“Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone» (Romans 12:18).
On my ninth birthday, my parents gave me my first Bible. I keep it to this day and it has been my study Bible and my companion in every trip, campout and early morning reading session. It is a New King James Version. It has a lot of details that make it unique. One of them is that it has an introduction to every book of the Bible.
In the gospel of Mark, it mentions he was Peter’s interpreter, Barnabas’s nephew and the cause of arguments between him and Paul when they were about to make their second missionary journey.
It turns out that Mark, or John, had accompanied Paul and Barnabas as an assistant, but when they set off toward Antioch, John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem (Acts 13:3). Apparently, that bothered Paul and, when Barnabas wanted to invite Mark to travel with them again, Paul considered it wasn’t good to take someone who had departed from them. That made Paul and Barnabas go their separate ways. Barnabas went to Cyprus with Mark, and Saul went to Syria and Cilicia with Silas.
From what the Bible says, we can see that Paul was a man with a strong, decisive character, in addition to being an influential and powerful leader. We don’ t know how Mark might have felt after being rejected by the apostle, but if we imagine a similar situation, we might feel somewhat uncomfortable or our pride might be hurt.
Many things happened in between. Many times we live a whole life within the church at odds with someone. Perhaps it isn’t something very noticeable or that we openly mention, but deep down we both know there is a certain enmity. The good news is that God is concerned about human relationships and can polish us to refine the harshness between us. That is proven by history, because we see that when Paul was elderly, he sent for Mark in a special way and even said it was because, He will be helpful to me in my ministry» (2 Timothy 4:11).
With whom do you have to improve your relationship today? Those men of God found a way to become friends in spite of their differences. We can also do the same.
I invite you to read the stories in Mark 7:31 and 8:22, which are only mentioned in that gospel, and to use your notebook to reflect on them today.
