Introduction

I read about a University football coach who each year would privately talk to a new player at the beginning of football season. He told him, "I’m very impressed with your ability. If you work really hard this year, I think you’re good enough to make it to the National Football League." He told this to every player on the team! You know what happened? He had the highest percentage of players of any University to make it into professional football.

We’ve all met people like that — those who believed in us so much that we began to believe in ourselves. The result was we tried harder and we did better. This portion of scripture tells us about an early disciple who was that way — Barnabas.

Who is Barnabas? We find him mentioned first in Acts 4:36. He was a Levite from Cypress and apparently had some wealth. In Acts 4:36 he is called the "Son of Encouragement." And as we will see, his name matched his character. When the church in Antioch began to grow, Acts 11:22 tells us the Apostles in Jerusalem decided to send Barnabas there to help the new church out.

Two years before this, Paul and Barnabas had ventured out from their home base in Antioch to establish many churches on their First Missionary Journey. Now Paul wanted to return to encourage these churches in the faith.

John Mark was a cousin of Barnabas. He probably was a young minister. We know from Acts 12:25 and Acts 13:5 that John Mark had gone with them on the First Missionary Journey. Acts 12:25 tells us, "And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark." And Acts 13:5 says, "And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister."

Although John Mark traveled with them for the first part of the journey, he left the missionary team at Perga as Acts 13:13 records, "Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem."

There is much conjecture as to why Mark left them at Perga. Some have gone so far as to suggest that John Mark was uneasy seeing Gentiles being saved. But this hardly makes sense since Paul, Barnabas, and Mark had been ministering in Antioch which was a Gentile church.

By looking at a map, it’s apparent that John Mark stayed with the missionary team primarily while they were ministering in Cypress which was the home of Mark and Barnabas. When they arrived back on the continent, Mark left for Jerusalem instead of proceeding inland with Paul and Barnabas. John Mark may have felt uneasy going off to parts unknown, but then again, he had traveled with Paul and Barnabas quite a bit.

Perhaps the best explanation is the one given plainly in verse 38, he had not gone with them to the work. He was going along as an important part of the missionary team, and he had proven unreliable. He quit before the job was done. This is born out by the original manuscripts. Paul calls Mark in the Greek < ou)k h)ci&ou> ouk exiou which means "not worthy" or "not fit." He considered John Mark undependable.
We have all experienced the frustration of being around unreliable people. After awhile we learn not to count on them. If there’s an important job to do, we look for people that we can count on. This may have been what was in Paul’s mind.

As we read the Bible, we discover numerous examples of Paul’s stubbornness. This is one of them. He was used greatly by God, and yet there were times when he could be very strong-willed. Perhaps one of the reasons there was such a sharp contention between Paul and Barnabas was that ordinarily Barnabas was a very easy-going person. He was a gentle man who had great compassion for others. Perhaps he was in the habit of overlooking many of Paul’s rougher characteristics.

We need more Barnabas’s in the church today — people who will overlook the faults in others and gently work together with caring and compassion.

Barnabas had compassion for Paul, but he had more compassion for John Mark who was the younger minister. He was willing to give Mark another chance, when Paul was ready to give up on him. Barnabas was willing to work with Mark, when Paul wanted to have nothing to do with him. Barnabas wanted to show patience to Mark, when Paul saw no hope for the young man.

Adam Clarke commented in 1825, "John Mark had been tried in trying circumstances, and he failed. Paul, therefore, would not trust him again. The affection of Barnabas led him to hope the best, and was therefore desirous to give him another trial. Barnabas would not give up: Paul would not agree."

Are we like Barnabas? Are we willing to help others, and patiently work with them? Are we a Son of Encouragement?

Paul should not have been surprised by the behavior of Barnabas. Barnabas was treating Mark the same way he treated Paul years earlier when everyone in Jerusalem wanted nothing to do with him. Acts 9:26-27 tells us, "And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus."

Here we see Barnabas coming along side Paul when no one else would. Later, when Barnabas was sent to Antioch, he realized there was a work to do there that might call for the talents of his old companion Paul. Once again he had compassion on him, and Acts 11:25-26 tells us, "Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch."

We see a pattern in the behavior of Barnabas, don’t we? The disciples called him the Son of Encouragement. He helped out Paul when no one else wanted to touch him. Now we see him helping out John Mark when Paul is ready to give up on him. We need to have some of Barnabas to rub off on us, don’t we?

Barnabas and Paul divided the missionary effort. I’m sure it was Barnabas’ idea to return to Cypress with Mark. This was the area that Mark had helped minister to before. He would be welcome there, and his faith would be encouraged as he witnessed the results of his labor two years earlier.

Barnabas understood that we all fail from time to time. We all need a little help along the way. He could see the potential in Mark that Paul, and perhaps Mark himself, could not see. Barnabas wanted to help people to become the very best they can be in the Lord. Is that our desire? We need to be more like Barnabas.

David Brown comments, "Now, since John Mark did retrieve his character in these respects, and a reconciliation took place between Paul and him—a reconciliation so cordial that the apostle expresses more than once the confidence he had in him, and the value he set upon his services —it may seem that events showed Barnabas to be in the right, and Paul too harsh and hasty in his judgment."

Instead of going with his long-time companion Barnabas, Paul chose Silas. God blessed them on this Second Missionary Journey as we read in the succeeding chapters of Acts. So in spite of their sharp disagreement, God still used Paul in this work, but what about Barnabas?

We don’t read anything more about Barnabas. McGee fills in the missing details, "He went to Cyprus and there he had a great ministry. Barnabas had come from Cyprus; it was his home. He had a desire to take the gospel to his own people. We know from tradition that he had a great ministry there, and from Cyprus a great ministry was carried on in North Africa."

Although Barnabas doesn’t appear in scripture after this point, we do read a lot more about John Mark. In Philemon 24 and Colossians 4:10 Mark is mentioned as a fellow-laborer with Paul. The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia comments, "About 11 years elapse before we hear of him again. He is at Rome with Paul. The breach is healed. He is now one of the faithful few among Jewish Christians who stand by Paul. He is Paul's honored ‘fellowworker’ and a great ‘comfort’ to him."

This is what Paul writes in 2 Timothy 4:11, "Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry." Now Paul calls Mark "profitable to me for the ministry." How times have changed.

So what brought about all this miraculous change in John Mark? One man, Barnabas, who believed in him, was there to encourage him, and helped him overcome his failings. Who is your John Mark? What person do you need to come along side to help along the way? Be a Barnabas. The world will be a better place for it.

One final footnote. John Mark became so encouraged in the Lord, that he had to write about the story of Jesus. We have all read his book — it is the Gospel of Mark!

Footnotes:

This Study on Acts 15:35-41 © 1997 by David Humpal. All Rights Reserved
All scriptures unless otherwise noted are from the Revised Standard Version © 1971, A. J. Holman Company

Acts 4:36 from the New International Version © 1973, Zondervan Bible Publishers

Acts 12:25, 13:5, and 13:13 from the King James Version

In verse 38 the Greek translated "thought good" is < de) h)ci&ou> but thought good in most manuscripts. But this wording hardly makes

sense since the Greek would be forced to say "But Paul thought worthy the one who departed from them from Pamphylia."

Matthew Henry in 1710 quoted from a different manuscript source the rendering < ou)k h)ci&ou> not worthy. This seems like the correct rendering. Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, vol. VI, pg. 200

Adam Clarke Commentary, electronic version, © 1996 Biblesoft

Acts 11:25-26 from the New International Version © 1973, Zondervan Bible Publishers

Brown: Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary, vol. 3, pg. 110, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee, vol. 4, pg. 580 © 1983, Thomas Nelson Publishers

International Standard Bible Encylopaedia, electronic database © 1996, Biblesoft

2 Timothy 4:11 from the King James Version