My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Greetings to you in the mighty name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless you all bountifully in the new month.
Life has its own twists and turns. Many a times it looks like a meandering river. You never know what is ahead at the end of the turn of the road. We feel that something has come to an end, but suddenly it sprouts up and is offered on a golden spoon. Our God is the Lord of hosts. Our God is an awesome God. He is not only the Conductor of events but is also the Controller of events.
As we read the Book of Jonah, Chapter one, the beginning of verse two and three, we come across interesting verses : “But Jonah” and next verse “But God”. The former is relating to the escapade of the Prophet far away to Tarshish. The later is God’s response stopping him through a disaster. Chapter three of this Book starts as : “ Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah for the second time “. The renewed call to the preacher was after the “fish” episode. God always wants to accomplish a certain task only through His designated person, even though He is mighty enough to do the same even without uttering a word.....Our Lord is always a God of second chances. When we fail to achieve a certain task given by God, end up dejected as a failed warrior, God always renews our strength like that of an eagle and becomes the Victor.
While meditating on my routine Bible reading, I came upon a person called “Mark” whose sur name was ‘John”. His name appears along with Apostle Peter and Paul. Mark was the son of Mary, who was the sister of Barnabas, a missionary himself. We come to know about the family in Acts 12:12 when Peter is miraculously released from the prison, and goes to the house of one “Mary” where a group of people are fervently praying for his release.
When Paul and Barnabas return from Jerusalem, they took Mark also with them (Acts 12:25). Mark accompanies them in their further missions as a faithful helper ( Acts 13:5). But the Lord’s ministry is very challenging. Especially when you are with a veteran like Apostle Paul ! This boy could not withstand the travails of long travels, mostly by foot, lack of sleep and rest, mostly facing a hostile crowd to whom they proclaim the Gospel and an ever oppressive Roman Government bent upon punishing anyone even appearing to be against them ! This poor boy (Mark) could not sustain. Abandoning Paul and Barnabas, he retuned back to the comfort of his mother and home at Jerusalem. Yes, it happens to many of us in our every day life more so in our spiritual life. We think that the world has crashed on us when fail in our studies, in our work life or in challenges faced at Home or when we could not do things for God as we desire. Some even choose to end their life due to the stress, defeating the very purpose of their creation by God.
But a strong man who studied under the great scholar like Gamaliel would not take it down easily. For him, it was betrayal and cowardice as it appeared so. There is a heated argument between Paul and Barnabas, the later insisting to take Mark along with them in their next mission but Paul vetoing it. Because of this, Paul and Barnabas parted ways (Acts 15:37-40). Barnabas left for Cyprus with Mark. Paul left with Silas. Whether Barnabas was able to mend the ways of Mark , we do not know.
