Most of what we know about Mark comes directly from the New Testament.
He is usually identified with the Mark of Acts 12:12. (When Peter
escaped from prison, he went to the home of Mark's mother.)
Paul
and Barnabas took him along on the first missionary journey, but for
some reason Mark returned alone to Jerusalem. It is evident, from
Paul's refusal to let Mark accompany him on the second journey despite
Barnabas's insistence, that Mark had displeased Paul. Later, Paul asks
Mark to visit him in prison so we may assume the trouble did not last
long.
The oldest and the shortest of the four Gospels, the Gospel
of Mark emphasizes Jesus' rejection by humanity while being God's
triumphant envoy. Probably written for Gentile converts in Rome—after
the death of Peter and Paul sometime between A.D. 60 and 70—Mark's
Gospel is the gradual manifestation of a "scandal": a crucified Messiah.
Evidently
a friend of Mark (Peter called him "my son"), Peter is only one of the
Gospel sources, others being the Church in Jerusalem (Jewish roots) and
the Church at Antioch (largely Gentile).
Like one other Gospel
writer, Luke, Mark was not one of the 12 apostles. We cannot be certain
whether he knew Jesus personally. Some scholars feel that the
evangelist is speaking of himself when describing the arrest of Jesus
in Gethsemane: "Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a
linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth
behind and ran off naked" (Mark 14:51-52).
Others hold Mark to be
the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Venice, famous for the Piazza
San Marco, claims Mark as its patron saint; the large basilica there is
believed to contain his remains.
A winged lion is Mark's symbol.
The lion derives from Mark's description of John the Baptist as a
"voice of one crying out in the desert" (Mark 1:3), which artists
compared to a roaring lion. The wings come from the application of
Ezekiel's vision of four winged creatures (Ezekiel, chapter one) to the
evangelists.
A number of traditions have built up around Mark, though none can be verified from the New Testament. It is suggested that Mark was one of the servants at the Marriage at Cana who poured out the water that Jesus turned to wine (John 2:1-11). Mark is also said to have been one of the Seventy Apostles sent out by Christ (Luke 10); the servant who carried water to the house where the Last Supper took place (Mark 14:13:6); the young man who ran away naked when Jesus was arrested (Mark 14:51-52:7); and the one who hosted the disciples in his house after the death of Jesus, and into whose house the resurrected Jesus Christ came (John 20).
In Egypt, Mark the Evangelist is said to have performed many miracles, and established a church there, appointing a bishop (Anianus of Alexandria), three priests, and seven deacons.
When Mark returned to Alexandria, the people there are said to have resented his efforts to turn them away from the worship of their traditional Egyptian gods. In AD 68 they tied him to several horses and dragged him through the streets until he was dead.
Comment:
Mark
fulfilled in his life what every Christian is called to do: proclaim to
all people the Good News that is the source of salvation. In
particular, Mark's way was by writing. Others may proclaim the Good
News by music, drama, poetry or by teaching children around a family
table.
Quote:There is very little
in Mark that is not in the other Gospels—only four passages. One is:
“...This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were
to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and
the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the
land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain
in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29).
Prayer:
Almighty God, who by the hand of Mark the evangelist have given to your
Church the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God: We thank you for this
witness, and pray that we may be firmly grounded in its truth; through
Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.