Primary Scriptures: Acts 13
Story Summary: John Mark’s story, start of the First Missionary Journey
Location: Roman Empire; Jerusalem, Antioch, Cyprus
Time: 30 AD. Death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Pentecost. 46 AD Paul’s “famine” visit to Jerusalem, start of First Missionary Journey
The Scriptures give us only short, direct references about John Mark, but it is possible to infer many things about him that are likely to be representative of his life. Part of the inferences come from knowing that Jerusalem was a small city where the Christians knew each other and often interacted.
Acts 12:12-13 says that after Peter was released from jail, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. When Peter knocked at the door, a servant answered and recognized Peter’s voice. From just this short passage, we can infer from the very big house and servants that John Mark’s mother was wealthy and that, since her house was well-known to the Christians as a central gathering place, their family had likely been Christians for a long time. If the family was wealthy, John Mark was likely well-educated and knew many of the other wealthy people in Jerusalem, especially the Jewish leaders.
The next passage illustrates the importance of searching all the Scriptures about a topic instead of just the ones currently in front of you. Colossians 4:10 says that Mark is a cousin (or relative) of Barnabas, and in that same verse, Paul tells the Colossians to welcome Mark if he comes to them. Paul wrote this passage many years after the First Missionary Journey, so you can infer from it that Mark somehow ended up in Paul’s good graces. We are not sure how that happened, but it is fun to speculate that John Mark’s training under Barnabas had a big influence.
John Mark later became known as Mark, and he is typically credited with writing the New Testament book of Mark. He was not an original apostle.
Eyewitness Bible Series
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