Musing on Mark ~ 1
There are 4 gospels. We know that: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We know this ... we all know this.
A year ago I taught a high school Bible class where I did a low fly-over of the whole Bible in a year. I LOVE teaching Bible. It makes me think; it makes me come at things that are familiar in new ways, so I see new dimensions and new dynamics and, therein, gain wholly new insights. The students that I taught were particularly challenging, not because they were unruly, or obnoxious, but because they were somewhere on a scale from "I know tinsy-itsy-bitsy tiny bits about the Bible (like LONG forgotten Sunday school lessons)" to {and I mean this literally} "I have never seen or read a Bible in my whole life." The school where I taught had a student population of about 85 to 90+ % Asian students ~ mostly, a mix of students from China and Korea. Yes this school is here in America. AND...Yes, these students were from China and Korea, as in that is their home and they are only here for school.
When we (the generic, go-to-church-each-Sunday Christians that we mostly are) teach Bible studies or Sunday School at church, there is a knowledge base that we rely upon ~ like "there are 4 gospels". I mean really, who doesn't know that? But in this setting I had to start AGAIN. I had to
~ but what I really mean is "I got to" ~
teach from scratch.
"There are 4 gospels. "Gospel means . . . " "The writers of these gospels were . . . "
It was wonderfully refreshing and I found myself digging in and searching out things I skimmed over in my own life and study. LIKE ... WHO were these men who wrote these gospels? Why did they each have a unique perspective? From what view did they see and then write the story of Jesus? I learned a lot and found myself fascinated anew with these books and the men who wrote them. That is the season when I feel like I "met" Mark.
So...what do we know about Mark? Actually -- precious little.
We know from scripture
~ his mother's name was Mary. (Acts 12:12)
~ their home was in Jerusalem (Acts 12)
~ he is the cousin, or nephew of Barnabas (Col 4:10)
~ his name was John, but he was called Mark (Acts 12)
~ he spent some time up in Antioch with Paul and Barnabas (Acts 12:25)
~ he began the first 'missionary' journey with Paul and Barnabas
but quit and went home once they hit Pamphylia (Acts 13:13)
~ later Mark had his relationship with Paul restored
(Col. 4:10; Philem 24; 2 Tim. 4:11)
~ Mark traveled with and had a very close relationship
with Peter who referred to him as "my son" (1 Peter 5:13)
As far as scripture goes ... that's it!
From history a bit more ...
~ he traveled with Peter as his translator/interpreter
~ he went to Alexandria, Egypt as an evangelist and planted a church
and that is where he died -- some say in 64 A.D., others
that he was martyred in 68 A.D.
Now interestingly, there is more debate than I expected about 'John called Mark'. Some scholars and even some early church fathers say that John Mark who was the nephew/cousin of Barnabas was NOT the author of the gospel, nor was he the man called Mark the Evangelist who planted the church in Alexandria, Egypt. Some say there were 2 or even 3 'Mark's'. I skimmed several commentaries.
-- OK, I know it is HELPFUL to read commentaries and to study them as gems of intellectual wisdom regarding the Biblical works upon which they expound...uh, yeah! Sorry. Most of them are like well...eating stale, week old dry bread. "yummy! not!!" (OK, sorry for the sarcasm)
These commentaries did give lots of interesting information based in a thorough study of the writings of early church fathers. It is helpful to be able to get the data while not having to find and read the primary sources myself. But the conclusions reached by the commentators were all over the show. My favorite was 'The Mark who traveled with Paul and Barnabas, and the Mark who was noted in Peter as "my son" could not have been the same person since Paul and Peter traveled in such different areas and did not know each other well.' {my paraphrase, not a direct quote) REALLY?? See, Mark traveled with Paul because he was related to Barnabas...and even a cursory reading of the Acts 12 story of Peter's release from prison shows Peter and John Mark did know each other.
So at the end of my (admittedly cursory) reading of the commentaries, my conclusion is : there was one Mark; he lived in Jerusalem at the time of the birth of the church, he traveled with Paul and Barnabas, then with Barnabas, then with Peter; he planted the church in Alexandria, Egypt . . . and he was, in fact, the author of the Gospel of Mark.
Next blog I will give you my musings about Mark, himself, and a few thoughts on his unique and colorful gospel.
A year ago I taught a high school Bible class where I did a low fly-over of the whole Bible in a year. I LOVE teaching Bible. It makes me think; it makes me come at things that are familiar in new ways, so I see new dimensions and new dynamics and, therein, gain wholly new insights. The students that I taught were particularly challenging, not because they were unruly, or obnoxious, but because they were somewhere on a scale from "I know tinsy-itsy-bitsy tiny bits about the Bible (like LONG forgotten Sunday school lessons)" to {and I mean this literally} "I have never seen or read a Bible in my whole life." The school where I taught had a student population of about 85 to 90+ % Asian students ~ mostly, a mix of students from China and Korea. Yes this school is here in America. AND...Yes, these students were from China and Korea, as in that is their home and they are only here for school.
When we (the generic, go-to-church-each-Sunday Christians that we mostly are) teach Bible studies or Sunday School at church, there is a knowledge base that we rely upon ~ like "there are 4 gospels". I mean really, who doesn't know that? But in this setting I had to start AGAIN. I had to
~ but what I really mean is "I got to" ~
teach from scratch.
"There are 4 gospels. "Gospel means . . . " "The writers of these gospels were . . . "
It was wonderfully refreshing and I found myself digging in and searching out things I skimmed over in my own life and study. LIKE ... WHO were these men who wrote these gospels? Why did they each have a unique perspective? From what view did they see and then write the story of Jesus? I learned a lot and found myself fascinated anew with these books and the men who wrote them. That is the season when I feel like I "met" Mark.
So...what do we know about Mark? Actually -- precious little.
We know from scripture
~ his mother's name was Mary. (Acts 12:12)
~ their home was in Jerusalem (Acts 12)
~ he is the cousin, or nephew of Barnabas (Col 4:10)
~ his name was John, but he was called Mark (Acts 12)
~ he spent some time up in Antioch with Paul and Barnabas (Acts 12:25)
~ he began the first 'missionary' journey with Paul and Barnabas
but quit and went home once they hit Pamphylia (Acts 13:13)
~ later Mark had his relationship with Paul restored
(Col. 4:10; Philem 24; 2 Tim. 4:11)
~ Mark traveled with and had a very close relationship
with Peter who referred to him as "my son" (1 Peter 5:13)
As far as scripture goes ... that's it!
From history a bit more ...
~ he traveled with Peter as his translator/interpreter
~ he went to Alexandria, Egypt as an evangelist and planted a church
and that is where he died -- some say in 64 A.D., others
that he was martyred in 68 A.D.
Now interestingly, there is more debate than I expected about 'John called Mark'. Some scholars and even some early church fathers say that John Mark who was the nephew/cousin of Barnabas was NOT the author of the gospel, nor was he the man called Mark the Evangelist who planted the church in Alexandria, Egypt. Some say there were 2 or even 3 'Mark's'. I skimmed several commentaries.
-- OK, I know it is HELPFUL to read commentaries and to study them as gems of intellectual wisdom regarding the Biblical works upon which they expound...uh, yeah! Sorry. Most of them are like well...eating stale, week old dry bread. "yummy! not!!" (OK, sorry for the sarcasm)
These commentaries did give lots of interesting information based in a thorough study of the writings of early church fathers. It is helpful to be able to get the data while not having to find and read the primary sources myself. But the conclusions reached by the commentators were all over the show. My favorite was 'The Mark who traveled with Paul and Barnabas, and the Mark who was noted in Peter as "my son" could not have been the same person since Paul and Peter traveled in such different areas and did not know each other well.' {my paraphrase, not a direct quote) REALLY?? See, Mark traveled with Paul because he was related to Barnabas...and even a cursory reading of the Acts 12 story of Peter's release from prison shows Peter and John Mark did know each other.
So at the end of my (admittedly cursory) reading of the commentaries, my conclusion is : there was one Mark; he lived in Jerusalem at the time of the birth of the church, he traveled with Paul and Barnabas, then with Barnabas, then with Peter; he planted the church in Alexandria, Egypt . . . and he was, in fact, the author of the Gospel of Mark.
Next blog I will give you my musings about Mark, himself, and a few thoughts on his unique and colorful gospel.
Too often our failure as teachers or leaders or pastors is to be so familiar with a subject that we never revisit it and we end up offering stale wisdom. Even in revisiting a known fact if we don't learn anything different from what we first learned we will have gained new perspectives and a freshness in presenting our "truth". For those of us who sit under the feet of teachers like yourself we find whole new insights in what would otherwise be boring.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Dennis. But ... I do know you well enough to know that you would NEVER find scripture boring. Right?
ReplyDelete