Daily Devotion

29 April – St Mark the Evangelist

Audio

Today is Tuesday, 29th of April. It is also the Feast of St Mark the Evangelist.

We will begin by reading the words of wisdom from Psalm 148:23-29:

The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
    when he delights in his way;
²⁴ though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
    for the Lord upholds his hand.

²⁵ I have been young, and now am old,
    yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
    or his children begging for bread.
²⁶ He is ever lending generously,
    and his children become a blessing.

²⁷ Turn away from evil and do good;
    so shall you dwell forever.
²⁸ For the Lord loves justice;
    he will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever,
    but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
²⁹ The righteous shall inherit the land
    and dwell upon it forever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as It was in the beginning, is
now, and shall be forever. Amen.

The Scripture Reading is taken from Acts 12.25—13.13

²⁵ And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.

13 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

⁴ So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. ⁵ When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.⁶ When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. ⁷ He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. ⁸ But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. ⁹ But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him ¹⁰ and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? ¹¹ And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. ¹² Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

¹³ Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem…

Reflection

On their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabbas brought the young man, John Mark, with them. We read of Paul’s refusal to let Mark accompany him on the second journey despite Barnabas’s insistence. For some reason, Mark felt out of favour with Paul. Paul later asks Mark to visit him in prison and we may assume the trouble did not last long.

Mark will move on to give us one of the Gospels. He is called St Mark the Evangelist because of that.

Mark fulfilled in his life what everyone of us are called to do: proclaim the Good News. In particular, Mark’s way was through writing. And in writing the message down, future generations can hear his witness again and again in almost all the languages in the world.

Not everyone is a dynamic leader or preacher like Paul or Peter. Nor is everyone effective as a public preacher. Yet, in many other ways, we can still witness for Him. Our lives and presence amongst others can be a witness.

Think about your life. Think about your gifts. How can you be a witness for Christ; from who you are and where you are?

Like Mark, may we leave behind a legacy of this Gospel witness.

Collect

Almighty God,
who enlightened your holy Church
through the inspired witness of thine evangelist Saint Mark: 
grant that we, being firmly grounded in the truth of the gospel, 
may be faithful to its teaching both in word and deed;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

We leave you with a chant by the Coptic Church. This chant has a Middle Eastern feel and may sound strange to our Anglo-Saxon ears. Do bear in mind that in the early centuries, the Church was cradled in the the Middle East. For example, the city of Alexandria in Egypt was once a thriving Christian center. The words of this chant extolling the virtues of St Mark are very clear and edifying. St Mark is regarded as the founder of the Coptic Church. Be blessed by this chant.

Link to today’s Morning Office