Meditation: "Second Chances"
His name was John Mark.  Scholars believe he was the author of the Gospel that bears his name.  Yet, when one stops to look at his history, he seems an unlikely choice to become a leader in the early church.

While little is actually known concerning his early years, tradition says it was his mother, Mary, who allowed Jesus and his disciples to use her home whenever they were in Jerusalem.  If that is true then John Mark was very likely present in the upper room on the night Jesus was betrayed.

But it really isn’t until Paul and Barnabas have been chosen to become the first missionaries of the Christian church that we get our first real glimpse of the young John Mark.  After being asked by the two older men to accompany them on their mission, he joins them with great enthusiasm.  But life in the mission field was not easy.  The men were often ridiculed and run out of towns.  They had to travel through mountainous regions and arid deserts in the heat of summer.  Food and sleep were often scarce.  As a result of all the hardships, John Mark finally decided to quit and go home. 

Years pass before we hear anything about him again.  He has had time to mature both as an individual and as a Christian.  So, John Mark goes to Paul and asks for a second chance.  But Paul thought it best not to take John Mark who had deserted them in Pamphylia.   

Was that the end of John Mark?  Did he take Paul’s rejection seriously and give up on following his call?  We really don’t know what happened.  What we do know, however, is years later Paul writes to Timothy from his prison cell in Rome saying, Get Mark and bring him with you, for h has been very useful in serving me. 

There is no doubt about it, John Mark was a man who had failed miserably in his walk of faith, but God’s forgiving grace was so strong Mark came back to become a true leader of the faith.  He had experienced the love of Christ and his life was changed forever.

And what was available to John Mark is available to each of us, too.  Through the grace of God and the love of Christ we are forgiven and set free.  What greater gift could we possibility need