Footsteps #25

As the missionary team arrived in Perga on the way to Antioch of Pisidia, a sad event occurred: Recorded in one line, Acts.13:13 simply says, “John left them and return home to Jerusalem.” No reason is given. However, John Mark’s departure became so contentious that, when the apostles planned the second missionary journey some three years later, Paul refused to take Mark. Barnabas, however, insisted on taking Mark. The dispute (Acts.15:36-40) became so hot that the missionary pair broke up. As for Mark, the Holy Spirit eventually used him in a task no less important: he wrote the Gospel that bears his name, the first Gospel to be written incidentally. Years later, Paul, an aged prisoner in Rome, wrote to Timothy: “Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you when you come, for he will be helpful to me in my ministry.” (2Tim. 4:11 NLT). It took a long while for Paul to recognize that grace means giving second chances. A believer may fail at one moment, but to the one who “dwells in the secret place of the Most High” (Ps.91:1), none of our falls need be permanent. What lessons are there here for those of us who have trouble with the resilience of those young in the faith? 

Under the instigation of the Jewish leaders in Pisidian Antioch, the local authorities incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town (Acts.13:50). The disciples, however, were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit (Acts.13:52). The missionaries then headed to the city of Iconium. 

Here they continued their practice of addressing first the Jews before turning to the Gentiles. Paul’s sermon in Antioch of Pisidian (Acts.13:16–41) offers the main reason behind the Jewish priority in their ministry: the election of Israel, with all that it involved (Rom.3:2; 9:4, 5), and God’s fulfilment of His promise of a Saviour from David’s lineage. Despite the fact that many Jews were rejecting the gospel, Paul never lost hope of a substantial Jewish conversion. The situation, stirred up by the Jewish leaders, became volatile and the two missionaries decided to leave the town and move to the next one.