Jedidiah Mark

Dear Jedidiah Mark,

When I think about your name I get a little scared sometimes.  

I don't mean Jedidiah; that means beloved of the Lord, and I take comfort in knowing that is what you are. But then there's Mark. Mark, after your grandfather...which is also not why I am afraid, in case you were wondering... and John Mark. John Mark, who caused division between Paul and Barnabas, two of my favorite men in Scripture. 

Here is Barnabas, the great encourager, and the great Apostle Paul, one of the most prolific writers of Scripture. And then there's John Mark, the young man who turned back. I never liked this story. It made me feel awkward, and it's sad that they divided. Although God used it to reach more people, I never like when people I respect have flaws. But that happens, Jed, and you have to be prepared for it. All men are sinners.

So here is John Mark, causing division and abandoning the work. Barnabas the encourager wants to give him another chance, but Paul is not about to take the one who turned back. So they go, each their own way. You wonder what John Mark is thinking as he follows Barnabas out, if he hangs his head or even tells Barnabas to leave him and stay with Paul. And that is the end of the combined ministry of Paul and Barnabas.

But then hidden in one of Paul's letters is a tiny little verse, almost like an offhand comment, as if he didn't want to make too big of a deal about it or it was obvious. My favorite little verse: bring John Mark with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.

It almost always makes me feel a little bit like I could cry. We didn't have to be told that he was useful. He wouldn't have asked Timothy to bring him if he wasn't. He didn't need to add that, but he did. The John Mark that had betrayed him in ministry, that he had so opposed coming back before, he now found useful for ministry. 

Like my pastor Bayly's brother Tim once said in a message at Friday Night, "useful, be useful," and there is nothing more that a Christian can ask than God finds them to be useful in ministry. 

Perhaps Paul was getting letters and reports of Barnabas and John Mark's work and was impressed by the young man and his diligence after failure. For some reason he trusts him now, and what a blessed thing that is!

And that is why I fear for you, my son. I fear that like your father did you will learn obedience and usefulness through failure. It's silly, since of course we all do, if we learn at all. But I do not want to hear how you turned back from the work and how the Pauls of today reject you as their helper. 

But if you have failed and a Barnabas comes alongside you, and you return to the work and prove useful to the apostle Pauls in your life that I pray that you will have, then I can ask no more for you. The great men are not the ones who did not sin; they are the ones who after failure continue to serve all the more. I pray that you early learn the sinfulness of men - particularly yourself - and are not shaken by it as many are, but rather are moved by the love and forgiveness of God to serve.

With my mother's heart, I shrink from the thought; and yet, I hope for failure for you, Jedidiah, that humbles you and gives you wisdom. Don't be above failure, my son. Be quick to admit it and to turn back wholeheartedly to the work.

I love you.

Love,

Mom