Two directions, one Gospel

2 Samuel 2:1-11; Acts 15:36-16:5; Mark 6:14-29

Paul and Barnabas, although best of friends, could not come to agreement on the suitability of one "John called Mark" as a companion on their missionary journey. Barnabas, perhaps influenced by family ties (Mark was his cousin), wanted to bring him along after Paul suggested a return visit to "every city where [they] proclaimed the word of the Lord." Mark had not made a good impression on Paul, however, and he "thought it best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work."

Disagreements among church leaders so often involve non-essential matters. This was a dispute between the two greatest missionaries of the early church, and it involved a personality, not a doctrinal question. It was a dispute so sharp that Paul and Barnabas ended up separating. They teamed up with their respective proteges (Barnabas with Mark; Paul with Silas) and went in different directions. Wherever they went, however, they proclaimed the same Gospel.

Paul, Silas, and their new partner Timothy continued to spread the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire. Luke devotes the bulk of the remaining chapters of Acts to their ministry.

Barnabas and Mark, however, also did their part. From his letters, we know that Paul eventually came to accept Mark as a fellow worker. The Gospel that bears his name endures as a testimony to how this scared young man, once judged unfit for missionary service by the church's greatest missionary, was transformed into one of the church's greatest evangelists. The breakup of Paul and Barnabas was used by God for a good purpose. They went in different directions but never stopped proclaiming the same life-transforming Gospel.