Hi James and Ellen,
Mark is Jesus’ life and ministry story. The Mark Book was scribed by John Mark. John is a name that is used by Jews. Mark or Marcus is a name that is used by Romans. John means the Lord is gracious. Marcus means a large hammer. There is some uncertainty about when John Mark finished his Mark Book. John Mark’s scribed account of Jesus’ life and ministry began to be distributed sometime between 50 A.D. and 70 A.D. Because John Mark was in the city of Rome at the same time that Paul was taken as a prisoner to the city of Rome – which was in 59 A.D., and where Paul was kept under house arrest for two years, your grandpaa thinks that John Mark finished his Mark Book about 60 A.D. John Mark and Paul first crossed paths fifteen or so years earlier when Paul gave John Mark the okay for him to join him and Barnabas as a helper on their first missionary journey. John Mark was a cousin of Barnabas. After Paul and Barnabas had finished evangelizing the island of Cyprus on their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas sailed for the area of Pamphylia in order to evangelize the town of Perga – which was Pamphylia’s capital. Instead of going to the town of Perga with Paul and Barnabas, John Mark decided for some reason to return to his home in the city of Jerusalem. What John Mark did when he bailed out on Paul’s first missionary journey did not sit well with Paul. When Paul decided in 49 A.D. to go with Barnabas on another missionary journey, Paul got into a very contentious disagreement with Barnabas – as Barnabas wanted to give John Mark a second chance by taking him with them on a second missionary journey. Because Paul was not open to trusting John Mark by giving him a second chance, Paul took Silas with him while John Mark went with Barnabas to revisit the island of Cyprus.
Your grandpaa does not know what John Mark did the ten or so years between his trip with Barnabas to the island of Cyprus and when his path crossed with Paul in the city of Rome. Your grandpaa believes that John Mark may have spent time with Peter. Your grandpaa believes that John Mark witnessed Peter use his sword to slice off a servant’s ear the night that Sanhedrin temple guards arrested Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Your grandpaa believes that John Mark is alluding to himself as being the young guy who when Jesus was arrested took off running so fast to get out of the Garden of Gethsemane that the only piece of clothing that he was wearing – which was a linen garment, came off him. John Mark may have become a born again Christ-follower after he heard Peter preach. Peter refers to John Mark as being ‘his son’ in a letter that he scribed around 60 A.D. Paul – in the last letter that he scribed – which was around 62 A.D., mentions to Timothy that John Mark is a ‘fellow worker’. Your grandpaa used John Mark’s ‘testimony’ of not giving up as one of his first devotionals for each summer team that he helped lead.
John Mark scribed his Mark Book so that Roman Gentiles could better understand Jewish beliefs. John Mark presents Jesus to his Roman Gentile readers as the mighty conqueror and God’s suffering servant – descriptions that Roman Gentile readers could identify with because Romans were ruling planet Earth. John Mark moved his Jesus narrative quickly from one event to the next event in Jesus’ life. Even though John Mark concisely scribed what he scribed in his Mark Book, John Mark uses details to make his book come alive. John Mark gave special attention to the looks and gestures that Jesus made. John Mark also used picturesque language to scribe what he scribed in his Mark Book. There is a belief that Peter helped John Mark with the details of the book that John Mark scribed. Your grandpaa would not be surprised if John Mark – while he was a teenager, was a Jesus groupie who could be found wherever Jesus was doing teaching. ‘The midnight reporter’ is the name that your grandpaa has always referred to John Mark as being. Being hardwired as a reporter type is why – to your grandpaa, John Mark primarily focused on specifics in his Mark Book – having personally eyeballed many of the things that he mentions in his Mark Book. John Mark – in his Mark Book, scribes specifically about Jesus’ public ministry – mentioning eighteen miracles that Jesus performed. John Mark – in his Mark Book, mentions just four of Jesus’ parables. Jesus’ only teaching that is recorded by John Mark in his Mark Book is Jesus’ Olivet Discourse. Your grandpaa thinks that what John Mark scribed in his Mark Book regarding Jesus’ Olivet Discourse was from notes that he took after he listened to Jesus speak on the Mount of Olives. John Mark’s short intro into his Mark Book consists of John the Baptist’s ministry, the water and spirit baptisms of Jesus and Jesus’ desert temptations. The Mark Book then can be broken up into three periods of time. The initial period of time is Jesus’ Galilean ministry – which lasted about a year and a half, where Jesus experienced a fast growing popularity, called four fishermen and a tax collector to be His disciples and performed miracles and healings. Jesus during the second period of time called seven more disciples, clashed with Pharisees and fed 5,000 guys, gals and kids. Jesus during the third period of time intentionally coached/mentored His twelve apostles and predicted that he would be and was arrested, beaten, killed, entombed and resurrected. Not long after Beneficial Finance transferred your grandpaa in July of 1972 to Aberdeen, South Dakota, he and your grandmaa began going to a Mark Book Bible study that they really enjoyed at Kenroy and Marianne Janzen’s house.
Mark