After Paul and Barnabas separated due to their sharp disagreement over John Mark, who deserted them during their first missionary journey, Paul chose Silas as his partner to resume his ministry of strengthening existing churches and advancing the spread of the gospel into new territories. Meanwhile, Barnabas took Mark with him into ministry, first at Cyprus. Barnabas’ subsequent ministry is not well-documented, but he was used of the Spirit of God to mold Mark into a choice disciple of Jesus Christ – so much so that the Spirit chose Mark to pen one of the gospel accounts of our Lord in Scripture; and such that when Paul was near the end of his life, he implored Timothy to come and bring Mark with him, for (Mark) is useful to me for service (2 Tim. 4:11).
We could say that John Mark is a testimony of the gospel of the second chance – of how a young man who failed the first time in his service for the Lord became a faithful servant. Ironically, or perhaps in a God-way, Mark’s gospel presents Jesus Christ as the faithful servant who gave His life a ransom for many (Mk. 10:45). But we have to say that Mark’s turn-around is also a testimony to the faithfulness and obedience of Barnabas to Jesus’ command to make disciples. He was able to see with eyes of faith who Mark could become, and thus took him on as a disciple (a learner) to build into his life. One young man – one disciple – who later became a necessary partner to the apostle Paul, the very man who shunned Mark for his failure earlier in life; and the disciple whose portrait of Jesus Christ has been instrumental in the salvation and discipleship of untold numbers to our day (including me)! The lessons for us: 1) it’s never too late to surrender all to become a disciple of the Lord Jesus; and 2) obey our Lord’s command to make disciples. We will never know in this life the eternal impact of our investment in the lives of others for Jesus’ sake.