Post-Resurrection Lesson from St. Mark’s Spiritual Growth from Failure

April 25 is the feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist, the man who allegedly wrote the Gospel of Mark, which is chronologically first written Gospel. And his feast day usually comes during Paschaltide.

Given his spiritual growth and his abilities to commit to his apostolic mission that we can recognize from the Acts of the Apostles, as well as, the Pauline epistle to the Colossians, and the First Petrine espistle, it is fitting to commemorate St. Mark (John Mark) and his life during Paschaltide.  It is because we are called to grow in our renewed faith upon the Resurrection of the Lord. As the disciples grew in their faith as they recognized the truth of the Resurrection, though they failed to do so at first upon seeing the empty tomb, they not only rejoiced but their understanding of the scriptures increased. Thus, their faith grew strong and mature enough to be commissioned for their apostolic mission on the day of Jesus’ ascension and to receive the Holy Spirit, the Power, to launch forth on their apostolic missions, as their encounters with risen Jesus.

Placing ourselves in the positions of the disciples, we, too, have personal encounters with risen Jesus for the first 40 days of Paschaltide, in order to be enlightened with the Word and renewed by the Holy Spirit in risen Jesus’ breath. This is an indispensable process during Paschaltide so that we can grow spiritually mature enough to be commissioned for our apostolic missions on the feast day of the Ascension and to be sent out to the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature, to drive our demons, to lay hands pm the sick (Mark 16:15-18).

As a young man, Mark and his mother, Mary, witnessed how the disciples worked, as they gathered his house for prayer (i.e. Acts 12;12). When Paul began his first missionary journey, Mark and his cousin, Barnabas, joined, but Mark dropped out of the mission in Pisidia and returned to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). And this turned his relationship with Paul rather sour (Acts 15:36-40). Perhaps, Mark was not spiritually mature enough to engage in a missionary work.

Mark did not end up to be a quitter, though. He obviously worked on his spiritual growth to strengthen his faith upon leaving Paul’s first mission journey. Perhaps, Peter mentored Mark, while other Apostles prayed and provided practical assistance to endure his growth. Because of this, Mark was restored by Paul as his trusted co-worker on a mission(2 Timothy 4:11; Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24).

When Peter wrote his first epistle from Babylon, Mark was mentioned affectionately (1 Peter 5:13). This makes it clear that Mark had a close relation to Peter. In his “Against Heresies”, St. Irenaeus of Lyon describes Mark as Peter’s interpreter.  And St. Clement of Alexandria wrote in his commentary on 1 Peter that Mark wrote his Gospel mainly based on what he learned from Peter. It indicates that Mark was not only a co-worker of Paul but also a follower of Peter.

Though we have received all three Sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation, and though we want to serve Christ, we find ourselves failing to fulfill our commitment to Christ’s will on us.  In this regard, we are like Mark who failed to keep his commitment to Christ through Paul’s first mission journey. What we need then is to work on our growth, so that we can be mature, enlightened, and strong enough to be commissioned and sent and to be re-commissioned and sent again, as necessary. Mark’s growth from his own dereliction to the exemplary fulfillment of his commitment to his mission shall be an inspiring model that we can reflect on and learn from.

It is important to note that Mark did not recover from his failure all alone or by chance. Not to mention, it was God’s grace that healed him and prompted his growth into the maturity. And the grace came through mainly Peter’s mentorship to guide Mark to his enlightenment with the Word and maturity with the Holy Spirit.  It is indicated in Peter calling Mark, “my son”(1 Peter 5:13). Otherwise, Mark might not reconcile with Paul, who seemed to have thought of him worthy to be on mission (i.e. Acts 15:38), and worked with him again (2 Timothy 4:11; Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24).

As the disciples needed to be retaught by risen Jesus after his Resurrection until the day of his Ascension for them to grow strong enough to be baptized with the Holy Spirit (e.g. Mark 1:7), and as Mark needed to be grow mature and enlightened to be restored after his failure, we, too, need to grow and enlightened during Paschaltide so that we will be commissioned and sent out to the world, preaching the Gospel of Jesus to all creation, driving out demons, removing obstacles to believing, and healing the sick for building the Kingdom of God (i.e. Mark 16:15-18).