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'''Mark the Evangelist''' was an earlier embodiment of [[Mark L. Prophet]]. | '''Mark the Evangelist''' was an earlier embodiment of [[Mark L. Prophet]]. | ||
Mark was the son of one called Mary of Jerusalem. He was the companion and the scribe of the early missionaries. He is listed as the probable author of the Gospel of Deeds, whence comes the symbol of Mark the Evangelist as a winged lion—the second “living creature” beheld by Ezekiel in his vision of the glory. | Mark was the son of one called Mary of Jerusalem. He was the companion and the scribe of the early Christian missionaries. He is listed as the probable author of the Gospel of Deeds, whence comes the symbol of Mark the Evangelist as a winged lion—the second “living creature” beheld by Ezekiel in his vision of the glory.<ref>Ezek. 1:10.</ref> | ||
John was his Jewish name; Mark, or Marcus, was his Roman name, in keeping with the custom of Hellenistic Jews of this time. ''John'' means “God is gracious,” i.e., “Upon this place, upon this servant, the grace or the light of Yahweh descends”; ''Marcus'' is from the Latin, “a large hammer.” | John was his Jewish name; Mark, or Marcus, was his Roman name, in keeping with the custom of Hellenistic Jews of this time. ''John'' means “God is gracious,” i.e., “Upon this place, upon this servant, the grace or the light of Yahweh descends”; ''Marcus'' is from the Latin, “a large hammer.” | ||
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== The Biblical account == | == The Biblical account == | ||
E. P. Blair writes of Mark’s background: | |||
<blockquote> | |||
When we first meet John Mark, he is living at Jerusalem, apparently in the home of his mother, Mary.<ref>Acts 12:12, 25.</ref> She appears to have been a widow of some means, inasmuch as she is described in Acts as the owner of a house spacious enough to accommodate a large Christian gathering and as having the services of a maid. It has been suggested that the Last Supper was held in her home and that John as a boy may have witnessed some of the final events of [[Jesus]]’ life. | |||
It is further conjectured that the young man who fled away naked in the Garden of Gethsemane<ref>Mark 14:51–52.</ref> was John Mark, that he was serving as caretaker of the family garden, and that at the time of the arrest of Jesus he had been sleeping there in the watchtower.<ref>''The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible'' (Nashville, New York: Abingdon Press, 1962), s.v. “Mark, John,” 3:277.</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
When the guard attempted to arrest him, he ran off leaving only his garment, a linen cloth, in the soldier’s hands. | |||
== In the Acts of the Apostles == | == In the Acts of the Apostles == | ||
The Acts of the Apostles records that John Mark was taken by Barnabas and [[Saint Paul|Paul]] on their first missionary journey as an assistant. Barnabas and Paul arrived at Jerusalem to bring alms from the Christians in Antioch to the Christians in Judea during the famine of <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>. 45. They needed an assistant, and it is likely that it was Barnabas who chose his young cousin or nephew Mark.<ref>Acts 12:25.</ref> | Mary seems to have been intimately acquainted with Saint Peter, as it was to her house that he repaired after his deliverance from prison.<ref>Acts 12:12.</ref> This fact could account for Mark’s intimate acquaintance with Peter. In Peter’s first epistle, Mark is referred to as Peter’s “son”<rev>1 Pet. 5:13.</ref>—evidence of close attachment between Peter and Mark. | ||
The Acts of the Apostles records that John Mark was taken by Barnabas and [[Saint Paul|Paul]] on their first missionary journey as an assistant.<ref>Acts 13:5.</ref> Barnabas and Paul arrived at Jerusalem to bring alms from the Christians in Antioch to the Christians in Judea during the famine of <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>. 45. They needed an assistant, and it is likely that it was Barnabas who chose his young cousin or nephew Mark.<ref>Acts 12:25; Col. 4:10.</ref> | |||
We read the occasion when Paul is represented as instructing Timothy to bring him Mark “for he is very useful in serving me.”<ref>2 Tim. 4:11.</ref> John Mark acted as a teacher as well as a travel secretary. At Perga in Pamphylia, when they were about to enter upon the more arduous part of their mission, Mark left the apostles, and for some unexplained reason, returned to Jerusalem—to his mother and his home. | We read the occasion when Paul is represented as instructing Timothy to bring him Mark “for he is very useful in serving me.”<ref>2 Tim. 4:11.</ref> John Mark acted as a teacher as well as a travel secretary. At Perga in Pamphylia, when they were about to enter upon the more arduous part of their mission, Mark left the apostles, and for some unexplained reason, returned to Jerusalem—to his mother and his home.<ref>Acts 13:13.</ref> | ||
In <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>. 51, Barnabas and Paul resolved to set out on a second missionary journey. On this occasion, Paul resolutely declined to associate himself again with one who “departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.” The issue was a “sharp contention” which resulted in the separation of Paul from his old friend Barnabas who, taking Mark with him, returned to Cyprus while Paul proceeded through Syria and Cilicia.<ref>Acts 15:36–39.</ref> | In <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>. 51, Barnabas and Paul resolved to set out on a second missionary journey. On this occasion, Paul resolutely declined to associate himself again with one who “departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.” The issue was a “sharp contention” which resulted in the separation of Paul from his old friend Barnabas who, taking Mark with him, returned to Cyprus while Paul proceeded through Syria and Cilicia.<ref>Acts 15:36–39.</ref> | ||
Whatever the cause of Mark’s apparent vacillation, it did not lead to a final separation between him and Paul. Less than ten years later, Mark shared Paul’s imprisonment in Rome, <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>. 61–63, and he is acknowledged by Paul as one of his few | Whatever the cause of Mark’s apparent vacillation, it did not lead to a final separation between him and Paul. Less than ten years later, Mark shared Paul’s imprisonment in Rome, <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>. 61–63, and he is acknowledged by Paul as one of his few “fellowlabourers unto the kingdom of God” who had been a comfort to him during his imprisonment.<ref>Col. 4:10–11; Phil. 24.</ref> | ||
== Later life == | == Later life == | ||
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== The Gospel of Mark == | == The Gospel of Mark == | ||
Scofield comments on the Gospel of Mark: | |||
<blockquote>Everywhere the servant character of the incarnate Son is manifest. The key verse is Mark 10:45: “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” The characteristic word of this gospel is “straightway,” a servant’s word. There is no genealogy, for who gives the genealogy of a servant?<ref>''The Scofield Reference Bible'' (New York: Oxford university Press, 1945), p. 1045.</ref></blockquote> | |||
Whereas Matthew and Luke both include a genealogy, Mark does not consider that the human lineage and descent of Jesus Christ is important. He is not trying to prove that Jesus is Almighty God incarnate, and if he is trying to prove it, he has sense enough to know that you don’t prove it by human genealogy. The Book of Mark, contrasting the Book of Matthew, begins with the going before the face of Jesus of [[John the Baptist]], then the baptism of Jesus. And before you are through the first chapter, you are with Jesus in the wilderness being tempted of the Devil. Mark begins with the mission. He leaves to others to account for his birth in Bethlehem and his early years. | |||
The earliest statement about the Gospel that is in existence concerning Mark comes from Papias around 140 <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>: | The earliest statement about the Gospel that is in existence concerning Mark comes from Papias around 140 <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>: | ||
<blockquote>Mark, who became Peter’s interpreter wrote accurately, though not in order, all that he remembered of the things said and done by the Lord. For he had neither heard the Lord nor been one of his followers, but afterward, as I said, he had followed Peter who used to compose his discourses with a view to the needs [of his hearers], but not as if he were composing a systematic account of the Lord’s sayings. So Mark did nothing blameworthy in thus writing some things just as he remembered them; for he was careful of this one thing, to omit none of the things he had heard and to state no untruth therein.</blockquote> | <blockquote>Mark, who became Peter’s interpreter, wrote accurately, though not in order, all that he remembered of the things said and done by the Lord. For he had neither heard the Lord nor been one of his followers, but afterward, as I said, he had followed Peter, who used to compose his discourses with a view to the needs [of his hearers], but not as if he were composing a systematic account of the Lord’s sayings. So Mark did nothing blameworthy in thus writing some things just as he remembered them; for he was careful of this one thing, to omit none of the things he had heard and to state no untruth therein.<ref>''The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible'', s.v. “Mark, Gospel of,” 3:267.</ref></blockquote> | ||
The Gospel according to Saint Mark was, for many centuries, thought to be merely an abridgment of Matthew—and so tended to be the least valued and least read. It is now widely recognized as the earliest of the Synoptic Gospels. The arguments upon which this conclusion is based include the fact that: | The Gospel according to Saint Mark was, for many centuries, thought to be merely an abridgment of Matthew—and so tended to be the least valued and least read. It is now widely recognized as the earliest of the Synoptic Gospels. The arguments upon which this conclusion is based include the fact that: | ||
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== The Secret Gospel of Mark == | == The Secret Gospel of Mark == | ||
In 1958, Morton Smith discovered at Mar Saba, a Greek Orthodox monastery in the Judean desert, a fragment of a previously unknown letter of the second-century Church Father Clement of Alexandria, which reveals that Mark wrote a secret Gospel: | |||
<blockquote>Mark, then, during Peter’s stay in Rome ... wrote [an account of] the Lord’s doings, not, however, declaring all [of them], nor yet hinting at the secret [ones], but selecting those he thought most useful for increasing the faith of those who were being instructed. But when Peter died as a martyr, Mark came over to Alexandria, bringing both his own notes and those of Peter, from which he transferred to his former book the things suitable to whatever makes for progress toward knowledge [gnosis]. [Thus] he composed a more spiritual Gospel for the use of those who were being perfected. Nevertheless, he yet did not divulge the things not to be uttered, nor did he write down the hierophantic<ref>Hierophantic [from Greek ''hieros'', powerful, supernatural, holy, sacred + ''phantes'', from ''phainein'', to bring to light, reveal, show, make known]: of, relating to, or resembling a hierophant, who in antiquity was an official expounder of sacred mysteries or religious ceremonies, esp. in ancient Greece.</ref> teaching of the Lord, but to the stories already written he added yet others and, moreover, brought in certain sayings of which he knew the interpretation would, as a mystagogue,<ref>''Mystagogue'': one who initiates another into a mystery cult</ref> lead the hearers into the innermost sanctuary of that truth hidden by seven [veils]. Thus, in sum, he prearranged matters, neither grudgingly nor incautiously, in my opinion, and, dying, he left his composition to the church in Alexandria, where it even yet is most carefully guarded, being read only to those who are being initiated into the great mysteries.<ref>Morton Smith, ''The Secret Gospel: The Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark (Dawn Horse Press, 1982), p. 15. Note: Words in brackets were added in by Smith for clarity.</ref></blockquote> | |||
Smith and other scholars analyzed the fragment of Clement’s letter and the majority agreed it had in fact been written by the Church Father. Smith then concluded from stylistic study that secret Mark did not belong to the family of New Testament apocrypha composed during and after the late second century, but that it had been written at least as early as <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>. 100–120.<ref>Ibid., p. 40.</ref> Furthermore, from other clues Smith makes a good case for it having been written even earlier—around the same time as the Gospel of Mark.<ref>Ibid., p. 61.</ref> | |||
Most significantly, the fragment reveals more about Jesus’ secret practices. It contains a variant of the Lazarus story, which theretofore was found only in the Book of John.<ref>John 11:1–44.</ref> Secret Mark says that after the resurrection of the Lazarus figure (Clement’s fragment leaves him nameless), the youth, | |||
<blockquote>looking upon him [Jesus], loved him, and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days Jesus told him what to do and in the evening the youth comes to him, wearing a linen cloth over [his] naked [body]. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the kingdom of God.<ref>Smith, ''The Secret Gospel'', pp. 16–17.</ref></blockquote> | |||
This story, coupled with the very existence of a secret Gospel, strengthens the evidence for secret teachings and initiatic rites. Clement’s reference to Mark having combined his notes with “those of Peter” supports the theory that the immediate followers of Jesus were literate and kept a record of their Lord’s teachings—if not a historical diary. | |||
Secret Mark casts the official canon in another light. Could the Gospels themselves be the “exoteric” teachings, for those who were “without,” so intended by their authors from the start? Clement tells us that Mark’s secret Gospel was for those “who were being perfected,” i.e., in the language of Paul—“we speak wisdom among them that are perfect”—initiated. | |||
== Sources == | == Sources == | ||
Elizabeth Clare Prophet, June 17, 1981. | Elizabeth Clare Prophet, June 17, 1981. | ||
{{LTJ}}. | |||
<references /> | <references /> | ||