could 
 say that he had not agreed to go to Pisidia 
 and Lycaonia and be technically correct. 
 
 4. Paul's Aggressive Attitude Toward Gen- 
 tiles. 
 We do not have to say that it was merely 
 
 * " And he told me that you had a sore foot owing to 
 a splinter " ka\ eini fiot ore tov nodav Trove?? <iro 
 ff/zoXdr.oo (B. G. U. 380 iii. a. d.). This sentence oc- 
 curs in the letter of an anxious mother who has heard of 
 the injury to her son's foot. 
 
62 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 a personal matter on Mark^s part. He prob- 
 ably sympathized to some extent with the 
 standpoint of the Pharisaic element in Jeru- 
 salem. Peter himself required a vision from 
 the Lord to enable him to go to Cornelius in 
 Caesarea and to preach a free Gospel to him 
 and his household. Even there Peter was 
 openly apologetic (Acts lo : 28) and only 
 there perceived that God would save Gen- 
 tiles without their becoming Jews (10:34) 
 and in Jerusalem made it plain that God 
 had opened the door to the Romans in 
 Caesarea (11:1-18). Barnabas had firmly 
 maintained the freedom of the Greek Chris- 
 tians in Antioch from Jewish observances 
 (i 1 : 23 ff.). But Paul's aggressive spirit seems 
 to have longed for a great drive for the Gen- 
 tiles whether the Jews responded or not. 
 Precisely that situation arose in Antioch in 
 Pisidia and Mark may have foreseen it or 
 suspected it. " Seeing ye thrust it from 
 you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eter- 
 nal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles'* (Acts 
 14 : 46). " We conclude then that Mark was 
 unable to keep pace with the rapid expan- 
 sion of St. Paul's views of work in the 
 Gentile world" (Rackham, "Acts," p. 204). 
 
FLICKERING IN A CRISIS 63 
 
 Mark may have intimated that the conver- 
 sion of Sergius Paulus had made Paul willing 
 to neglect the chosen people. 
 
 5. Hazards of the Hills Ahead. 
 
 Paul himself seems to refer to this period 
 of his life when he speaks of " perils of rivers," 
 " perils of robbers/' and " perils in the wilder- 
 ness " (2 Cor. 11:26). Various inscriptions 
 in this region between Perga and Antioch in 
 Pisidia tell of escape from drowning in a 
 torrent swollen by rain, of a policeman slain 
 by robbers, of armed policemen whose duty 
 it was to capture runaway slaves (often the 
 very worst brigands). " The roads all over 
 the Roman Empire were apt to be unsafe, for 
 the arrangements for insuring public safety 
 were exceedingly defective ; but probably the 
 part of his life which St. Paul had most in 
 mind when he wrote about the perils of rivers 
 and of robbers, which he had faced in his 
 journeys, was the journey from Perga across 
 Taurus to Antioch and back again '' (Ramsay, 
 "The Church in the Roman Empire," 1893, 
 p. 24). It is easy to see how Mark could 
 argue that he had not agreed to go into such 
 hazards. If it was springtime, he would hear 
 
64 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 of swollen streams and of bands of brigands. 
 Besides, it was not his expedition anyhow. 
 The Holy Spirit had not named him in the 
 call which Barnabas and Saul had received. 
 Mark ** was a young man, and had perhaps 
 entered on the work without counting the 
 cost" (Furneaux, "Acts," p. 203). He had 
 put his hand to the plow, but was now look- 
 ing back. The furrow was running on too 
 far for him. Mark was not a coward, but he 
 was faint-hearted and his spirit quailed as he 
 contemplated the real and imaginary dangers 
 involved in a trip across the Taurus moun- 
 tains through almost trackless forests. The 
 brigands there were more dangerous than 
 the wild beasts. Perhaps the heart of many 
 a missionary has suffered like terrors as he 
 came face to face with the grim realities of 
 his life-work. Paul had much to say to Tim- 
 othy about enduring hardness as a soldier 
 of the cross. *' Suffer hardship with me, as a 
 good soldier of Christ Jesus " (2 Tim. 2 : 3). 
 Paul was a true soldier and captain. He did 
 not ask his followers to do what he was un- 
 willing to share with them. But Paul had 
 no patience with the tenderfoot. He wanted 
 a real man to stand in his place in the 
 
FLICKEEING IN A CEISIS 65 
 
 trenches. *' For God gave us not a spirit of 
 fearfulness ; but of power and love and dis- 
 cipline. Be not ashamed therefore of the 
 testimony of our Lord, nor of me his pris- 
 oner: but sufier hardship with the Gospel 
 according to the power of God " (2 Tim. 
 1 : 7 f.). This is Paul's message to all men 
 who are tempted to be slackers or quitters 
 in the ministry. 
 
 6. Homesickness. 
 
 Certainly he went home. He "returned 
 to Jerusalem." Holtzmann says that he went 
 home "to his mother" (zu seiner Mutter). 
 A ship may have been about to sail from 
 Perga to Caesarea and Mark could not resist 
 the impulse to depart (J. Robertson, " Scenes 
 from the Life of St. Paul," p. 112). Swete 
 ("Commentary," p. xiii) thinks "that duty 
 to his mother and his home required him to 
 break ofi at this point from so perilous a 
 development of the mission." Depression 
 probably combined with the other influences 
 already mentioned and the action, once taken, 
 was irrevocable. He was ofi for home and 
 Paul and Barnabas were off for Antioch in 
 Pisidia. It is even possible that Mark him- 
 
66 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINLSTRY 
 
 self had a touch of malaria at Perga. If that 
 was true, it was the decisive thing with him. 
 He would go home and get out of all this 
 entanglement Malaria and homesickness 
 make a powerful combination and go far 
 toward unnerving a man for real work. 
 When the physical energy is sapped, one's 
 will has to fight the battle. Paul fought for 
 the hills to go on with his work. Mark fled 
 home to see his mother and let the work go. 
 Mark undoubtedly loved his mother as he 
 ought to have done, but it is an open ques- 
 tion whether Mary was wholly glad to see 
 him come back alone. To be sure, he had 
 his story, but it was only one side of the 
 matter. Mary had felt pride in seeing her 
 son go out under the tutelage of two such 
 preachers as Barnabas and Saul. There was, 
 no doubt, a pang of disappointment in her 
 heart as she saw him come home, especially 
 when she learned of Paul's disapproval and 
 that Barnabas had gone on with Paul. Life 
 is full of complex problems that are hard to 
 solve. The skein gets tangled and the 
 temper becomes exasperated till we cut the 
 Gordian knot and then we may cut it in the 
 wrong place. There are thousands of young 
 
FUCKEEING IN A CEISIS 67 
 
 ministers who will understand John Mark's 
 feelings as he journeyed home. Had he 
 done right after all? What was he to do 
 now ? A young minister quits his college or 
 seminary course under provocation or in 
 despair at the difficulties met at Perga. He 
 resigns his first pastorate because of a sudden 
 clash with some member of the church or 
 because the work seems unusually hard or 
 the remuneration inadequate or the people 
 indifferent or the climate unsuitable. A 
 young missionary suddenly flings up his 
 work and comes home and finds himself in 
 a very embarrassing position. He is not a 
 hero to others and his courage is gone. A 
 Y. M. C. A. secretary in the army camps has 
 to take his lot with the men in camp and at 
 the front. If he is overly particular, he will 
 not have the respect of the men whom he is 
 trying to help. We all meet Perga, but Paul 
 went on to victory and power. 
 
V 
 
 THROWN OUT OF WORK 
 
 " And Barnabas was minded to lake with them John 
 also, who was called Afark."—Acis 15 : 37. 
 
THROWN OUT OF WORK 
 
 I. A Spectator, Not a Fighter. 
 
 MARK is dropped by Luke till we 
 come to Antioch again in Acts 15 : 
 36-41. Much water has run under 
 the mill in the meanwhile. Paul and Barna- 
 bas finished their great tour as far as Derbe 
 and then returned to Antioch in Syria where 
 *' they rehearsed all things that God had done 
 with them, and that he had opened a door of 
 faith unto the Gentiles" (Acts 14:27). It 
 was a veritable missionary triumph and 
 echoes of this great event reached Jerusalem 
 and led certain self-appointed leaders, "to 
 whom we gave no commandment" (Acts 
 15 : 24), to go up to Antioch to file formal 
 protest against this great Gentile propaganda 
 by Paul and Barnabas. One of the great 
 issues in the history of Christianity was 
 sprung and Paul did not hesitate a moment 
 to champion the cause of spiritual freedom 
 71 
 
72 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 for the Gentile Christians against the bond- 
 age of Pharisaism which the Judaizing Chris- 
 tians from Jerusalem wished to impose upon 
 them. Luke reports the conflict in Acts 15 : 
 1-35 and Paul has a sketch of. the private 
 aspects of the controversy in Galatians 2 : 
 i-io. Mark was undoubtedly a spectator 
 of what was going on in Jerusalem and had 
 his own point of view about it all. But, alas, 
 instead of being in the thick of it with Paul 
 and Barnabas, as he might have been, he is 
 now an outsider. There must have been 
 some bitterness of spirit as Mark saw the 
 fresh honors coming to the leaders whom he 
 had deserted at Perga. No honor came to 
 Mark. 
 
 a. Sympathy with the Judaizers. 
 
 It is almost certain that Mark had a re- 
 action of feeling from Paul to Peter, as he 
 understood Peter, when the controversy 
 started. Everybody was taking sides. The 
 Pharisaic party in the Jerusalem church 
 (Acts 11:2; 15 : I f.) felt certain that Peter 
 and James would take their side against 
 Paul. It is hardly proper to say that Mark 
 aligned himself openly with the Judaizers for 
 
THEOWN OUT OF WOEK 73 
 
 Paul calls them " false brethren " (Gal. 2 : 4) 
 and Barnabas stood with Paul and that fact 
 would have a restraining influence on Mark. 
 But many a minister, who has been tempo- 
 rarily thrown out of work, has had the tempta- 
 tion to bitterness of spirit and sourness of 
 disposition that finds expression in unpleasant 
 remarks about other ministers. The man 
 who is " down and out '* easily becomes a 
 " knocker " against the man who is still at 
 work. The keenest critic is the one who is 
 doing nothing else. The man who becomes 
 an incarnate sneer toward his brethren will 
 find it hard to be just. It would be easy for 
 Mark to find ample justification for his own 
 withdrawal from the Gentile propaganda of 
 Paul in the ugly things that the Judaizers 
 were saying, things that Mark would not say 
 himself, but which he probably took no pains 
 to contradict. He could at least point to the 
 strife that had been caused and that could have 
 been avoided by a more moderate and cau- 
 tious campaign. Perhaps he could say, " I 
 told you so." 
 
 3. Silenced by Victory. 
 
 But victory has a quieting effect upon 
 
74 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 many people. The noise of the Judaizers 
 was great at the start (Acts 15 : 5)» but Peter 
 and even James had championed the cause 
 of Gentile freedom as expounded by Paul 
 and Barnabas (15 : 7-21) and in the end the 
 vote in favor of the resolution by James, the 
 president of the conference, was unanimous 
 (15 : 22), the Judaizers themselves probably 
 not voting when they saw that they were in 
 a hopeless minority. For the second time, 
 therefore, the Judaizers were silenced ; once 
 in the arraignment of Simon Peter (11 : 18) to 
 which event Peter skillfully referred in his 
 speech for Paul (15 : 7), and now in the 
 triumph of Paul and Barnabas. They are 
 sullen and sulk in their tents and wait for an- 
 other occasion to renew the strife. Men of 
 this type will not keep the spirit of an agree- 
 ment. Documents and "decrees" (Acts 16:4) 
 are mere " scraps of paper " in their eyes 
 when they are bent on carrying their point 
 in the end. But, no doubt, Mark was duly 
 impressed by the victory of Paul and Barna- 
 bas. Mark was bound to review the whole 
 situation in the light of the new developments. 
 Since the policy of the whole of Christendom 
 was now settled on the question of the freedom 
 
THEOWN OUT OF WOEK 75 
 
 of the Gentiles from Jewish ceremonialism, 
 Mark's opposition was probably gone. The 
 question was at least settled and he was ready 
 to join in the work again. " The remon- 
 strance of Barnabas may have brought him 
 to a sense of his previous misconduct" 
 (Furneaux, "Acts/' p. 250). Thus Mark's 
 prejudices may have vanished. 
 
 4. In Antioch Again. 
 
 At any rate we see Mark in Antioch again 
 and with Barnabas. It is not quite clear on 
 what basis he came. He may have come up 
 with Simon Peter whose visit to Antioch led 
 to the unfortunate episode which Paul relates 
 in Galatians 2:11-21. This visit of Peter 
 was apparently after the Jerusalem conference, 
 though Ramsay makes it before, and the 
 same as the visit of the Judaizers in Acts 
 15 : I ("St. Paul the Traveller," p. 158). If 
 we take Galatians 2 : i-io to refer to the 
 same meeting as Acts 15 : 4-29, we have to 
 put Peter's visit later. So we can imagine 
 Peter in Antioch with Paul and Barnabas after 
 the great victory in Jerusalem. Peter "ate 
 with the Gentiles" (Gal. 2 : 12) as he was ac- 
 cused by the Pharisaic Christians of doing at 
 
76 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 Caesarea (Acts 1 1 : 3). The question of social 
 relations did not come up in the Jerusalem 
 conference and the " certain " ones from Je- 
 rusalem "from James" claimed that Peter 
 had gone beyond that agreement and that 
 James would not approve this step of Peter. 
 It is even possible that Mark was one of these 
 " certain " ones, but not likely. Peter, how- 
 ever, was so much impressed by them, " fear- 
 ing them of the circumcision," that he recanted 
 and changed his conduct to the disgust and 
 the indignation of Paul who " resisted him to 
 the face " *' before them all." Certainly Paul 
 did not regard Peter as the Pope. The worst 
 of it was that " the rest of the Jews dissem- 
 bled likewise with him, insomuch that even 
 Barnabas was carried away by their dissimu- 
 lation" (Gal. 2 : 13). Paul used a hard word 
 " hypocrisy " ^ to describe this conduct of 
 Peter and " even Barnabas." Et tu, Brute. 
 How did Barnabas come to waver and to de- 
 sert Paul after all their struggles together and 
 after their recent victory in Jerusalem and 
 after the joyful ratification in Antioch (Acts 
 15:31)? The most plausible explanation is 
 John Mark's influence on Barnabas, who may 
 
 * T^ vTioRpiati, 
 
THEOWN OUT OF WORK 77 
 
 have persuaded him that James really was 
 opposed to the social equality between Greek 
 and Jewish Christians which was practiced at 
 Antioch and which Paul and Barnabas had 
 also practiced on their recent tour. The de- 
 fection of Peter and all the other Jewish Chris- 
 tians in Antioch left Barnabas and Paul alone 
 on this point. Example is powerful upon 
 most of us. So Barnabas stepped over to the 
 side of Peter and left Paul alone, Paulus contra 
 mundum. At last Barnabas had renounced 
 Paul's leadership to the joy of John Mark. 
 
 5. Won Back to Paul. 
 
 Paul is silent about Mark. Luke does not 
 say how it was done. But it is evident that 
 Paul won Peter and Barnabas quickly to his 
 view again. The breach was momentary 
 and was soon healed. It was all a mistake 
 about James and Mark is brought once again 
 to feel kindly toward Paul. It is not likely 
 that Paul was told if there was any change in 
 the feeling of Mark in the matter, but we 
 know that Mark was willing to cooperate 
 with Paul again for he allows Barnabas to 
 mention the matter to Paul. This speaks 
 well for Mark and shows that he had not be- 
 
78 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 come wholly embittered by what had oc- 
 curred. Mark had probably never said that 
 he would not work again with Paul. If he 
 had said it, he took it back. A man can 
 always do that if he is a real man. It is a lit- 
 tle man who can never unsay what he has 
 said that is wrong, who is the slave of con- 
 sistency and of his own mistakes. It is never 
 too late to mend and to own that one was 
 wrong. 
 
 6. Renominated by Barnabas. 
 
 It is almost certain that Mark was taken 
 along in the first tour on the initiative of 
 Barnabas. The wound was soon healed, as 
 has been said, between Paul and Barnabas 
 who was a generous soul and who really 
 loved Paul. The spirit of Paul ere long 
 yearned to go back to the work. He longed 
 to see again the faces of the brethren and 
 sisters who had been won to Christ in the 
 first tour (Acts 15 : 36). So Paul made a 
 formal offer to Barnabas that they two go 
 out again on a second tour among the Gen- 
 tiles. It was only fitting that these two men 
 should go together again. Barnabas was 
 more than willing, only " he was minded to 
 
THROWN OUT OF WOEK 79 
 
 take with them John also, who was called 
 Mark." Once again, then, Barnabas pro- 
 posed Mark. Paul had not asked for Mark. 
 It is always a delicate matter, this thing of 
 proposing the right man for a certain task. 
 Somebody has to do the work. Somebody 
 has to nominate men for work in church, 
 state, school, business. But it is not an easy 
 thing to do wisely. Plenty of men "are 
 mentioned," but few can really measure up 
 to the highest places. The attitude of pulpit 
 committees before a call is extended to a 
 pastor and afterwards is very remarkable. 
 So, now and then, a preacher is found who 
 is eager to step into the highest place whether 
 desired or not. But it is not hard to read 
 between the lines here and to see that Mark 
 had not been happy since he left Perga. 
 There are few sadder things than the min- 
 ister who feels called to preach and yet 
 nobody seems called to listen to him. He 
 seems a ministerial misfit and is not expected 
 to go into business. But he must make an 
 honest living. Paul had no such clerical 
 scruples as we have to-day. He resolutely 
 made his own living by his trade with his 
 own hands and refused to starve because a 
 
80 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 church like that at Corinth would not pay for 
 his work. Paul had the world before him 
 and, when persecuted in one city, he went 
 on to the next. To-day we have, in self- 
 defense, to know a man's antecedents if he 
 comes as a stranger before we dare open our 
 churches to him. This is one of the draw- 
 backs of work in a highly organized Chris- 
 tianity. But Barnabas boldly championed 
 the cause of John Mark and made it his own. 
 He wanted to give him another trial. Prob- 
 ably Mark *' was prepared to promise greater 
 perseverance" (Furneaux, "Acts," p. 250). 
 It was necessary that Mark be reinstated 
 somehow and get on his feet again. He had 
 made a great mistake. But was he to be 
 damned forever for that? Who does not 
 sometimes make a mistake? We can im- 
 agine how the mind of Barnabas worked in 
 a truly sympathetic vein as he plead the 
 cause of Mark. Our hearts are with Bar- 
 nabas in this plea as they go out to every 
 young minister who stumbles and tries to 
 get up 'again and to go on in the work to 
 which he feels called. There was Peter him- 
 self, a man of impulse and of power. Jesus 
 forgave Peter and sent a special message of 
 
THEOWN OUT OF WOEK 81 
 
 reinstatement to him and made him chief 
 spokesman at Pentecost. Peter had fallen 
 and Christ had raised him up. Mark de- 
 served to be given a new opportunity and 
 Barnabas was the man to help him. Had 
 not Barnabas befriended Paul when he was 
 distrusted by all the saints in Jerusalem? 
 Paul was under great obligations to Bar- 
 nabas who had also brought him to Antioch 
 and had thus given him his great oppor- 
 tunity for service. How could Paul resist 
 such a plea from Barnabas ? 
 
VI 
 
 TURNED DOWN BY PAUL 
 
 *' But Paul thought not good to take with them him 
 who withdrew from them from Pamphyliat and 
 went not with them to the work^ — Acts 15 : 38. 
 
VI 
 
 TURNED DOWN BY PAUL 
 
 I. Paul's Surprise at Barnabas. 
 
 IT was Barnabas who had proposed Mark 
 for the first tour which led to the sad 
 defection at Perga. And now Barnabas 
 was suggesting his cousin again. It looked 
 to Paul like nepotism. Partiality to relatives 
 in posts of responsibility is not relished by 
 the public in church or state affairs (Stalker, 
 " The Life of St. Paul," p. 119). And Barna- 
 bas insisted^ on taking John Mark "also," 
 as Luke vividly describes it. Paul had be- 
 come accustomed to the leadership by now 
 and this sudden independence on the part of 
 Barnabas came as a jolt. " It may even be 
 that Barnabas, after finding himself once 
 more in the old place of high consideration 
 at Jerusalem was beginning to feel his 
 secondary position at Antioch, and resented 
 
 H^oOXsTo imperfect tense (continued action). 
 8s 
 
86 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 Paul's determination to have his own way " 
 (Furneaux, " Acts," pp. 25of.). Barnabas 
 probably felt also that it was unjust to ruin 
 the career of a young man like Mark because 
 of a mistake of which he was now sincerely 
 sorry. But Paul could retort that this good- 
 ness of Barnabas to John Mark was in fact 
 nothing but good-natured weakness Qohnston, 
 " St. Paul and His Mission to the Roman 
 Empire," p. 99). Paul probably felt also that 
 Barnabas was presuming on their old and 
 tried friendship in pressing Mark upon him 
 and so stood his ground.^ He felt (Hackett, 
 " Acts," p. 179) that Barnabas was influenced 
 more by his feelings than by his judgment. 
 And yet Paul esteemed Barnabas very highly. 
 It was just this love for Barnabas that hurt 
 him so when the cleavage came. At the 
 time of the temporary defection of Peter and 
 Barnabas Paul said, " even Barnabas," strong 
 proof of his high esteem (Lightfoot, on 
 Galatians 2 : 13). 
 
 2. Indignation at Mark. 
 As we have seen, the recent conduct of 
 Mark had stirred again Paul's resentment 
 
 * i^^tou. Imperfect against imperfecr (^^^ouXero). 
 
TUENED DOWN BY PAUL 87 
 
 toward him for his desertion at Perga. He 
 had certainly stood with Peter and Barnabas 
 and the rest of the Jews against Paul at 
 Antioch. He had probably sympathized at 
 first with the Judaizers and Paul was dis- 
 tinctly prejudiced against him. " Paul 
 deemed it worth while or proper not to be 
 taking along this fellow, the one who aposta- 
 tized from them from Pamphylia and did not 
 go with them to the work." This is a literal 
 translation of Luke's language about Paul.^ 
 Paul thought of the misery of having this 
 deserter (apostate ^) from his friends, though 
 not from Christ, hanging around all the time 
 and liable to prove fickle again and to quit, 
 this fellow who would not stick to the work 
 and left his co-workers in the lurch in the 
 pinch at Perga. John took his hand from 
 the plow and was not worthy to be entrusted 
 with that plow again. Evidentiy Paul was 
 not sure of Mark's real sympathy with the 
 Gentile propaganda. He might fly off the 
 handle again and greatly embarrass Paul 
 
 * Barnabas is pictured as proposing (ruuTtapaXa^eiu 
 (aorist, punctiliar) while Paul speaks of it as ffuvizapaXap." 
 ^dvetv (present, linear). 
 
88 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 with the churches in South Galatia. " He 
 could not trust a stafE which had once broken 
 in his hand" (Furneaux, "Acts," p. 252). 
 Mark had been disloyal to the mission 
 among the Gentiles. Paul could base his 
 opposition, therefore, on the interests of the 
 cause rather than on his own personal likes 
 and dislikes. If Mark went along and was 
 once more unfaithful, Paul would hold Barna- 
 bas doubly responsible. 
 
 3. Sharp Contention Between Paul and 
 Barnabas. 
 
 The word employed by Luke is our very 
 word " paroxysm." ^ Probably neither meant 
 the thing to go that far, but suppressed emo- 
 tion and hitherto unexpressed convictions now 
 came to the surface. The gentle Barnabas, 
 son of consolation, was now violent in a dis- 
 pute. Paul may have chided him with being 
 too tolerant of faint-hearted ness (Pressense, 
 "The Early Years of Christianity," p. 113). 
 He could now retort that Paul was too hard- 
 hearted and unsympathetic. "The smaller 
 rubs of life often try the temper more than 
 
 * napo^ufffxos:. '0^o(: means ** sharp " like vinegar and 
 d^vvu) to make sharp and -napd intensifies the idea. 
 
TURNED DOWK BY PAUL 89 
 
 the greater things, and they find us with our 
 armor ofE " (Furneaux, *' Acts " p. 250). Paul 
 may have wondered how Barnabas really felt 
 about his leadership. The wound seemed 
 healed after his rebuke of Peter and Barnabas, 
 but it is easy to open an old sore. Perhaps 
 after all Barnabas was not willing to go 
 whole-heartedly and to the logical conclusion 
 with Paul in the mission work among the 
 Gentiles. Luke does not hesitate to reveal 
 the sad fact of the bitterness between these 
 two old friends about John Mark, but he does 
 not preserve the sharp words used by either 
 Paul or Barnabas. It is just as well not to 
 know them. Probably both men deeply re- 
 gretted some things that they said, however 
 true they were. It is not necessary to decide 
 who was right in the controversy. There 
 was undoubtedly right on both sides. There 
 is no way to settle our likes and dislikes about 
 persons. The only way out is to agree to 
 disagree. It is partly temperament and it is 
 well that people do differ so. 
 
 4. Separation Between Paul and Barnabas. 
 
 It is sad to see these great apostles of the 
 
 Gentiles part. Furneaux ("Acts," p. 252) 
 
90 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTBY 
 
 thinks that they may have known each other 
 as fellow students at Tarsus. Certainly their 
 lives had been strangely linked together and 
 each had done much for the other. Barnabas 
 had been Paul's best friend among the Chris- 
 tians and had championed his sincerity from 
 the start (Acts 9 : 27) and had faced with him 
 the perils of rivers and of robbers from which 
 John Mark shrank. He had shared Paul's 
 perils with the heathen and had fought by his 
 side against the false brethren who had tried 
 to undo his world-work. And now they must 
 part. These two men were the outstanding 
 figures in the mission work of the early Chris- 
 tians. The worst of it was that they parked 
 in anger. If Paul was parting from his chief 
 benefactor, Barnabas was leaving the fore- 
 most spirit of his time (Stalker, ** The Life of 
 St. Paul," p. 120). "They parted asunder 
 from one another." ^ They never worked to- 
 gether again and, so far as we know, never 
 met again. The breach was later healed, we 
 may be sure, for Paul speaks kindly of Barna- 
 bas in I Corinthians 9 : 6, and Colossians 
 4:10. We may be sure that Paul felt a keen 
 pang over this parting from Barnabas. Had 
 
TUENED DOWN BY PAUL 91 
 
 he done right after all ? Who can tell ? He 
 will later say : " Love is not provoked/' * 
 and will use this very word for " paroxysm." 
 Will he be thinking of his sad experience by 
 which he had learned this truth ? In Acts 
 17 : i6 Luke uses this same word for the 
 provocation of Paul's spirit at the sight of so 
 many idols in Athens. We are exhorted in 
 Hebrews 10 : 24 to " consider one another for 
 a paroxysm of love and of good works," this 
 word again. Provocation may be to good 
 or to evil and God can overrule the evil and 
 turn it into good. At any rate " two mission- 
 ary bands started instead of one, and new 
 workers were taken into the field " (Rackham, 
 "Acts," p. 261). Barnabas went his way and 
 Paul went his. Luke follows the fortunes of 
 Paul and Barnabas drops out of sight in Acts. 
 The so-called Epistle of Barnabas is not gen- 
 uine. Some consider him the author of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews. Of that we do not 
 know. "We part from the honorable and 
 gracious personality of Barnabas with deep 
 regret; but history marches with Paul" 
 (Ramsay, *' Pictures of the Apostolic Church," 
 p. 198). 
 
 * I Corinthians 13:5 ou napo^uyerat. 
 
92 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 5. Paul and Silas. 
 
 Silas did not take the place of Mark, but 
 of Barnabas. Paul felt no need of Mark and 
 had no place for him and chose no successor 
 to him. Silas had been sent with Judas 
 from Jerusalem to bear the Epistle from the 
 Conference to the church in Antioch (Acts 
 15-32). Silas is an abbreviation for Silvanus 
 (i Thess. I : I ; 2 Thess. i : i ; 2 Cor. i : 19). 
 Like Paul, he was a Roman citizen (Acts 
 16:37). He was loyal to Paul through the 
 second tour and yet was on intimate terms 
 with Peter (i Pet. 5 : 12). He was a Hellen- 
 istic Jew like Paul and a worthy successor to 
 Barnabas. He had apparently remained in 
 Antioch after coming up and was in full sym- 
 pathy with Paul's views of work among the 
 Gentiles. The sympathy of the church at 
 Antioch was apparently with Paul and Silas 
 as they start upon the new campaign, *' being 
 commended by the brethren to the grace of 
 the Lord '' (Acts 15 : 40). 
 
 6. Mark's Meditations. 
 
 Barnabas apparently had already gone 
 away with Mark to Cyprus. Did Mark have 
 no compunctions of conscience over being 
 
TUEKED DOWN BY PAUL 93 
 
 the occasion of this cleavage between Paul 
 and Barnabas ? We can only conjecture his 
 thoughts as he sailed away with Barnabas. 
 Should a preacher allow a church to be 
 divided over him ? That question cannot be 
 easily answered. It all depends. Jesus Him- 
 self has brought division into many homes. 
 He brings peace beyond all understanding, 
 but sometimes the sword comes first. But 
 no sincere preacher enjoys being a bone of 
 contention between opposing factions, lea?t 
 of all being the cause of bitterness between 
 the closest friends. Many a preacher has 
 known what it is to be rejected by church 
 committees and by churches themselves. It 
 is not a pleasant experience to be a candi- 
 date for a vacant pulpit and to be passed by. 
 Marcus Dods was a probationer for six years 
 after he graduated at New College before he 
 received a call to be pastor. Church after 
 church invited him to preach and then re- 
 jected him. Such an experience would have 
 embittered the spirit of a narrow man, but 
 Dods utilized these years to make a scholar of 
 himself. In time he became the principal of 
 New College and a glory to Scotland. Surely 
 it was now a crisis for John Mark. It is not 
 
94 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 pleasant to be a ministerial misfit. But one 
 may be a misfit in one place and make a fit 
 in another. Was there a place that Mark 
 would suit? He had apparently lost his 
 chance with Paul. He had lost the greatest 
 opportunity. Would he make good in an- 
 other sphere? The answer lies with Mark 
 himself. The preacher who is always look- 
 ing to his friends to save him from his own 
 mistakes will reach the end of his tether. 
 
VII 
 
 GIVEN A NEW CHANCE BY 
 BARNABAS 
 
 " And Barnabas took Mark with him, and sailed 
 away unto Cyprus." — Acts 15 : 39. 
 
VII 
 
 GIVEN A NEW CHANCE BY 
 BARNABAS 
 
 I. The Victim of Circumstances. 
 
 SURELY Mark was caught in the toils 
 of circumstance not wholly in his con- 
 trol. At college we used to debate 
 whether the man made the crisis or the crisis 
 the man. Certainly there is an element of 
 truth in both. Man is not a mere machine 
 driven by blind fate. He has will and choice 
 and within limits is the arbiter of his own 
 career and makes his own destiny. An 
 unstable man can find plenty of excuses for 
 his own fickleness and failures, usually in the 
 capricious whims of other people and the 
 general perversity of things. Such men talk 
 of luck and blind fate and not of pluck 
 and good Providence. It is too much to 
 expect that, as yet, John Mark held him- 
 self responsible for what had happened to 
 him. Other men have had like difficulty in 
 97 
 
^8 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 seeing their own situation. Pessimism comes 
 at times to the noblest spirits. Marcus Dods 
 was mentioned in the preceding chapter as a 
 noble specimen of the young minister who 
 held himself to the highest things and went 
 on with his studies, though the churches 
 would not have him. Some found this fault 
 with him and some that, sometimes directly 
 contradictory faults. It was so with John 
 the Baptist and with Jesus. Marcus Dods 
 stuck to his Greek and Hebrew and went on 
 learning and growing till his day should 
 come. It was long in coming and there 
 were dark hours. Toward the close of his 
 six years of probation he wrote to his sister 
 who was his confidant and comfort : " I am 
 feeling more and more done, and if this 
 Glasgow thing comes to nothing, I don't see 
 why or how I am to hang on longer ; phys- 
 ically I cannot and morally and spiritually 
 I have been done long ago. I never 
 preached better than at Glasgow ; it is a 
 nice church, very, but only about i8o people, 
 so that each might have had a pew. This, 
 of course, makes the idea of a call rather 
 terrific, as how could I ever increase them ?" 
 (" Early Letters of Marcus Dods," p. i86). 
 
GIYEl^ A NEW CHANCE 99 
 
 Then later he writes {ibid,, p. 199) that " Dr. 
 Bonar has been at me again, not for Naples, 
 but for Sydney. He tells me what he told 
 me before that Dr. Mackay there wants a 
 colleague, and that no placed minister here 
 who is fit will go." Dods began to examine 
 himself to see what was the matter. " If I 
 could get a man to put warmth into me, and 
 utterance, in Paul's sense, I would deliver 
 wonderfully. But it vexes me all the more 
 when people talk of my delivery, for I feel 
 all the more deeply it is not an external thing 
 that art can overcome, but my nature that is 
 not a preacher's nature " (ibid., p. 195). 
 " There is no chance henceforth for the like 
 of me, you know, and what I say to myself 
 I say also to you " {ibid,, p. 293). " I am not 
 so envious, I think, as you have known 
 me ; it comes back upon me, but rather as 
 an old memory than as a present habit" 
 (ibid., p. 294). And yet Marcus Dods be- 
 came one of the great preachers of his 
 day and a teacher of preachers who has left 
 his stamp upon a whole generation of 
 young ministers. Perga had once overcome 
 John Mark. Would he now triumph over 
 Perga ? 
 
100 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 2. The Duty of a Kinsman. 
 
 It is certain that Barnabas felt a sort of 
 responsibility for the success of John Mark's 
 ministry that Paul did not share. He was 
 his kinsman and that fact did impose an 
 extra burden upon his shoulders. Paul will 
 later refer to Mark as " the cousin of Barna- 
 bas " ^ (Col. 4 : id) in a way that " reads like 
 a fond recollection of old times " (Furneaux, 
 "Acts," p. 252) and that seems partly ex- 
 planatory also of the fact that Mark's life 
 had been more closely identified with that 
 of Barnabas than with that of Paul. Blood 
 relationship does not justify favoritism, but 
 neither does it absolve one from his peculiar 
 obligations. We may well believe that Bar- 
 nabas cherished no grudge against Paul for 
 what he considered his harsh, even unkind, 
 treatment of Mark. He was too high-minded 
 and warm-hearted a man to nourish resent- 
 ment. The world was wide and there was 
 work enough for all and personal prejudices 
 must not be allowed to sour one's temper. 
 But, all the same, Paul's scornful rejection of 
 .Mark as a co-worker naturally intensified the 
 devotion of Barnabas to his protege and dis- 
 
 *d dv£<ptdi Bapvd^a, 
 
GIVEN A NEW CHANCE 101 
 
 ciple. He at least must do his part by Mark 
 and see to it that he has another chance in 
 which to redeem himself and show that he 
 could make good after all, that he had the 
 stuff of manhood in him. It must be ad- 
 mitted that kinspeople do not always stand 
 by one when he is down and out. Too often 
 they are the severest critics of all and do 
 least to set one on his feet again. A sense 
 of mortification ofttimes makes one's kins- 
 people really unkind and unduly hard. It 
 must be confessed that one can strain to the 
 snapping point the chords of love and yet 
 blood is blood and love is love. Blessings 
 be upon Barnabas, the man of heart, who 
 was unwilling to throw to the scrap-heap 
 this fine young minister without one more 
 trial. Barnabas could at least feel that he 
 had done his duty by John Mark. The min- 
 ister who has failed is taboo with many 
 churches and preachers. The excuses may 
 be excellent, but nothing succeeds like suc- 
 cess and nothing fails like failure. In war 
 the general who loses a campaign loses also 
 his official head. We are all willing for peo- 
 ple to learn how to rectify their mistakes, 
 provided they do their learning upon some- 
 
102 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 body else. An old preacher requires some- 
 thing of a mother's love and tender patience 
 to deal with the crudities of youth and the 
 clinging tendrils of young hearts that reach 
 out after the sturdy oak by which to climb. 
 One must not victimize other churches just 
 to help a kinsman get a start. A delicate 
 sense of loyalty to the cause of Christ is 
 involved as well as the desire to be of service 
 to a young minister who has missed the path 
 of usefulness. 
 
 3. Sympathy with the Weaker Brother. 
 
 Mark's conduct at Perga probably did not 
 appear to Barnabas in the light of a deser- 
 tion. We go in the end of the day by the 
 bent of our natures. Joseph was nicknamed 
 (surnamed) Barnabas by the apostles because 
 of his great generosity. He sold a field in 
 the hour of need in Jerusalem and laid the 
 money at the feet of the apostles (Acts 4: 
 36 f.). That soubriquet, son of consolation, 
 supplanted the name of Joseph just as Cephas 
 or Peter did that of Simon. He lived up to 
 his surname and never appears to better 
 advantage than when he is befriending a 
 brother in trouble. " We must never forget 
 
GIVEN A NEW CHANCE 103 
 
 that twice over did Barnabas save Saul for 
 the work of Christianity " (Knowling, "Acts," 
 p. 331). As he had befriended Saul when 
 he had no friends in Jerusalem, so he now 
 takes John Mark under his protecting care. 
 " Barnabas took ^ Mark with him and sailed 
 away unto Cyprus." This was an act of 
 courage and of kindness of heart that was 
 wholly in keeping with the generous nature 
 of Barnabas. Paul and Barnabas said to the 
 men of Lystra who tried to worship them as 
 Mercury and Jupiter : " We are men of like 
 nature with you" (Acts 14:15). The milk 
 of human kindness was abundant in the 
 heart of Barnabas. After all is said, there 
 is nothing that will take the place of sym- 
 pathy in a preacher. This is true, of course, 
 in his preaching. Broadus used to say that, 
 as Demosthenes stressed " action, action, ac- 
 tion " as the three most important things in 
 the speaker, so he would emphasize "sym- 
 pathy, sympathy, sympathy " as the three 
 prime requisites in the preacher of the Gos- 
 pel. This is true of the pastoral side also. 
 The shepherd heart is vital to the pastor. 
 People must know that the pastor takes his 
 
 * T:apa).a^6vra took along. 
 
104 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 place by their side as well as at their head. 
 The captain who will go over the top with 
 his men can lead them anywhere. Jesus is 
 the only perfect man. In the Gospels the 
 weaknesses of the disciples stand out in bold 
 outline. We are all sinners. "We are all 
 poor critters," Dr. Arthur Peter of Louisville, 
 one of God's noblemen, used to say. There 
 was no posing as perfect on the part of either 
 Paul or Barnabas (Macdufi, "The Footsteps 
 of St. Paul," p. 157). Paul was only "a min- 
 ister, a servant, a slave of Christ." Paul 
 knew how to help other ministers. No other 
 minister save Jesus our Lord has ever stim- 
 ulated and stirred to the highest things min- 
 isters of the Gospel as has Paul of Tarsus. 
 He was also a man of great heart and deep 
 emotion. But in the case of John Mark it is 
 Barnabas who shows the touch of nature that 
 makes the whole world kin. 
 
 4. Barnabas Able Now to Tell Mark His 
 Fault. 
 
 That is always a most delicate thing to 
 do. If done unwisely, the work of correction 
 may do more harm than good. The wound 
 may be made deeper and may heal more 
 
GIVEN" A NEW CHANCE 105 
 
 slowly. And yet a skillful surgeon will 
 cleanse the wound of all impurities so that 
 it will heal. The probing may hurt for the 
 moment We may trust Barnabas for this 
 part of the discipline of Mark. We may be 
 sure that Barnabas would not make a hero 
 or a martyr of Mark and allow him to nurse 
 his grievance against Paul to the neglect of a 
 vision of his own shortcoming. The parent 
 has to walk this narrow path every day with 
 the children and makes mistakes enough, 
 now one way, now the other. The teacher 
 finds it hard to strike the balance correctly, 
 to praise properly and to correct discreetly. 
 The school of experience is the one where 
 all of us have to learn lessons that we will 
 not or cannot learn elsewhere. 
 
 5. Learning by Mistakes. 
 
 Suffering plays a large part in all of the 
 soul's progress. It pleased God, ** in bring- 
 ing many sons unto glory, to make the author 
 of their salvation perfect through suflFering " 
 (Heb. 2 : 10). This great passage dignifies 
 humanity and ennobles suffering as a means 
 of teaching our souls the ways of God. Jesus 
 had to live His human life before He could 
 
106 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 have the wealth of sympathy that gave Him 
 power to succor the tempted (Heb. 2 : 18). 
 The preacher has to tread the same road. 
 Disappointment lies in his path. It is never 
 too late to mend, if one will learn his lesson 
 and learn to make the mistakes of his life 
 stepping-stones to higher things. But one 
 must first see one's error and acknowledge 
 it as an error and resolve to change one's con- 
 duct. Fickleness will ruin the career of any 
 man. A rolling stone gathers no moss, we 
 say. It is clear from the sequel that Mark 
 learned his lesson from Barnabas who proved 
 a wise and loving teacher. 
 
 6. The Last Glimpse of Barnabas. 
 
 Back in Cyprus Barnabas was in his old 
 home and Mark in that of his family. Ram- 
 say (" Pictures of the Apostolic Church," p. 
 198) says that Barnabas "went away into the 
 backwater of Cyprus and passes out of his- 
 tory." That is a rather curt way to dismiss 
 Barnabas and Mark. Luke traced the for- 
 tunes of Paul who was undoubtedly a greater 
 man than Barnabas or Mark. Barnabas had 
 no biographer and wrote no letters that have 
 been preserved. Clearly Luke did not esti- 
 
GIVEN A NEW CHANCE 107 
 
 mate the work of Barnabas in the same 
 category as that of Paul in the development 
 of Christianity (Knowling, " Acts," p. 331). 
 But Barnabas was not a negligible factor up 
 to this period, Luke himself being witness. 
 Indeed, he is distinctly one of the great 
 figures in the early days of Christianity, up 
 to the close of Acts 15. There is no reason 
 to think that Barnabas was idle or in a sulk 
 because of his separation from Paul. The 
 tradition is that he died in Cyprus. He 
 was an older man than Paul. The bulk of 
 his work was probably already behind him, 
 while Paul was now in his prime. Barnabas 
 had done enough to make his name immortal. 
 In Cyprus he was with old friends and he 
 could confirm and consolidate the work al- 
 ready done there. He did not die right 
 away because he is apparently still at work 
 when Paul writes i Corinthians (9:6). He 
 and Paul are still friends. If Barnabas had 
 done nothing further during these years but 
 save Mark, he would have accomplished a 
 great work. The old preacher finds his 
 chief joy in the fresh glow of enthusiasm of 
 the young servant of Christ. Thus men die 
 and the work goes on. Mark would not be 
 
108 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTET 
 
 an apprentice always. His days of probation 
 were over. If he was ever to accomplish 
 anything worth while, he must be at it. 
 Some men develop more slowly than others. 
 The infant prodigies are not always giants as 
 adults. Some of those who ripen slowly are 
 like oaks when grown to maturity. Mark 
 had his gifts, though not of the very highest 
 order, yet real and worth using to the full. 
 Will he come to himself, get a grip on his 
 powers, and get down to " brass-tacks," as 
 we say? If so, he must be up and doing. 
 He cannot spend all his days under the 
 shadow of Barnabas' wing. The only way 
 to preach is to preach. The only way to 
 work is to work. Nothing will take the place 
 of steady application. John D. Rockefeller 
 gives " stick-to-ativeness " as one of the 
 great rules of success in life. That rule ap- 
 plies to the ministry as to all other occupa- 
 tions. The touch-and-go preacher will leave 
 little result when he goes. If one has to 
 apologize always for the preacher's mistakes, 
 he will by and by grow weary. The positive 
 side of the scales must make a showing else 
 one will be weighed in the balances and 
 found wanting. 
 
VIII 
 PETER'S SON AND INTERPRETER 
 
 ^* Mark my son.*' — i Peter 5 : 13. 
 **Markt having become the interpreter of Peter!* 
 — Papias, quoted in Eusebius, H. E. III. 39. 
 
VIII 
 
 PETER'S SON AND INTERPRETER 
 
 I. One of Peter's Converts. 
 
 THIS is a natural meaning of Peter's 
 language •* my son," though not 
 necessarily so. Spiritual relationship 
 of this kind is usually expressed by another 
 word ^ in Paul's Epistles (Swete, *' Com- 
 mentary," p. xvi). Still, it is quite possible 
 that Peter employed this word in the sense 
 of spiritual sonship. We know that Peter 
 was a welcome visitor to the house of Mary 
 and he was probably the instrument of their 
 conversion to Christ. It is curious to find 
 McGiffert ^ ascribing i Peter to Barnabas be- 
 cause of this affectionate designation of John 
 Mark. Surely Peter loved his converts as 
 tenderly as did Paul. Nothing is more natural 
 
 ^ri/zvov (i Cor. 4:7; Phil. 2:22; I Tim. 1:2; 
 Titus I : 4, etc.), whereas Peter uses u\6<;. 
 
 ' " History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age," 
 pp. 599 f. 
 
 Ill 
 
112 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 than that Mark should be with Peter again if 
 Peter was his spiritual father. It is not 
 necessary to suppose that Mark remained 
 with Barnabas till his death if Peter needed 
 him and Barnabas had no further need of his 
 services. He probably had already been 
 one of Peter's pupils and Peter was only too 
 glad to have his former disciple with him 
 again, " who as a young disciple must often 
 have sat at his feet to be catechized and 
 taught the way of the Lord, and who had 
 come to look upon his mother's old friend 
 and teacher as a second father, and to render 
 to him the offices of filial piety" (Swete, 
 "Commentary," p. xvi). 
 
 2. A Congenial Atmosphere at Last. 
 
 Peter was sure to understand John Mark 
 and he knew his family history, his gifts and 
 temperament. The work with Peter was with 
 the Jewish Christians, for he was the leader 
 of this work as Paul of the Gentile mission 
 (Gal. 2 : 9). Here Mark would have fewer 
 scruples and could find ample play for his 
 powers. All that was in him ought to come 
 out. Mark was fortunate in his teachers. It 
 is not every young preacher who falls under 
 
PETER'S SON AND INTERPRETER 113 
 
 the tutelage of three men like Paul, Barnabas, 
 and Peter. The best thing in any school is 
 the personality of the teachers. One really 
 great teacher in a school justifies the school. 
 Pupils forget the lessons and make sport of 
 their teachers, but some men they cannot for- 
 get. It is precisely so in the school of life. 
 It is true that Mark found Paul a sterner and 
 stricter teacher than Barnabas and Peter, but 
 we must not imagine that Paul did not help 
 Mark. Indeed, his very severity may have 
 been the saving of Mark in the end. Chas- 
 tisement does not seem good at the time, not 
 even chastisement from the Lord (Heb. 12 : ii). 
 There will come a time when we may be able 
 to rejoice even in the chastisement. But life 
 is not meant to be all chastisement. There is 
 a joy of work that calls out the best that is in 
 one. Some men are always disgruntled and 
 are never satisfied with the task which they 
 have. They imagine that they would be 
 happy and useful somewhere else and at some 
 other work. A restless spirit like that creates 
 worry and unfits one for work of a high or- 
 der. The cure may be in a change of sphere. 
 More likely the cure can be found in doing 
 heartily whatever one has to do. Joy in 
 
114 MAKING GOOD IN THE MIKISTEY 
 
 work comes, to be sure, from doing a thing 
 well, but one may do well whatever is in 
 hand and find joy in doing it better. The 
 affectionate description of Mark by Peter 
 proves that there was genuine camaraderie 
 between these two men, master and dis- 
 ciple as they were. Confidence begets love. 
 Fidelity begets confidence. It is clear, 
 therefore, that now Mark was throwing 
 his whole soul into the work with Simon 
 Peter. 
 
 3. The Time of the Work with Peter. 
 
 There is doubt as to the precise time when 
 he became firmly associated with Peter. 
 Swete thinks that it was not till after Paul's 
 death. That is hardly likely, for the Gospel 
 of Mark was probably written in the fifties, 
 certainly before the Gospel of Luke, which 
 in turn was before the Acts, and Acts was 
 written by A. D. 63 if Luke closes the book 
 because events had only proceeded thus far. 
 We may think therefore of Mark with Peter 
 during most of, the fifties and the early six- 
 ties. This was while Paul was doing his 
 great work during the second and third mis- 
 sion tours, the imprisonment at Caesarea and 
 
PETER'S SON AND INTERPRETER 115 
 
 in Rome. He will meet Paul, as we shall see, 
 toward the close of this period. There is no 
 inconsistency in thinking of Mark as being 
 of service to Paul while he was still the fol- 
 lower of Peter. The length of the stay with 
 Peter is not known, for we do not know how 
 long Mark was with Barnabas in Cyprus, but 
 it may very well have been some dozen years 
 or more. It was during this period that Mark 
 wrote his Gospel, as we shall see, and so 
 made his real contribution to Christianity. 
 That grew directly out of his love for Peter 
 and the heartiness of his cooperation with 
 him. 
 
 4. Peter's Dragoman in His Journeys. 
 
 Papias expressly says that Mark followed 
 not the Lord Jesus, but Peter.^ Clement of 
 Alexandria speaks of Mark as " one who had 
 followed him for a long time." ^ Eusebius 
 says that Mark *' had become his familiar ac- 
 quaintance and attendant."^ Peter himself 
 says that Mark is with him in Babylon when he 
 writes the first Epistle (i Pet. 5:13). The usual 
 
 ^ OUTS yap 7Jf{ou<Js too Kupiou ooze naprj/ioXooffrjaev 
 aorip, offTspivj 3i, aj<; k'tpi^v, THrpoj. 
 2 Hypot. in Eus. H. E. VI. 14. 
 ^ yv(ifpi/j.u<: kai (poiT-qTrj^. Dem. Evang. Ill- 5. 
 
116 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTBY 
 
 opinion is that Rome is here meant by " Baby- 
 lon," mystical Babylon, the great enemy of 
 Christianity as in the Apocalypse. Already the 
 disciples are persecuted as Christians (i Pet. 
 4 : i6) and this was true from A. D. 46, the 
 date of the burning of Rome by Nero who 
 laid his own crime at the door of the Chris- 
 tians. There are many other proofs that 
 Peter was in Rome and none that he was in 
 Babylon, though that is the natural way to 
 take his language.^ However that may be, 
 Peter was then near the close of his work 
 and travels. He is writing to " the elect who 
 are sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, 
 Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia" 
 (i Pet. 1:1), regions where he had probably 
 preached himself, thus covering a part of 
 Paul's old territory. It is quite probable that 
 Peter had Mark with him during these jour- 
 neys. There are traditions also that Mark 
 preached in Egypt. He is credited with some 
 share in the founding of the church in Alex- 
 andria. But the testimony is very strong 
 that in various parts of the world Mark was 
 
 * Swete considers it " highly improbable " that there 
 were Jews enough in Babylon at this time to justify a visit 
 from Peter (" Comm.," p. xvi). 
 
PETER'S SON AND INTERPEETER 117 
 
 Peter's " interpreter " or dragoman quite apart 
 from the writing of the Gospel. Papias states 
 it, as already noted, but so also does Ter- 
 tullian, ** Peter, whose interpreter^ Mark was " 
 {Adv. Marc, iv. 5). Jerome refers to " Mark, 
 disciple and interpreter of Peter" (de vir, 
 illustr, viii) and adds that Titus was Paul's 
 interpreter. But Paul did not usually need 
 an interpreter for he was fluent in Greek and 
 Aramaic and probably knew Latin also.^ 
 Some think that Peter used Mark as his in- 
 terpreter when he addressed audiences who 
 understood Latin best. But this could have 
 been quite seldom, for we have no account of 
 Peter's work in North Africa or Spain where 
 Latin would be most needed. Even in Rome 
 Greek was current. "Simon Peter on the 
 other hand, if he could express himself in 
 Greek at all, could scarcely have possessed 
 sufficient knowledge of the language to ad- 
 dress a Roman congregation with success*' 
 (Swete, " Commentary," p. xx). This opinion 
 hardly does justice to Peter's knowledge 
 of the vernacular Koine. It is most likely 
 
 ' Robertson, " Grammar of the Greek New Testament 
 in the Light of Historical Research," p. no. 
 
118 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 that Peter spoke in Greek on the day of 
 Pentecost since he addressed Jews from all 
 parts of the world (Acts 2 : qL, 14). Galilee 
 was a bilingual country and most men needed 
 to know both Aramaic and Greek. It is 
 quite possible, however, that Peter did not 
 feel at home in the Greek as in his native 
 Aramaic, and even that had a Galilean ac- 
 cent (Matt. 26 : 73). Unless one has learned 
 to think in a language and has an adequate 
 vocabulary, he cannot speak rapidly and with 
 ease before an audience. Swete (" Commen- 
 tary," p. xix) notes that ** when Joseph as 
 an Egyptian prince communicates with his 
 brethren from Palestine he uses the services 
 of an interpreter." * And Paul forbids the 
 exercise of the gift of tongues at Corinth un- 
 less an interpreter is present to translate what 
 is said. Mark knew Aramaic well as a Je- 
 rusalem Jew and his Latin surname implies 
 that he was a Hellenistic Jew on one side of 
 his family and so would know Greek well. 
 The Greek word for interpreter means ** the 
 secretary or dragoman who translates his 
 master's words into a foreign tongue " (Swete, 
 
 * Cf. Gen. 42 : 23 (LXX) 6 yap kpfr^veuxij^ dvd fxiaov 
 aotwv ^v. 
 
PETER'S SON AND INTERPEBTER 119 
 
 ** Commentary," p. xix). In our modern 
 parlance Mark was Simon Peter's private sec- 
 retary. He may indeed have been Peter's 
 amanuensis for the First Epistle, though Peter 
 seems to imply that Silvanus (Silas) performed 
 that office on this occasion : " By Silvanus, 
 our faithful brother, as I account him, I have 
 written unto you briefly " (i Pet. 5 : 12). We 
 know that Tertius acted as amanuensis for 
 Paul in the Episde to the Romans (16 : 22). 
 However, here Peter may mean that Silvanus 
 simply acted as the bearer of the Epistle to 
 the readers. In any case it is interesting to 
 note that both Silas and Mark are here to- 
 gether with Peter, both former helpers of 
 Paul. Evidently the old sore was healed 
 long ago and everything was in good shape 
 on all sides. If Peter wrote the Second Epis- 
 tle, as I consider on the whole likely, it is 
 possible that there we have a specimen of 
 Peter's own Greek (quite vernacular), while 
 in I Peter the amanuensis exercised certain 
 liberties of style and statement. 
 
 5. The Genius for Personal Service. 
 Blessed is the man who finds the task for 
 which he was made. It is not always easy 
 
120 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 to do. At school some pupils are drones in 
 one class and stars in another. Others shine 
 in every class. People have different turns 
 beyond a doubt. The Holy Spirit bestows 
 one gift upon one, another upon another 
 (i Cor. 12:11) "dividing to each one 
 severally as he will." Undoubtedly Mark 
 had a natural aptitude for personal service to 
 those men whom he loved. ** Not endowed 
 with gifts of leadership, neither prophet nor 
 teacher, he knew how to be invaluable to 
 those who filled the first rank in the service 
 of the Church, and proved himself a true 
 servus servorum DeV^ (Swete, "Com- 
 mentary," pp. XV f.). He was "attendant" 
 to Barnabas and Saul. He is now "inter- 
 preter" to Peter. He could make himself 
 preeminently useful in such a relation. All 
 arrangements for travel, provisions for food 
 and lodging, carrying messages, arranging 
 interviews, translating conversations or ad- 
 dresses, came natural to Mark. It was 
 second nature to him and he enjoyed doing 
 it. There is a story that Mark had once 
 been a priest and that, after becoming a 
 Christian, he amputated a finger so that he 
 would be disqualified from being a priest 
 
PETEE'S SON AKD INTEBPEETER 121 
 
 any more.^ It is hard to credit the story, 
 though he may have had one stump-finger. 
 But we are not to think of Mark as a mere 
 valet to Barnabas, Paul, or Peter. It was 
 not menial, but official service that he chiefly 
 rendered, though he was ready to do any 
 service that was necessary. He was the 
 friend and companion of these great preach- 
 ers, not a hireling. We have the words of 
 Jesus for saying that the greatest in the 
 Kingdom of God is he who serves most. 
 Mark himself records it thus ; " If any man 
 would be first, he shall be last of all, and serv- 
 ant of all " (Mark 9 : 35). He also gives this 
 logion of Jesus: "Whosoever would become 
 great among you shall be your minister 
 (servant); and whosoever would be first 
 among you shall be servant (slave) of all " 
 (Mark 10 : 44). ^ One may suppose that 
 Peter told these sayings of Jesus and that 
 Mark recorded them. They are pertinent 
 words for Mark's own life. Humility is 
 essential to real service. Peter wrote : "Yea, 
 all of you gird yourselves with humility, to 
 
 * Hence the nickname KoXo^oddfzroXot:. 
 ^ didkovo^ and dovko^. Both used by Christ as terms 
 of honor. 
 
122 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 serve one another " (i Pet. 5 : 5), doubtless 
 with memories of the night when Jesus 
 girded upon Himself the towel and washed 
 the disciples' feet, even Peter's over his pro- 
 test (John 13:5-11). Mark's own failure at 
 Perga probably helped to make him humble 
 now and able to sympathize more with the 
 failings of others. Who can tell what is 
 primary and what is secondary after all ? It 
 is not always true that the man most in the 
 public eye is the one who does the greatest 
 service for God and man. Jesus gave His 
 estimate of His own work in terms of service. 
 " For the Son of man also came not to be 
 ministered unto, but to minister,^ and to give 
 his life a ransom for many " (Mark 10 : 45). 
 Jesus glorified the little things of life and lifted 
 the cup of cold water to the level of dignity 
 and nobility. So we can understand the life 
 of Florence Nightingale, of Clara Barton, of 
 the Red Cross work, of the trained nurses 
 of our time. We need waste no pity upon 
 Mark because it fell to his lot to play second- 
 fiddle, as we say, to great men like Paul, 
 Barnabas, and Peter. Aaron was the mouth- 
 piece of Moses. Luther had his Melancthon. 
 
 * dia/zovTJffai, 
 
PETEE^S SON AND INTEEPEETER 123 
 
 The reward that one gets from God does not 
 depend upon the post that he holds, but 
 upon the fidelity with which the post is dis- 
 charged. The minister is a steward of the 
 mysteries of God and "it is required of 
 stewards that a man be found faithful '* 
 (i Cor. 4 : 2). Beyond a doubt Mark was 
 happy with Peter and rejoiced in the favor 
 that met Peter everywhere. Peter was the 
 chief apostle of the twelve and Mark was the 
 follower of this follower of Jesus. ** Be ye 
 imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ " 
 (i Cor. II : i). So Paul openly taught. So 
 Mark practised. He belonged to the second 
 generation as did Paul, but Paul had a vision 
 of Christ that made him an apostle as to 
 one born out of due time (i Cor. 15:8). 
 There was, therefore, an inevitable discount 
 in public opinion for one like Mark who 
 companied with a man like Peter who had 
 walked and talked with Jesus. Mark was a 
 satellite and did nothing to throw a shadow 
 in Peter's path. There was glory enough for 
 both, as Schley said of the Santiago battle, 
 but Peter was the man that men wished to 
 hear. He spoke from personal acquaintance 
 and intimate knowledge. The day was com- 
 
124 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 ing when there would be no more such men. 
 Meanwhile it was their day and Mark did not 
 begrudge Peter the post of honor at every 
 turn. The rather he endeavored to make 
 him comfortable and to make his message 
 efEective. If one is disposed to look down 
 upon Mark for being willing to be a mere 
 assistant to Peter, let him reflect that thus he 
 enabled Peter to set forth Jesus to multitudes 
 whom he could not otherwise reach. Peter's 
 vivid Aramaic was transmuted into Mark's ^ 
 vivacious vernacular Koine and no doubt 
 Mark took a certain pride in his skill as 
 interpreter. In a sense he had to make the 
 message his own and his own personality 
 had a chance to count as he used his own 
 turns of expression and favorite idioms. In 
 serving Peter Mark was serving Christ. 
 Mark widened the avenues of Peter's influ- 
 ence and Peter enlarged the sphere of Mark's 
 activities. The two men supplemented each 
 other. Mark was more than a Boswell to 
 Peter, for in writing the Gospel the stamp 
 of his own genius appears. That book is 
 enough to immortalize any man, but that 
 thought was furthest of all from Mark's 
 mind. Peter taught Mark how to picture 
 
PETEE^S SON AND INTERPEETEE 125 
 
 Jesus so that men could see Him as he saw 
 Him by the sea of Galilee. Who can say 
 that the greatest achievement of Peter's life 
 was not precisely this, that he so stamped 
 the words and life of Jesus upon the mind of 
 Mark, his interpreter and friend, that he was 
 able to make that image the permanent pos- 
 session of all the ages? It is hardly likely 
 that Peter knew that his chief influence 
 through the ages would be through John 
 Mark. Our lives are strangely blended. 
 The best that any one can do is to stand in 
 his lot and to do his duty. Mark did his 
 duty by Peter and Peter gave him his whole 
 heart and loved him as a son. What cares 
 the mother for all the myriad demands from 
 her child? She joyfully gives all and gets 
 all in the giving. 
 
IX 
 
 MARK^S WONDROUS GOSPEL 
 
 *' Yea, I will give diligence that at every time ye may 
 be able after my decease to call these things to re- 
 membrance '' —2 Peter 1 : 15. 
 
IX 
 
 MARK'S WONDROUS GOSPEL 
 
 I. The Purpose of Peter. 
 
 THE early writers differ very much in 
 their views concerning the part that 
 Peter played in the Gospel of Mark. 
 This we shall examine presently. The point 
 to note here is the possible, even probable, 
 meaning of 2 Peter i : 15. There are diffi- 
 culties, to be sure, in pressing this passage, 
 since so many modern scholars deny the 
 Petrine authorship of this Epistle. As for 
 myself I hold with Bigg (" International Crit- 
 ical Commentary on 2 Peter") that the bal- 
 ance of probability is in favor of the Petrine 
 authorship, though the arguments against it 
 are admittedly strong. It is quite possible 
 that in 2 Peter we have Peter's own some- 
 what uncouth vernacular Koine (cf. Acts 4:13) 
 unrevised by Mark or Silas. On the basis of 
 the genuineness of 2 Peter a very interesting 
 129 
 
130 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 question is raised by i : 15. What does Peter 
 mean by giving diligence that after his de- 
 cease * the readers of the Epistle may be able 
 at every time to call these things to remem- 
 brance ? What are "these things " ? He uses 
 the same expression in i : 12 and says that 
 they " know them." He is speaking of the 
 things of Christ and proceeds to affirm that 
 he did not follow cunningly devised fables 
 when he declared unto them " the power and 
 coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were 
 eye-witnesses of his majesty " (2 Pet. i : 16). 
 Then comes a reference to the glory on the 
 Mount of Transfiguration. It seems a nat- 
 ural supposition and one that has won the 
 support of various scholars ^ to-day that Peter 1 
 has in mind a plan to have a Gospel pre- 
 pared that shall put in permanent form his 
 knowledge of Jesus. While he was " in this 
 tabernacle " (i : 13) he thought it his duty to 
 put them in remembrance of the things of 
 
 * e^odov. The word used of the death of Jesus in the 
 talk with Moses and Elijah on the Mount (Luke 9:31). 
 
 ^ Irenaeus (Haer. III. i, i) understands the passage to 
 refer to Mark's Gospel, but misunderstands Peter as say- 
 ing that the Gospel was to be written after his decease. 
 He says that it is to be " written so as to be of use after 
 his death" (Bigg, in loco). 
 
MARK'S WONDROUS GOSPEL 131 
 
 Christ. It is a natural desire for one to wish 
 to preserve what he knows so well for the 
 benefit of those less favored. It is often 
 one's duty to do this. Many, like Peter, 
 find the burden of writing {onus scribendt) 
 a fatal obstacle to authorship. It is not 
 every gifted speaker who can, like Paul, 
 wield the pen with equal facility. Spurgeon 
 and Maclaren are modern instances of wiz- 
 ards alike with tongue and pen. But Peter 
 was rich in the possession of one who had 
 heard him preach so often that he under- 
 stood perfectly his interpretation of Jesus. 
 Besides, Mark, as Peter's interpreter, had 
 already had long experience in this very 
 thing. He was at home in the current 
 vernacular Koine and would be able to do 
 the literary side of the work more skillfully 
 than Peter. On this view, then, Peter laid 
 upon Mark the task of preparing his Mem- 
 oirs of Jesus which Mark undertook as a 
 filial trust. This is certainly a possible in- 
 terpretation of 2 Peter i : 15. Bigg ("Inter- 
 national Critical Commentary," in loco) says : 
 "If a Gospel is meant, the reference can 
 hardly be to any other than that of St. 
 Mark." 
 
132 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 2. The Suggestion of the Church at Rome. 
 
 Papias does not say that Peter proposed 
 to Mark to write the Gospel nor does he say 
 that the church at Rome made the sugges- 
 tion. That is to say, Eusebius makes no 
 quotation from Papias to that effect. But 
 Eusebius (H. E. II. 15) does say on the au- 
 thority of Papias and Clement of Alexandria 
 that the Christians at Rome urged Mark to 
 write the Gospel and that Peter approved it : 
 "So charmed were the Romans with the 
 light that shone in upon their minds from 
 the discourses of Peter, that, not contented 
 with a single hearing and the viva voce proc- 
 lamation of the truth, they urged with the 
 utmost solicitation on Mark, whose Gospel 
 is in circulation and who was Peter's attend- 
 ant, that he would leave them in writing a 
 record of the teaching which they had re- 
 ceived by word of mouth. They did not 
 give over till they had prevailed on him : 
 and thus they became the cause of the com- 
 position of the so-called Gospel according to 
 Mark. It is said that when the apostle 
 knew, by the revelation of the Spirit, what 
 was done, he was pleased with the eagerness 
 of the men and authorized the writing to be 
 
MAEK'S WONDEOUS GOSPEL 133 
 
 read in the churches" (Translation of J. H. 
 Farmer in International Standard Bible En- 
 cyclopaedia). The account given by Clement 
 of Alexandria (Hypotyp. as quoted in Euse- 
 bius, H. E. VI. 14) is quite similar; "The 
 occasion for writing the Gospel according to 
 Mark was as follows : After Peter had pub- 
 licly preached the word in Rome and de- 
 clared the Gospel by the Spirit, many who 
 were present entreated Mark, as one who 
 had followed him for a long time and re- 
 membered what he said, to write down what 
 he had spoken, and Mark, after composing 
 the Gospel, presented it to his petitioners. 
 When Peter became aware of it, he neither 
 eagerly hindered nor promoted it" (ibid.). 
 We thus seem to have a definite and fairly 
 certain tradition that connects our Gospel of 
 Mark with Rome. Clement of Alexandria 
 wrote about 200 A. D. The work was done 
 also while Peter was alive. Eusebius (H. E. 
 V. 8), however, quotes Irenseus {Adv. Haer. 
 III. i) as saying that " after the departure " 
 (exit, "exodus") of Paul and Peter, Mark, 
 Peter's disciple, delivered to us in writing 
 the things preached by Peter. Irenaeus ap- 
 parently locates the writing in Rome, but 
 
134 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 after Peter's death. It is not possible to tell 
 who is right as to the time except by an 
 appeal to synoptic criticism. That decides 
 against Irenaeus. However, Mark's Gospel 
 is generally called the Roman Gospel since 
 it apparently made its appearance in Rome 
 and suits the Roman love of action and 
 power. It has even been suggested that 
 Mark wrote his Gospel in Latin, but this is 
 pure conjecture. 
 
 3. Early Date of Mark's Gospel. 
 
 It is here assumed against Blass, Marshall, 
 and Wellhausen that Mark wrote his Gospel, 
 not in Aramaic, but in Greek. Swete (" Com- 
 mentary," p. xxxvii) observes that the use of 
 both transliteration and translation of Ara- 
 maic terms by Mark shows that he is not 
 translating, but writing freely in Greek. It 
 is assumed also that the present canonical 
 Gospel is substantially as Mark wrote it. 
 There may have been a few editorial touches 
 here and there, but not many. Hawkins, 
 after an elaborate and minute examination of 
 the peculiarities of Mark's Gospel, admits 
 some eight or ten verbal additions (** Horse 
 Synopticae," p. 152). But the essential unity 
 
MAEK'S WONDEOUS GOSPEL 135 
 
 oi the book is proven. Swete sums the mat- 
 ter up thus : " The present writer has risen 
 from his study of the Gospel with a strong 
 sense of the unity of the work, and can echo 
 the requiescat Urmarkus which ends a recent 
 discussion" (*' Commentary," pp. If., note). 
 Minor editorial revision is quite a different 
 matter from the theory of Bacon that a Re- 
 dactor reworked Mark's original Gospel and 
 produced our present canonical Gospel under 
 Pauline influences ("Beginnings of Gospel 
 Story," pp. xvii-xxxiii). Another modern 
 theory is that of Wendling ^ who finds three 
 Marks (M,' M,' M,'). The last is our canon- 
 ical Mark. The first he calls the historian, 
 the second the poet, the third the theologian. 
 It is all very pretty and very improbable. 
 Holdsworth (" Gospel Origins," p. 115) thinks 
 that Mark himself made three editions of his 
 Gospel (one in Caesarea, one in Alexandria, 
 and one in Rome (our Gospel). But all this 
 speculation clears away when we face the fact 
 that our present Gospel of Mark must in all 
 probability itself be dated in the fifties. It is 
 now a commonplace in synoptic criticism that 
 
 1 " Urmarcus,** 1905; "Die Entstehung des Mar- 
 cusevangeliums," 1909. 
 
136 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 Mark^s Gospel was used by Matthew and 
 Luke. "The most notable achievement in 
 the department of recent New Testament 
 criticism is undoubtedly the fairly general 
 agreement arrived at with regard to the mu- 
 tual relations of the first three Gospels " (M. 
 Jones, "The New Testament in the Twen- 
 tieth Century/* 1914, p. 189). "The priority 
 of St. Mark's Gospel is now generally accepted 
 by modern critics" (Holdsworth, "Gospel 
 Origins," 1913, p. 104). This is the fact as 
 scholars to-day view it. John's Gospel is the 
 latest and was written to supplement the Syn- 
 optic Gospels. It is not clear whether Luke 
 made use of Matthew or not, but certainly 
 Luke wrote his Gospel before the Acts, for 
 he refers to it in Acts 1:1. The probable 
 explanation of the close of the Acts with Paul 
 a prisoner in Rome for two years is that Luke 
 wrote the Acts during those two years and 
 closed the book at that point because events 
 had only developed that far. Harnack (" Date 
 of the Acts and the Synoptic Gospels, " tr. 
 191 1, p. 99) holds that the concluding verses 
 of Acts " make it in the highest degree proba- 
 ble that the work was written at a time when 
 St. Paul's trial in Rome had not yet come to 
 
MABK'S WONDEOUS GOSPEL 137 
 
 an end." It must come before the destruction 
 of Jerusalem and the death of Paul {ibid.^ 
 p. II 6), before the burning of Rome, and 
 probably in the year A. D. 62 {ibid,^ p. 92). 
 This position compels us to place the date of 
 Luke's Gospel before A. D. 62, and we must 
 date it either in the early part of Paul's first 
 Roman imprisonment (A. D. 59 or 60) or, as 
 is most likely, the close of the imprisonment 
 in Caesarea (A. D. 58 or 59). Now Luke made 
 use of both oral and written sources in pre- 
 paring his Gospel (Luke i : 1-4). The body 
 of Mark's Gospel is reproduced in both Mat- 
 thew and Luke as any one can see for him- 
 self by looking at a Harmony of the Gospels 
 like that of Broadus or of Stevens and Burton. 
 Clearly then Mark's Gospel is earlier than the 
 Gospel of Luke (and of Matthew). But how 
 much earlier ? If Luke made use of Matthew 
 also, we should have to place the Greek Mat- 
 thew about A. D. 54 to 57. But that is not 
 certain. But in any case there is every proba- 
 bility that Mark's Gospel in Greek appeared 
 in the early years of the fifth decade ^ (A. D. 
 50 to 55). At first this conclusion may seem 
 
 * Nolloth, " The Rise of the Christian Rch'gion," 19 1 7, 
 p. 19. 
 
138 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 inconsistent with the tradition that Mark's 
 Gospel was written in Rome. There is, how- 
 ever, nothing to make it so. Peter and Mark 
 could very well have been in Rome in the 
 early fifties and then again at the time of the 
 writing of i Peter 5 : 13. It is shown there- 
 fore that Mark's Gospel is the earliest of our f 
 canonical Gospels and is the historical frame- 
 work of both Matthew and Luke. It is im- 
 possible, therefore, to overestimate the im- 
 portance of this earliest Gospel to the modern 
 student. "No man can pretend to have 
 seriously examined the historical basis of the 
 Christian faith who has not to some extent 
 applied the ordinary processes of historical 
 criticism to the Gospel of Mark, the earliest 
 extant embodiment of the evangelic story " 
 (Bacon, "The Beginnings of the Gospel 
 Story," 1909, p. vii). Even Pfleiderer is 
 willing to admit: "Nothing can be urged 
 against the church tradition that this Gos- 
 pel was written by John Mark" ("Chris- 
 tian Origins," tr. 1906, p. 222), the John 
 Mark who left Paul and Barnabas at Perga, 
 but who has " come back " in great form in 
 his work with Simon Peter. Thank God 
 that a young preacher can rise above a 
 
MARK'S WONDROUS GOSPEL 139 
 
 blunder and make good in another place 
 after failure. 
 
 4. Peter's Reminiscences. 
 
 There is nothing in the book itself that 
 would prove that Mark obtained his informa- 
 tion chiefly from Simon Peter. But, once 
 this fact is admitted, there is abundant illus- 
 tration and confirmation of its correctness. 
 Papias says that Mark became the interpreter 
 of Peter, and " whatever he remembered,^ he 
 wrote accurately, not however in order, the 
 things either said or done by Christ." Papias 
 adds that Peter "made his instructions to 
 meet the needs (of his hearers, like other 
 preachers), but not as if he were making an 
 orderly arrangement^ (or full report) of the 
 Lord's discourses.^ So then Mark made no 
 mistake writing thus some things as he re- 
 called ^ them, for he took forethought for one 
 thing, to omit nothing of what he had heard 
 and to make no false statement in them." 
 Papias, as quoted in Eusebius, has here given 
 a very modest picture of Mark's Gospel and 
 
 ^ ifx\^7jii6>euff£v. ^ ffbvraqtv. 
 
 ' rwv kupiafcwv Xnyiw^. Cf. the recently discovered 
 
 Logia of Jesus by Grenfell and Hunt (1897) ; " New 
 
 Sayings of Jesus" (1904). * d.7:e/x>7jfi6v£U(xev, 
 
140 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 yet one wholly in accord with the book as we 
 have it. It is not a complete story of the life 
 of Jesus. All the early life and most of the 
 early ministry is passed by. It is quite in- 
 complete, but it is accurate and, in the main, 
 chronological. Justin Martyr {DiaL with 
 Trypho, cvi) calls this Gospel Peter's " Mem- 
 oirs,*' ^ or Memorabilia like Xenophon's Mem- 
 orabilia of Socrates. Irenaeus {Adv, Haer, 
 III. i) says that Mark " has delivered to us 
 in writing the things preached by Peter." 
 Tertullian {Adv, Marc, IV. 5) says that this 
 Gospel *' may be ascribed to Peter, whose in- 
 terpreter Mark was." Origen in his commen- 
 tary on Matthew (Eus. H. E. VI. 25) states 
 that Mark " composed it as Peter guided him,^ 
 who therefore in his Catholic epistle acknowl- 
 edged the evangelist as his son." Eusebius 
 {Dem, Evang. III. 5) expressly says : ** Mark 
 indeed writes this, but it is Peter who so tes- 
 tifies about himself, for all that is in Mark are 
 memoirs of the discourses of Peter." Jerome 
 De vir, illustr,, XI.) has carried this tradition 
 still further : " whose Gospel was composed, 
 Peter narrating and Mark writing." 
 
 ' ^ATrofjLVTjfjLOveufiaTa, 
 
 * a»9 Ilirpo^ v^Tj-jrijaaTo aor^. 
 
MAEK'S WONDEOUS GOSPEL 141 
 
 Evideatly the story of Peter's connection 
 with Mark's Gospel grew through the cen- 
 turies from Papias (about A. D. 125) to Jerome 
 (about A. D. 350). We may drop at once the 
 notion that Peter dictated the second Gospel 
 and that Mark was merely his amanuensis or 
 even that Peter " guided " Mark in the com- 
 position (Origen), though that is less un- 
 likely. We may admit as probable that Peter 
 saw the book and approved its use as Clement 
 of Alexandria states, who says that Peter was 
 pleased with the eagerness of the Roman 
 Christians about the Gospel " and authorized 
 the writing to be read in the churches " (Eus. 
 H. E. II. 15). But what seems indisputable 
 is the fact that Mark used his recollections of 
 Peter's preaching as the chief basis of the 
 book. He heard Peter a great deal for a 
 number of years. He probably made notes 
 in Aramaic or in Greek of Peter's preaching. 
 Nolloth ("The Rise of the Christian Religion," 
 p. 23) even thinks that Matthew made notes 
 of Christ's preaching during His ministry in 
 Aramaic and that this was the origin of the 
 Logia of Jesus (the Q of criticism). He speaks 
 also of " the Aramaic notes of the preaching 
 of St. Peter made by his 'interpreter' St 
 
142 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 Mark, forming the original copy of the Sec- 
 ond Gospel." Thus the two oldest sources 
 of the life of Jesus go back to the apostles 
 Matthew and Peter. It is, therefore, quite 
 proper to say that Peter's Reminiscences of 
 Jesus are preserved in the Gospel of Mark. 
 The book is in a true sense the Memoirs or 
 Memorabilia of Peter. 
 
 If now we turn to Mark's Gospel we shall 
 find many things that corroborate this posi- 
 tion. The book reveals many tokens of an 
 eye-witness and some of these come most 
 naturally from Simon Peter. The abundant 
 use of the historical present in Mark's Gospel 
 is probably due to Peter's lively descriptive 
 powers. He pictured the incidents so clearly 
 that Mark saw them as actually going on 
 and so narrated them as doubdess Peter 
 told them. There are 151 historic presents 
 in Mark and only 78 in Matthew, though a 
 much longer book, only 6 in Luke and 13 in 
 Acts.* This list does not include parables for 
 Mark has no historic presents in them. Mark 
 is very fond of the imperfect tense which is 
 another way of using Peter's eyes and Peter's 
 imagination. There are numerous details 
 * Hawkins, " Horae Synopticae,'* pp. 147 C 
 
MAEK^S WONDEOUS GOSPEL 143 
 
 which also confirm this theory, a few of 
 which are here given. When Jesus healed 
 Peter's mother-in-law we read that ** he came 
 and took her by the hand and raised her up *' 
 (Mark 1:31). At even we find that " all the 
 city was gathered at the door " (i : 33), the 
 description probably of Peter who stood in 
 the door of his home with Jesus and watched 
 the excited throng pass by as they were 
 healed. It seems to be Peter also who gives 
 this life-like touch : ** And in the morning, a 
 great while before day, he rose up and went 
 out (probably Peter heard him go), and de- 
 parted into a desert place, and there prayed. 
 And Simon and they that were with him fol- 
 lowed after him (rushed^ after him in eager 
 pursuit) ; and they found him, and say unto 
 him, All men are seeking thee" (1:35-37). 
 Mark's narrative here bears every trace of 
 Peter's excitement and impetuosity and vivid 
 imagination in description. In 2 : 2 we read 
 that "there was no longer room for them, 
 no, not even about the door." Jesus was here 
 " at home " "^ or ** indoors " (2 : i) as we say, 
 preserving Peter's colloquial reference to his 
 
 * Rarediio^ev, Perfective use of Kara, 
 
 * iv oHkip. Some manuscripts ei"? 6]/zov, 
 
144 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 own house in Capernaum. Mark has much 
 about the feelings and looks of Jesus (cf. 1 143 ; 
 3 • 5 ; 5 • 32 ; 6 : 40) which come naturally 
 from an eye-witness. *' Certainly no amount 
 of realism will account for the scores of un- 
 expected and independent details with which 
 St. Mark enriches the common narrative" 
 (Swete, "Commentary," p. Ivii). Suffice it 
 to mention one other touch of life. In 
 6:39f. Mark speaks of the "green" grass 
 and notes that they were grouped " in com- 
 panies " ^ like guests at a banquet (symposia) 
 and that their many-colored garments on the 
 green grass in the afternoon sun made them 
 look like " garden-beds " ^ (" in ranks "). 
 There are literally hundreds of such vivid 
 details in Mark, some of which are preserved 
 in Matthew and Luke, but most of which are 
 smoothed away in their more literary ar- 
 rangement. Mark's Gospel is, like that of 
 John, full of animation, of dialogue, of pictures. 
 It is to the credit of Mark that, though he 
 may not have heard Jesus himself, yet he has 
 faithfully preserved the word- pictures of Peter 
 who did hear Christ preach and saw Him do 
 
 * Ttpaatai npaaiai. Nominative absolute. 
 
MARK'S WONDROUS GOSPEL 145 
 
 His work. Peter described Jesus to Cor- 
 nelius as one " who went about doing good, 
 and healing all that were oppressed of the 
 devil ; for God was with him " (Acts lo : 38). 
 Mark, as we have seen, may have been of 
 the six brethren with Peter in Caesarea and 
 may thus have heard Peter say these words. 
 At any rate they give an adequate conception 
 of Mark's own Gospel, which is, at bottom, 
 Peter's Gospel. 
 
 5. Other Sources Used by Mark. 
 
 There is no reason to think that Mark con- 
 fined himself to what he heard from Peter. 
 He, like Luke (i : 1-4), had heard other 
 " eye-witnesses " * of the Lord tell their story 
 at his mother's home in Jerusalem and else- 
 where. There are portions of Mark's Gospel 
 that do not come naturally from Peter. If 
 Luke (i : 1-4) employed on a large scale the 
 methods of the historian in making his re- 
 searches, why may not Mark have done so 
 on a smaller scale ? It is probable that the 
 so-called Logia of Jesus (Q), whether written 
 by Matthew in Aramaic as Papias says or 
 by some one else, was earlier than Mark. 
 
 * aurdnrat. 
 
146 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 Ramsay (The Expositor, May, 1907) suggests 
 that Q was written during the lifetime of 
 Jesus. Salmon ("The Human Element in 
 the Gospels," p. 274) takes the same view. 
 At any rate it is probable that Q is older 
 than Mark. It is even held by some that 
 Mark made use of Q to some extent.^ There 
 is nothing impossible or even improbable in 
 a limited use of Q by Mark. The objection 
 to an extended use is precisely the vivid 
 power of most of the book which bears the 
 stamp of Peter's burning story. Chapter 13 
 is called ** The Little Apocalypse " and may 
 represent another source used by Mark. It 
 may have been a written source (Swete, 
 " Commentary," p. lix) because in 13 : 14 the 
 words ** Let him that readeth understand " ^ 
 would imply that, provided they belonged to 
 the source. We know from Luke 1:1-4 
 that " many " undertook to tell their story 
 about various aspects of the words and deeds 
 of Jesus. Mark wrote with freedom and con- 
 cern at the same time to be faithful to the 
 data in hand. Swete properly sums up the 
 
 * Cf. Streeter, " St. Mark's Knowledge and Use of Q " 
 (" Oxford Studies in the Synoptic Problem "), 191 1, pp. 
 165-183. ^ 6 dvayivioafiutv voeiTio, 
 
MAEK'S WONDEOUS GOSPEL 147 
 
 matter thus : " On the whole it seems safe to 
 assume as a working theory of the origina- 
 tion of the Gospel that its main source is 
 the teaching of St. Peter, which has supplied 
 nearly the entire series of notes descriptive 
 of the Galilean Ministry, and has largely in- 
 fluenced the remainder of the book" (" Com- 
 mentary," p. lix). 
 
 6. The Close of the Gospel. 
 
 It seems certain that Mark did not close 
 his Gospel as we have it in our New Testa- 
 ments. The two oldest and best Greek man- 
 uscripts of the New Testament (Aleph or 
 Codex Sinaiticus and B or Codex Vaticanus) 
 close with verse 8 of chapter i6 and with the 
 words, "for they were afraid." At first one 
 has a shock of surprise to find such an end- 
 ing. Maclean (Hastings' Dictionary of Christ 
 and the Gospels) considers it "inconceiv- 
 able" that this "abrupt and inauspicious" 
 ending can be the way that Mark closed his 
 book. But Farmer (International Standard 
 Bible Encyclopaedia) thinks that "it is just 
 possible that the Gospel did end at verse 8. 
 The very abruptness would argue an early 
 date when Christians lived in the atmosphere 
 
148 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 of the Resurrection and would form an even 
 appropriate closing for the Gospel of the 
 Servant." So the doctors disagree very 
 widely. It is possible that Mark did not 
 end his Gospel here. The real ending may 
 have been lost. The last leaf of the roll 
 may have been lost very early. "I regard 
 it nevertheless as one of the possibilities of 
 future finds that we receive this Gospel with 
 its own authentic finish. Mark has been 
 connected with Alexandria. May Grenfell 
 and Hunt add to their numerous gifts the 
 close of the original Mark from an Egyptian 
 papyrus" (Gregory, "The Canon and Text 
 of the New Testament," 1907, p. 512). The 
 present long ending has been ascribed to 
 Ariston, probably the Aristion mentioned in 
 Papias, by an Armenian scribe who wrote 
 in between verses 8 and 9 in red ink the 
 words " Ariston Eredzou " (Ariston the Pres- 
 byter). This discovery was made by Mr. F. 
 C. Conybeare. "So here at last was the 
 missing evidence for the last twelve verses, 
 and a discovery for critical confirmation 
 which should be the end of all strife" 
 (Rendel Harris, "Sidelights on New Testa- 
 ment Research," 1908, p. 92). 
 
MAEK'S WONDEOUS GOSPEL 149 
 
 Several Greek manuscripts (L and three 
 other uncials and four cursives) have two 
 endings, the usual one and a shorter one, 
 while the Old Latin K has only the short 
 one. It reads as follows : " All that had 
 been commanded to them they briefly re- 
 ported to Peter and his company. And 
 after this Jesus Himself appeared to them 
 and from the east even unto the west sent 
 forth by them the holy and incorruptible 
 proclamation of the eternal salvation." No 
 one defends this ending which is an evident 
 makeshift to supply a suitable close for the 
 Gospel of Mark. 
 
 The newly-discovered Washington Manu- 
 script (W), itself as old as Aleph and B and 
 kept in this country, has an expanded end- 
 ing. After verse 14 of the usual long end- 
 ing we find these words: *'And they de- 
 fended themselves saying that this age of 
 lawlessness and sin is under the power of 
 Satan, who, through unclean spirits, does 
 not suffer the true virtue of God to be 
 apprehended. Therefore now reveal Thy 
 righteousness. And Christ addressed them 
 and said, 'The limit of the years of the 
 authority of Satan has been reached, but 
 
150 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 other dread things are coming : and it was 
 for those who had sinned that I was delivered 
 to death that they might return to the Truth 
 and sin no more, but inherit the spiritual and 
 immortal glory of righteousness in heaven ' " 
 (Rendel Harris' translation, "Side-lights on 
 New Testament Research," p. 90^.^ Then the 
 usual ending proceeds. These various end- 
 ings throw suspicion upon one another and 
 we can only say that we do not now know 
 how Mark ended his Gospel. Some day we 
 may know. 
 
 7. Characteristics of Mark's Gospel. 
 
 The Gospel of Mark did not at first rank 
 as high as the other Gospels. Two (Matthew 
 and John) were by aposties themselves, while 
 Mark was only a disciple of an apostle. 
 Luke's Gospel is much longer and has 
 greater literary charm. Mark's is the briefest 
 and was slighted by many. The earliest 
 commentary that is preserved is ascribed to 
 Victor of Antioch (fifth or sixth century) who 
 says that he knew of none on Mark's Gospel. 
 
 * Cf. also Cobern, " The New Archaeological Discov- 
 eries and Their Bearing Upon the New Testament," 
 1917, p. 164. 
 
MAEK^S WONDEOUS GOSPEL 151 
 
 The book had no settled place in the manu- 
 scripts, sometimes coming last of the Four 
 Gospels as in the Washington Manuscript. 
 The early writers varied greatly in the 
 symbol for Mark, using each of the four for 
 him (lion, man, ox, eagle). But all this is 
 changed now and the merit of this Gospel 
 is better appreciated. " It is seen, too, to be 
 at the basis of the whole problem of the 
 mutual relations of the canonical Gospels, 
 and is believed by many to take us nearest 
 the primitive form of the evangelical nar- 
 rative. So it has become the subject of a 
 quite peculiar interest, and engages the 
 sedulous attention of students" (Salmond, 
 Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible). 
 
 It is clear that Mark wrote out his recol- 
 lections of Peter's preaching con amove. 
 There was an affinity between the minds 
 of the two men. Each had a lively style, 
 direct, simple, objective, picturesque, telling, 
 and realistic. No doubt Peter had influenced 
 Mark's style unconsciously. Both Peter and 
 Mark were impulsive and warm-hearted. 
 Each made mistakes and each rallied and 
 did his real work afterwards. Peter denied 
 his Lord (a great sin) and Mark deserted 
 
152 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 his leader (a great blunder). The stamp of 
 Peter's mind is upon this Gospel, but Mark's 
 hand is in it also. The book seems like a 
 torso without beginning or proper ending. 
 It is a mere sketch, but it has a powerful 
 grasp of the heart of Christ's life. It is a 
 book of action and power, but the words of 
 Jesus are not neglected. The miracles are 
 more prominent than the parables, but the 
 teaching of Jesus is in evidence. We see 
 Christ the Preacher and the Teacher in Mark 
 as well as Christ the Healer and the Saviour 
 from sin. There is little discussion of doc- 
 trine, but the Cross is central in the book 
 and the Atonement is stated in the words of 
 Jesus who came "to give his life a ransom 
 for many" (10:45). There is the graphic 
 style of an eye-witness with the sure swift- 
 ness of a cinema machine. Jesus is here 
 drawn to the life. And Jesus is the center 
 of everything in this book. " In addition to 
 all this evidence there is the oft-recurring 
 reference to the lights and shadows that 
 passed over the Face of Jesus in joy and 
 sorrow, satisfaction and disappointment, in- 
 dignation and anger " (Luckock, " The Special 
 Characteristics of the Four Gospels," 1900, 
 
MAEK'S WONDEOUS GOSPEL 153 
 
 P- 93)' Peter pictured Christ so that the 
 picture set Mark's mind all ablaze with in- 
 terest and enthusiasm. Christian artists have 
 painted Peter holding a book and Mark a 
 pen or Peter preaching while Mark is taking 
 notes. That is an exaggerated portrayal of 
 Peter's influence on Mark who certainly re- 
 tained his own individuality in the work. 
 
 It is often said that John's Gospel sets 
 forth the Deity of Christ^ while the Gospel 
 of Mark presents His Humanity.^ That is 
 true in a general way, but the Humanity of 
 Jesus is in the Gospel of John and the Deity 
 of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. It is there 
 by implication and by statement. Pfleiderer 
 sees this clearly. "This oldest Evangelist 
 furnishes the truest impression which Jesus 
 made on His environment, — here He actually 
 lives and works" ("Christian Origins," p. 219). 
 And yet Pfleiderer has to add: "He wrote 
 for Heathen-Christians and wished to awaken 
 or confirm the conviction that, despite the 
 rejection by the Jews, Jesus of Nazareth was 
 
 * Cf. my " Divinity of Christ in the Gospel of John " 
 (1916). 
 
 'Cf. "The Humanity of Jesus Christ" (pp. 105- 
 1 14 of Luckock*s '* Characteristics of the Four Gospels ")• 
 
154 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 proven to be the Christ and the Son of God 
 by wonders and signs of every kind." That 
 is true, little as Pfleiderer likes it. The Christ 
 of Mark's Gospel is in reality the Christ of 
 Peter, of John, of Matthew, of Luke, of Paul, 
 of them all, Son of God and Son of man, 
 Lord and Saviour of men. 
 
 Mark's Gospel is consummate art after all 
 without meaning to be art at all, "a work 
 wherein the artist is more completely effaced 
 by his subject" (Von Soden, "Early Chris- 
 tian Literature," tr. 1906, p. 153). One never 
 thinks of Mark in reading his Gospel, but 
 one sees Jesus, hears Him, loves Him, fol- 
 lows Him, worships Him. 
 
X 
 
 WINNING PAUL'S PRAISE 
 
 " And Mark, the cousin of Barnabas {touching whom 
 ye received commandtnent ; if he come unto you, 
 receive him).' '—Cou 4: lo. 
 
 " Take Mark, and bring him with thee ; for he is 
 useful to me for ministering,'' — 2 Tim. 4 : ii. 
 
X 
 
 WINNING PAUL'S PRAISE 
 
 I. Co- Worker With Paul in Rome, 
 
 TIME heals many sores, time and 
 work and the grace of God. Some 
 fifteen years have passed since Mark 
 deserted Paul at Perga and ten or a dozen 
 since the fatal breach at Antioch between 
 Paul and Barnabas over Mark (Acts 15 139). 
 Paul has evidently watched the career of 
 Mark with genuine interest and is now glad 
 to see that he was mistaken in his opinion of 
 the essential fickleness of Mark's character. 
 Mark has proven by his work with Barnabas 
 and with Peter that the root of the matter is 
 in him. The result is that he has wholly re- 
 covered Paul's good opinion. Barnabas and 
 Peter have had him in tow and they have 
 done their work well. It used to be the 
 fashion for old preachers to take young 
 preachers through a course of "swamp 
 theology" and practical experience. The. 
 157 
 
158 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 young preacher would read theology with 
 a master just as a young lawyer would read 
 law under a great jurist and a young physi- 
 cian would read medicine with a great 
 practitioner. There were some advantages 
 in such a practical and personal clinic, but it 
 takes a great deal of time and may be a 
 rather narrow and one sided discipline. 
 Schools do better on the whole for most men 
 and yet it must be admitted that Mark re- 
 flects credit on his teachers in the end of the 
 day. It is possible that Peter is also in 
 Rome at this time with Paul and Mark, 
 though the probability is rather against it 
 since he could hardly be omitted from the 
 list of Paul's Jewish co-workers in Rome, for 
 he says "these only" in Colossians 4:11. 
 Probably Peter left Rome before Paul came 
 and Mark remained. It is generally thought 
 that Barnabas was now dead, since Mark is 
 with Paul. But this is a " somewhat pre- 
 carious " argument (Lightfoot, Col. tn loco), 
 Paul is affectionate in his reference to Barna- 
 bas here and in i Corinthians 9 : 6. There was 
 no sting left by the clash at Antioch in 
 Galatians 2 : 1 1 fi. and the subsequent separa- 
 tion (Acts 15:39). Great souls can forgive 
 
WINKING PAUL'S PRAISE 159 
 
 a wrong and drop a quarrel even if they do 
 not literally forget the episode. They do not 
 cherish it. They let bygones be bygones. 
 
 It is good to see Mark with Paul once 
 more. Surely Mark felt grateful at this 
 clinching evidence that Paul now looked 
 with affection and satisfaction upon the 
 young man who went not to the work (Acts 
 15:38). He was no longer "Mark the 
 Apostate " as Paul had branded him with a 
 word that burned through the years. He is 
 actually one of Paul's *' co-workers " or ** fel- 
 low-workers* unto the Kingdom of God." 
 He is no longer a mere ** attendant " doing 
 personal service, but is ranked with the best 
 and most faithful of Paul's helpers in Rome. 
 Paul notes a group of these Jewish Christians 
 in Rome who are loyal to him (Aristarchus, 
 Mark, Jesus Justus) and " these only." ^ We 
 know from Philippians i : 15-18 that some 
 of the Jewish Christians in Rome took pleas- 
 ure in annoying Paul out of envy and strife, 
 probably Judaizers who have come on to 
 Rome.^ Paul's language here need not be 
 
 * ffovipyoi el? Tijv ^affiXetav zoo Oeou, 
 
 ' OVTOl fXOIiOl, 
 
 *Cf. Lightfoot, Philippians, in loco» 
 
160 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 pressed too literally, but certainly it means 
 that among the prominent Jewish Christians 
 in Rome Paul can name these three alone as 
 men on whom he can count in the present 
 emergency (Li ghtfoot, in loco). In Philippians 
 2 : 2of. Paul again notes how all except 
 Timothy ** seek their own, not the things of 
 Christ." Mark now has an honorable place 
 in this small list of Pauline loyalists. He 
 is no longer a deserter, but one to be 
 trusted. 
 
 These are " men that have been a comfort 
 unto me" ^ (Col. 4:11). The word here for 
 "comfort" occurs nowhere else in the New 
 Testament. The range of meaning is wider 
 than the commoner words, but the medical 
 use for assuaging or alleviating pain comes 
 to be the predominant one. Once Mark be- 
 cause of his defection was a spiritual irritant 
 to Paul and it was disturbing to have him 
 with him. Now his presence is soothing and 
 cheering to Paul the prisoner. Clearly Mark 
 is taking pains to be pleasing and helpful to 
 Paul and he has succeeded. There is a won- 
 derful difTerence in people about this matter 
 
 * oiriv£<i £^£vrjd7}(Tdv fjLOt Ttaprjyopia. The technical 
 use o{ TzapTiYopia is medical (our paregoric). 
 
WINNING PAUI/S PEAISE 161 
 
 of consolation. It pays the pastor to study 
 calmness and gentleness of manner so that 
 his presence may leave the sick better and 
 not worse. It does make a difference whether 
 the fur is rubbed the wrong way. Probably 
 Paul made a point of letting Mark know that 
 he acknowledged his error of judgment about 
 him and expressed pleasure in his achieve- 
 ments. Kind words cost little, but they go 
 far toward smoothing the path of weary 
 toilers who have many unknown causes for 
 annoyance. 
 
 But the crowning word of praise from Paul 
 occurs in 2 Tim. 4:11 where he says of Mark : 
 " for he is useful to me for ministering." * 
 Once Mark was useless to Paul and he stoutly 
 refused to take him along with him on the 
 second mission tour because of his failure in 
 the first. Now Paul explains to Timothy 
 why he wants him and puts the verb first as 
 if to say : " He is useful to me." He has 
 made good with Paul in great style right 
 where he was weak. Surely Timothy told 
 Mark these words of Paul, words that would 
 warm the cockles of his heart and make him 
 
 ^ eariv yap fioi eu^pi^ffTog e?? dtafzoviav. The position 
 and accent of eariv emphasizes the point. 
 
162 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 happy. The reason for mentioning this pas- 
 sage here is that Paul is manifestly alluding 
 to what Mark did for him before the second 
 Roman imprisonment. It is a backward 
 glance at Mark's previous service to Paul. 
 The allusion seems to be to the time of Co- 
 lossians 4 : 10, when Mark was with Paul in 
 Rome. We do not know to what Paul re- 
 fers by the general expression "useful for 
 ministering." White suggests that, since 
 Mark was Peter's interpreter of Aramaic into 
 Greek, so here he is Paul's interpreter of 
 Greek into Latin (Expositor's Greek Testa- 
 ment, in loco). This is, of course, possible. 
 Paul probably knew Latin, but may not have 
 been fluent in it and he may have had some 
 need for Latin converse in his dealings with 
 the Praetorian Guard (Phil, i : 13) or with 
 Caesar's household (Phil. 4:22). Others have 
 suggested that Paul read Mark's Gospel while 
 in Rome and that it may have been included 
 in Paul's list of books that he left at Troas 
 (2 Tim. 4 : 13). This also is quite possible. 
 Some critics imagine that they can detect a 
 Pauline influence in Mark's Gospel. Paul 
 may have acknowledged a contribution from 
 Mark to his own intellectual and spiritual life. 
 
WINNING PAUL'S PEAISE 163 
 
 Whatever the service was Paul sincerely ap- 
 preciated it and confessed himself debtor to 
 Mark his co-worker, comfort, and helper. 
 Praise like this from Paul would compensate 
 Mark for much that he had suffered and was 
 rich reward for the years of sincere endeavor 
 to make his life tell for Christ. 
 
 2. Commended by Paul to the Colossians. 
 
 Mark apparently means to make a visit to 
 Colossae, for Paul says: '^If he come unto 
 you, receive him " (Col. 4 : 10). He may have 
 had an engagement with Peter in this region. 
 It seems likely that this visit was made, for 
 Mark sends a salutation to the saints of Asia 
 and the other Roman provinces when Peter 
 writes to them (i Pet. 5 : 13). It is probable 
 that Paul's former poor opinion of Mark had 
 spread over a wide area since he took so much 
 trouble now to correct it (Maclean, Hastings' 
 Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels). " The 
 Pauline churches, which were aware of the 
 estrangement, might not be very ready to give 
 a hearty welcome to Mark *' (Gould, '* Inter- 
 national Critical Commentary," in loco). Paul 
 is evidently anxious to remove any remaining 
 prejudice against Mark so that he may be 
 
164 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 able to do well what he has to perform. Paul 
 had written the Colossians before on the sub- 
 ject of Mark's reception, " touching whom ye 
 received commandments *' ^ (Col. 4 : 10). The 
 "commandments'* in question could have 
 been sent by word of mouth or by letter. If 
 not by letter, Lightfoot suggests Peter or 
 Barnabas as the bearer of Paul's message 
 about Mark. One of the " commandments " 
 Paul repeats : ** If he come unto you, receive ^ 
 him." The word "receive" was the usual 
 term for hospitable welcome.^ Paul is now 
 willing to underwrite Mark before he comes 
 to Colossae. It is not a case of Paul's being 
 anxious to get rid of Mark. People some- 
 times write the most enthusiastic letters of 
 commendation of those whom they wish to 
 palm off upon somebody else. Paul is not 
 trying to victimize the Colossians. It is now 
 precisely because he has found Mark ** use- 
 ful " and '* a comfort " that he is so glad to 
 speak a good word about him to the church 
 in Colossae. That is a useful and a kind 
 
 ^7:cp} 00 iXd/^sre ivroXd's, The epistolary aorist is 
 ruled out here (Lightfoot). 
 
 ^In Luke 10: 38 we have MdpOa or.edi^aro avTov, 
 
WIiroraG PAUL'S PEAISE 165 
 
 thing to do. Peripatetic preachers have been 
 known to take advantage of such particular 
 commendation. One should be sure of his 
 man before he gives him a carte blanche letter 
 of endorsement. Paul cared little for such 
 matters and ridiculed the Judaizers who went 
 to Corinth with genuine or spurious letters of 
 recommendation to influence the brethren : 
 " Or need we, as do some, epistles of com- 
 mendation to you or from you " (2 Cor. 3:1). 
 Paul is not giving this note of commendation 
 to Mark, but to the Colossians about him. 
 It is certain that, when Mark came to Colos- 
 sae, he found a kindly spirit toward him. Paul 
 knew what it was to have a man like Barnabas 
 stand voucher for him when he was under 
 suspicion. 
 
 3. In His Old Haunts in the East. 
 
 We know that Mark went east again, be- 
 cause in 2 Timothy 4:11 Paul urges Tim- 
 othy, when in Ephesus, to " take ^ Mark, and 
 bring him." "It is implied that Mark was 
 somewhere on the line of route between 
 Ephesus and Rome, but we do not know 
 
 ^ dvaXa^cDv. Vulgate assume. Cf. also Acts 20: 13, 
 14; 23:31. They "picked up Paul " at Assos. In 
 23 : 3 1 wc have dvaXa^ovzsg ^yayov as here (aye). 
 
166 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTRY 
 
 the precise place '* (White, Expositor's Greek 
 Testament, in loco). It was probably at Co- 
 lossse or Miletus. Mark was now an expert 
 workman and no novice. He no longer had 
 need to be ashamed of his work nor was Paul 
 ashamed of it (2 Tim. 2:15). The rather 
 Paul was now proud of his old protege. It 
 is amazing how much a young preacher 
 can develop with the years. "Be diligent 
 in these things ; give thyself wholly to them ; 
 that thy progress ^ may be manifest unto all " 
 (i Tim. 4:15). Mark had now forged his 
 way to the front so that all men could see. 
 He had very distinctly "arrived." Once a 
 young preacher, just starting to college, in- 
 nocently enough impressed a deacon that he 
 was too "fast" for a preacher because he 
 rode a plow-horse all sorts of gaits. The 
 deacon was very positive in his judgment 
 and free with his criticism. Years later he 
 wrote to the preacher a letter of apology, 
 but added that no young preacher ought 
 ever to be discouraged since God had done 
 what he had with this victim of the deacon's 
 prejudice. He was entirely right. No man 
 should be disheartened by difficulties or by 
 * npokoTZTJ cutting ahead. 
 
WINNING PAUL'S PEAISE 167 
 
 adverse criticism. It is far better to sur- 
 mount the obstacles and to turn them to 
 glorious gain. Mark is now out from under 
 the cloud of reproach. He had long ago 
 *' vindicated and justified the risk Barnabas 
 had run in giving him a chance of recover- 
 ing his character " (White, Expositor's Greek 
 Testament, in loco), 
 
 4. Longed for by the Lonely Paul. 
 
 Paul had once scouted the proposal of Bar- 
 nabas to " take along " John Mark. But now 
 he hungers for the comfort of his presence. 
 During his former imprisonment in Rome 
 Paul had learned to lean on Mark as a re- 
 liable staff. Now he is in prison again with 
 no liberties and fewer friends. He has no 
 hired house to which they can come. He is 
 probably in the dread Mamertine dungeon 
 and few, like Onesiphorus, have the courage 
 to make diligent search to find the old Lion 
 of Liberty and to face death for his sake 
 (2 Tim. 1:17). One by one Paul's co-workers 
 left him on one pretext or another. " Demas 
 forsook me, having loved this present world, 
 and went to Thessalonica ; Crescens to Ga- 
 latia, Titus to Dalmatia " (2 Tim. 4 : 10). So 
 
168 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 the melancholy record runs. It is like a 
 wholesale Perga, only they all gave "the 
 work " as the reason for leaving Paul to his 
 fate which all foresaw. It is pathetic beyond 
 words as the aged prisoner goes on to add 
 in his cold and dreariness: "Only Luke is 
 with me." Blessings on this " beloved physi- 
 cian** who is not afraid of death and who 
 risks his own life for the sake of his great 
 friend. This is one of the great friendships 
 of history, that between Paul and Luke. It 
 is fitting for the preacher and the physician 
 ^ to be fast friends. They both deal with the 
 realities of life and see people in their hours 
 of weakness and of need. They ought to 
 work together in harmony. The physician 
 ought to be a Christian. It is a pity to see 
 the preacher the tool of a quack. Paul and 
 Luke were both men of genius, of culture, of 
 passion for Christ and for humanity. But, 
 much as Luke is to Paul, his heart goes out 
 after two young preachers who have meant 
 much to him. He wants them to be by his 
 side when the end comes, as he knows it will 
 come soon. One of these is Timothy, of 
 course. It seems that Timothy did come and 
 was put in prison for his courageous stand 
 
WINlJfING PAUL'S PEAISE 169 
 
 by Paul. In Hebrews 13 : 23 we read : ** Know 
 ye that our brother Timothy hath been set at 
 liberty.'* The other young preacher, young 
 in comparison with " Paul the aged," is Mark. 
 " Take Mark, and bring him with thee ; for 
 he is useful to me for ministering." As the 
 shadows close round us, we wish only real 
 friends about us, real friends and real books. 
 So Sir Walter Scott died with his loved ones 
 about him who brought him **The Book," 
 the only Book to live by and to die by. 
 Paul longs for Timothy and Mark and his 
 "cloak" and **the books, especially the 
 parchments." Precious books were these, 
 perhaps with marginal comments by Paul. 
 Some of them were probably parts of the 
 Old Testament in Hebrew or in Greek. One 
 of them may have been Luke's Gospel, an- 
 other the Acts, another may have been 
 Mark's Gospel. Paul means to keep up 
 his "ministry" to the end. "But I hold 
 not my life of any account as dear unto 
 myself, so that I may accomplish my course, 
 and the ministry which I received from the 
 Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace 
 of God" (Acts 20:24). So Paul spoke to 
 the elders of Ephesus at Miletus nearly a 
 
170 MAKING GOOD IN THE MINISTEY 
 
 dozen years before. His ministry is near its 
 close, but he will keep on to the very end. 
 So he wants Mark " for ministering." Mark 
 had shown a genius for helping great men 
 and now the last wish of Paul is that Mark 
 may be at his side to help him make the last 
 days full of service for Christ. We may be 
 sure that Mark came if it lay in his power to 
 do so. We may think, therefore, of Luke, 
 Timothy and Mark, together with some of 
 the brave spirits in Rome, as the faithful 
 band that saw the greatest preacher of the 
 ages pay the price of loyalty to Jesus Christ 
 with his own life. 
 
 This is a good place to leave Mark. Here 
 we must leave him, for our sources of infor- 
 mation all fail us. Mark kept to the path of 
 service to the end, we may be sure. He was 
 not a genius on the scale of Paul or of John. 
 He apparendy lacked the gifts of oratory 
 possessed by Barnabas and Peter. But he 
 learned to make himself useful to others and 
 to make the most of the talents that he had. 
 He became "a good minister of Christ 
 Jesus " (i Tim. 4 : 6). That is a nobler achieve- 
 ment than merely spectacular gifts that are 
 not wisely used. That goal is possible to us 
 
WINNING PAUL'S PRAISE 171 
 
 all Mark should be an inspiration to the 
 average minister who has to toil in obscure 
 places and unrecognized by the great major- 
 ity and who makes mistakes that dishearten 
 him. It is all a part of the day's work. 
 Preachers are made out of men, out of the 
 same human stuff that other people have. 
 Preachers are made out of laymen. Give us 
 better laymen and we shall have better 
 preachers. But preachers are entitled to 
 more than one chance. We should magnify 
 our office and magnify Christ. In the end 
 what matters most is that we did an honest 
 day's work. People have their tastes about 
 preaching as about everything else. In 
 Scotland, that land of good preaching, there 
 are ** sermon-tasters " who know how to 
 sample sermons by the smack of the words. 
 We know very little after all about the re- 
 spective merits of preachers. "Wherefore 
 judge nothing before the time, until the Lord 
 come, who will bring to light the hidden 
 things of darkness, and make manifest the 
 counsels of the heart ; and then shall each 
 man have his praise from God " (i Cor. 4:5). 
 And Mark now has ** the praise " from God 
 which is better even than that from Paul. 
 
Special Books on Mark and 
 His Gospel 
 
 (Apart from coniinuous commentaries by the 
 same author, books on all the Gospels, the 
 Synoptic problem, Cyclopcedia articles.) 
 
 Abbott, E. A., The Fourfold Gospel (Diatessarica, 
 Sections III, IV, V, 1915, 191 6, 191 7. These 
 three volumes are devoted to Mark). 
 
 Alexander, Gospel according to St. Mark. 1863. 
 
 Allen, The Gospel according to Mark. 1915. 
 
 Bacon, The Beginnings of Gospel Story : A Historico- 
 Critical Inquiry into the Sources of and Struc- 
 ture of the Gospel according to Mark. 1909. 
 
 Badham, St. Mark's Indebtedness to St. Matthew. 
 1897. 
 
 Bennett, The Life of Christ according to St. Mark. 
 1907. 
 
 Broadus, The Gospel according to Mark. 1900. 
 
 Bruce, Gospel according to St. Mark. The Expos- 
 itor's Greek Testament. 1897. 
 
 Burkitt, The Earliest Sources for the Life of Jesus. 
 1910. 
 
 Chad wick. The Gospel of Mark. The Expositor's 
 Bible. 1887. 
 
 Clarke, The Gospel of Mark. American Commentary. 
 1881. 
 
 Du Boisson, The Origin and Characteristics of Mark. 
 1906. 
 
 172 
 
BOOKS ON MAEK AND HIS GOSPEL 173 
 
 Goguel, L'6vangile de Marc et ses rapports avec ceux 
 de Matthieu et de Luc. 1909. 
 
 Hoffmann, Das Marcusevangelium und seine Quellen. 
 1904. 
 
 Holtzmann, Die Synoptiker. Hand-Commentar. 
 1 90 1. 
 
 Hunter, John Mark or the Making of a Saint. 191 7. 
 
 Jacobus, The Gospel according to Mark. The Bible 
 for Home and School. 1915. 
 
 Klostermann, Marcus. Lietzmann's Handbuch zum 
 Neuen Testament. 1907. 
 
 Lagrange, fivangile selon St. Marc. 191 1. 
 
 Lindsay, Mark's Gospel. T. & T. Clark^s Hand- 
 books. 1883. 
 
 Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man as Traced by 
 
 St. Mark. 1889. 
 Maclear, The Gospel of St. Mark. Cambridge Bible 
 
 for Schools and Colleges. 1893. 
 Menzies, The Earliest Gospel : A Historical Study of 
 
 the Gospel according to St. Mark. 1901. 
 
 Morison, Practical Commentary on the Gospel accord- 
 ing to St. Mark. 7th edition. 1894. 
 
 Plummer, The Gospel according to St. Mark. Cam- 
 bridge Greek Testament. 191 5. 
 
 Plummer, The Gospel according to St. Mark. Cam- 
 bridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. 191 5. 
 
 Salmond, The Gospel according to St. Mark. New 
 Century Bible. 
 
 Swete, The Gospel according to St. Mark. Second 
 edition. 1902. 
 
 Taylor, The Gospel according to St. Mark. S. B. 
 Convention Series. 
 
 Weiss, B., Das Marcusevangelium. Meyer-Kom- 
 mentar. 1901. 
 
174 BOOKS ON MARK AND HIS GOSPEL 
 
 Weiss, B., Die Geschichtlichkeit des Marcusevan- 
 
 geliums. 1905. 
 Weiss, B., Das Marcusevangelium und seine syn- 
 
 optischen Parallelen. 1872. 
 Weiss, J., Das alteste Evangeliura. 1903. 
 Wellhausen, Das Evangelium Marci. Second edition. 
 
 1909. 
 Wendling, Urmarkus. 1905. 
 Wendling, Die Entstehung des Marcusevangeliums. 
 
 1908. 
 Wohlenberg, Das Evangelium des Marcus. Zahn 
 
 Kommentar. 1 9 1 o. 
 
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 Making good in the ministry; a sketch of 
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