The other day I was having a Bible discussion with a friend of mine who suddenly blurted "Apostle Paul had a bloated ego."
I thought I heard him wrong. So I said "Excuse me. Come again"
"Yes, He had such a big ego that he did not even want to take a person along with him for a missionary journey because he had differences with him".
After a moment of silence, we turned the pages of the New Testament to read the passage that my friend was quoting from the scriptures. We opened Acts Chapter 15. We read that passage where Paul and Barnabas were getting ready to go for their second missionary journey.
36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. (Acts 15: 36-41)
After we read this passage, my friend said "Look! Paul had such a bloated ego that he did not even have the grace to take Mark along with him for the missionary journey".
My friend in deed had a point there. It in fact looks as though Paul was so adamant in not having Mark travel along with him for the missionary journey.
So we tried to find out whether Paul had any reason for making such a decision. When we read Acts 13:13, we discover that Mark (John) had deserted them midway through the first missionary journey and returned back to Jerusalem. This was one of the major reasons why Paul did not want to take Mark along with him in their second missionary journey in which they were planning to revisit some of the places they had earlier visited.
Mark might have had his reasons for leaving Paul in the first missionary journey. Mark was Barnabas's relative. Till Paul came into the scene, Barnabas was the central figure along with the Apostles. But during the first missionary journey, Paul emerges as the leader of the pack. Mark might not have been comfortable with this sudden transition. The Bible does not explicitly say what exactly made Mark to leave the rest of the gang. But the Bible is very clear that Paul did not appreciate that behavior of Mark.
Because of Paul being adamant, Paul and Silas went together in their missionary journey in one direction and Barnabas and Mark took another route. The gospel spread in different regions. On the surface level, we might just see that incident as a dispute. But as we analyse it deeper, we see that God allowed that dispute to happen so that gospel could spread to different places.
12 years later Paul was in prison. Mark was also arrested along with Paul. This shows that they did minister together after a few years. Mark became more matured and Paul forgave Mark and ministered together with him.
Today when people have personal enmity with a minister, they separate themselves from that ministry and start another ministry as a competition. They also quote that Paul and Barnabas had a fight and they went in two directions. Paul and Barnabas never started two different ministries separately. They were ministers of God and they always had the love for each other.
- Shielded in God's love
Prason