Second Chances

S: Acts 13:13; Acts 15:36–41; Colossians 4:10; Philemon 1:24; 2 Timothy 4:11

O: Mark was basically one of the early second-generation Christians. Acts 12:12 says that his mother’s house was where the believers gathered in Jerusalem, and church tradition identifies it as the house that contained the κατάλυμα (guest room) in which the Last Supper was held. (This is the same word traditionally mistranslated as “inn” in the Christmas story.)

In Acts 13:13, Mark “chickened out” on Paul and Barnabas’s first missionary journey. Now, in Acts 15:36–41, Barnabas, the “Son of Encouragement,” wanted to bring him along again for their second missionary journey.

Paul didn’t want to have anything to do with that. I can imagine the argument:

Paul: I don’t want that quitter coming along again! He’s useless!
Barney: He’s young. We need to nurture him so that he will grow.
Paul: If we bring him, he’ll just chicken out again! Let him learn at home here in Jerusalem!
Barney: If we discourage him now, we could set his growth back years!
Paul: I’m not bringing him! He doesn’t have what it takes!
Barney: I love you, you love me… 🤣

Okay, maybe not exactly like that. 😊 But Luke does say, “They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas.”

Interestingly, if we move forward several years, we find Mark working alongside Paul. In Colossians 4:10, Paul mentions Mark and tells the church to welcome him. In Philemon 1:24, Paul lists Mark as one of his fellow workers.

And in 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul goes even further: “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.” What a turnaround! The man Paul once refused to take on a missionary journey had become someone he considered useful to his ministry.

A: God is a God of second chances, and we, as His people, should be willing to give others second chances, too. I know it’s not always easy, especially when someone has let us down. Sometimes, like Paul, we may have good reasons to be reluctant to trust that person again. Giving someone another chance doesn’t mean pretending that nothing happened or ignoring the need for growth and accountability. But Barney had the right idea. Paul had forgotten that he himself was one of Barney’s “encouragement projects.” I guess Paul later learned to be more like Barney, too.

Note: I wrote the first draft myself, but I did get AI to do some editing.