St. Mark the Evangelist: Our Inspiration for Apostolic Marathon

April 25 is the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist. With the title, “Evangelist”( Euaggelistes), Mark is believed to have written the Gospel of Mark, one of the four Evangeliis Canonisis and one of the three Evangeliis Synopticus.

St. Mark running away from the scene of Jesus' arrest. 

It is interesting to note that the young man who ran away naked at the time of Jesus’ arrest (Mark 14:51) was believed to be Mark. It means that  Mark was just like Peter in abandoning Jesus when he was arrested in the basin of Gethsemane.  

If this is the same Mark, mentioned in Acts 15:38, then, he not only deserted Jesus but also Paul and Barnabas during Paul’s first mission journey.  By dropping out of Paul’s mission, Mark became a reason for Paul and Barnabas to split, as Barnabas was in disagreement with Paul in regard to bringing Mark for the second mission trip (Acts 15:36-41).

These written facts about St. Mark in the New Testament give an impression that Mark was too weak in faith to earn the title, “Saint”, severely lacking loyalty to the Lord.  Nevertheless, as Peter not only reconciled with Jesus (John 21:15-23), Mark also mended his mangled relationship with Paul, given that Paul mentioned Mark as his co-workers in evangelization in Colossians 4:10. Furthermore, in 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul wrote about Mark as a helpful colleague in his ministry.

Given 1 Peter 5:12, as read for the First Reading for his feast (1 Peter 5:5b-14), Mark also worked with Peter but more closely with him than Paul. In that verse, Peter calls Mark “his son”.  This closeness between Mark and Peter is one factor to suggest that Mark wrote his Gospel based on Peter’s homilies on Jesus, as he faithfully accompany him to Rome as his interpreter, as well.

Mark not only reconciled with Paul but grew in faith to have made significant contributions to the growth of the nascent Church together with the two pillars of the Church: Paul and Peter. Not to mention, his ministry in working with Paul and Peter, especially with Peter, enabled him to write the Gospel of Mark.

Indeed, St. Mark is a reminder that we can make it to the sainthood, even though we may find ourselves frustrated with the weakness in our faith – even we stumble in our efforts to follow Christ. St. Mark’s story gives us hope and assurance that we will be just fine to be sent on our respective apostolic journeys – to run and complete our “apostolic marathon” upon Pentecost.

See how St. Mark had grown in his faith, as he was a coward, who ran deserted Jesus at his arrest and ran away from a missionary journey, but became a reliable missionary worker and evangelist. It is also believed that St. Mark’s final destination on his “apostolic marathon” was Alexandria, establishing the Church there and being martyred.

In his Gospel, St. Mark recorded these words of Jesus spoken before his Ascension, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15)”, as read for the Gospel Reading on his feast (Mark 16:15-20).  We shall hear these words of Jesus when our “apostolic marathon” begins on Pentecost. 

Because a winged lion with the Bible symbolizes St. Mark, we shall “run” our “apostolic marathon” like a lion, proclaiming “Eugelion” with the roaring voice like a lion, to the whole world, empowered by the Holy Spirit.