The church celebrates today the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist, the writer of the first Gospel. Of Hebrew origin but probably born outside of Palestine, Mark (whose complete name is John Mark) is the son of a widow named Mary (Acts 12:12), a rich woman who put her riches at the disposal of Jesus whenever he was in Jerusalem (see this Italian site for other details). Jesus and his apostles had the Last Supper in her house. It is also believed that after the Passion and up to Pentecost, her house was the one used by the apostles for their regular gatherings. A pious legend? Perhaps, but it somehow explains why Mark became so attached to Peter. In fact, if there is anything certain in these stories, one is that Mark was baptized by St. Peter who calls him, “my son.”Mark (whose other name is John, hence John Mark) is also the nephew of Barnabas, a Levite, Cypriot by birth, who became a follower of Jesus (see Acts 4:36-37) and later, the “talent scout” of St. Paul. (see Acts 9:27; also 11:25-26). It was also Barnabas who introduced John Mark to the mission (Acts 12:25) but perhaps prematurely. In fact, Mark became the reason of contention between Paul and Barnabas in the planning of their second missionary journey and eventually, the reason for their separation and going each on his own way (see Acts 15:36-41).
I would like to believe that St. Mark had reflected on his initial experience of the mission and in writing his Gospel, inserted an “autobiographical account” regarding his desertion of the mission when trials came. See this lines from Mark 14:51-52 at the time of Jesus’ arrest in the garden of olives: "Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.”
At any rate, Mark did learn his lesson. In fact, he followed St. Peter in Rome. In Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy, we have a glimpse of how they have become close collaborators again (2 Tim 4:11). Tradition has it that he died as a martyr in Alexandria, Egypt and that travelling christian merchants later brought his remains to what is now the Church of St. Mark in Venice, Italy.
As a tribute to St. Mark we could reflect and review our “following of Jesus” and perhaps get some courage and consolation from him, not to give up when the going gets rough. Incidentally, I found that my work on “Mark’s Open Ending – Mk 16:8) has been published in the internet. If you are interested to browse, click here.
