Core Values

“Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life”  Proverbs 4:23

When I was one and twenty
I heard a wise man say,
Give pounds, and pence and guineas
But not your heart away.
-A.E. Houseman, “A Shropshire Lad”, 1896. 

Barnabas was a big-hearted, open-minded, people-loving guy. One of the people he liked was young John Mark. Many bible scholars think that Mark’s gospel is really the voice of Peter and that Mark was his scribe which is not unreasonable. If Mark’s gospel gives us an insight into the personality of Peter, it reveals a man who was straight forward and to the point without any literary embellishment or unnecessary use of words. To use a modern expression, Peter called it like he saw it. We all rub off on each other and doubtless Mark picked up on the personality of Peter. Of course, being young, Mark was already impetuous and hanging around Peter only made him more so. Mark didn’t waste any time making decisions or checking things out. While others were thinking, Mark was moving and acting.

But back to Barnabus; it was Barnabus who gave Paul a break in the days following his conversion on the Road to Damascus. Paul had been the fanatical persecutor of the emerging church and his sudden change of heart was a little hard for believers to swallow. As ferocious as Paul was, his new posture might have been a ploy to infiltrate the little group of followers and strike a blow to the heart of the young movement. Many thought exactly that and since discretion is the better part of valor, Paul was given a wide berth by the early followers of Jesus. But not so with Barnabus; he gave Paul the benefit of the doubt and persuasively introduced him to the innermost circles of the faithful.

Time went on and Saul the militant Pharisee became Paul the Missionary Apostle to the Gentiles. Well, since it’s always helpful to have energetic young muscle around to carry bags and run get stuff, Paul took Mark with him on missionary trips. Now Paul wasn’t much for impetuous behavior and didn’t take it well when John Mark decided to skip from a trip; so, the next time Paul and Barnabus were sallying forth, Paul didn’t want to take a young fellow that couldn’t be counted on to stay the course. Barnabus took exception to Paul’s hard-nosed posture and contention between Paul and Barnabus was so pronounced that they split and changed ministry partners with each pursuing his own leading and leaning. Barnabus disappeared into the mists of history while Paul rose to the pinnacle of church history and scholarship.

Ironically, Mark who was the point of contention between two fine men went on to be the voice of Peter and give the world a beloved gospel that has confounded skeptics and higher critics in modern times. In his own time, Mark became the one person Paul wanted with him in his lonely prison cell while generous and outgoing Baranabus paid the price for the personality extremes of both Mark and Paul.

If there is an object lesson here, it is not to let temporal emotional attachments or a personal sense of fair-play cloud judgment and derail the callings and purposes of God. People and situations change. There is only one Savior and he will bring reconciliation to pass. The point is to be reconciled to Christ – then reconciliation to each other follows as easily as the day follows the night.

By John G. Cathcart
www.wme.org